Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Movie #1079 .........................."Welcome to Me"

Welcome to Me

2015  Rated R88 mins
I would give this film 3.8 out of 5 stars.
When mentally unstable Alice Klieg hits the lottery, she uses her winnings to produce and star in an off-the-wall talk show. Ignoring her illness and skipping her medication, she uses the spotlight to work through her deep-rooted pain.
Cast: Thomas Mann, Joan Cusack, Kristen Wiig,


Movie #1079 "Welcome to Me" is an unusual film, and I have been mulling over it for a couple of days. I didn't love the film, but I enjoyed lots of parts of it, mainly because it is so creative, gutsy, and different!  I felt a little bit the same way when I watched Kristin Wiig in "Bridesmaids" and saw her single handedly destroy a wedding shower and cringed as she did that. But I still saw her side of it --- there's something about her that she can get us on her side, and she does this again in this film.  i honestly think that this film would have been more acceptable if the powers that be hadn't designated exactly what mental illness she supposedly had --- the label makes it tough to laugh at, and we all know people are wired differently, and I think if we just saw Alice as a free thinker, the film would have been funnier.  I know the viewer would miss being taught about personality disorder (which is the label in the film) and how to be tolerant of it, but I think we are so politically correct now, that many of us find it difficult to laugh at someone who has been labeled a certain disease.  That's why I think the disease should have been left in the air --- we still would ha ve gotten the major idea that we need to be accepting and tolerant toward everyone, even if he/she thinks differently than us.  Everyone in this is very competent in acting, the film gives you a good idea of how reality t.v. works (or doesn't) and condemns the audience that would pretty much sit and watch anything these days.  All in all, I would recommend it to those who are curious in watching a really different "out there" type of film, because this fits the bill!



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Movie #1077 .........................."Trevor"

TREVOR

1994  Rated NR17 mins
Knowing for certain that he's gay doesn't make it any easier for Trevor (Brett Barsky) to accept it. So when his classmates find out that he has a crush on another boy, it pushes Trevor to the end of his rope in this Academy Award-winning live-action short. Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres introduces this pensive film from director Peggy Rajski and writer James Lecesne, which examines the harsh realties of teen sexuality.


Movie #1077 "Trevor" won an academy award for live action in 1994, and it is well deserved --- good subject, good themes, great music and nice story.  I watched it because it was a film I was not acquainted with that I saw in the stageful for a play written by the same writer/director here, so we rented it and watched it.  Same subject matter, a gay boy being bullied by supposed friends, is here, but just expanded in the play that we saw.  Anyway, the kid here in the film is very talented, in love with Diana Ross, and very funny .  He plays a kid almost everyone can identify with, so this is a movie that kids could and should see (esp. middle grade and h.s.)  Well done, and a film that can be watched in classes and bigger groups, and that makes it a service to the community.

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Monday, October 26, 2015

Movie #1076 .........................."A Perfect Day"

Movie #1076 "A Perfect Day" was a really good indie film, well acted, with the story line I found most rewarding.  It shows a day in the life of these aids across border group.  So while two groups battle it out during  the Balkan War, this group that works with the UN tries to keep the water safe for the residents of the country.  Wow!  Talk about a tough job ---- they spend most of the time in their day just trying to get a good piece of rope.  And what a nice ensemble group led by proficient actors who probably are very passionate about the issue knowing Tim Robbins and Benicio Del Toro.  I really loved this film --- I feel I learned quite a bit about a topic I never really thought about.  The only minor complaint is that there were some things happening that I didn't understand and wanted to -- so I wanted to film to let us in on more what they were doing or what they couldn't do.  Otherwise, excellent film and glad we finished the chicago film festival this year on a high note!






A Perfect Day

2015   I would give this 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Sent to a deadly combat zone to recover a corpse from a well -- where the body is contaminating a village's crucial water supply -- a motley group of aid workers finds the ostensibly simple job turning into a Sisyphean task.
Cast: Tim Robbins, Olga Kurylenko, Mélanie Thierry
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Movie #1075 ........................."Youth"



Movie # 1075 "Youth" was not a good film.  It was truly an indie film that was going no where, slowly,  which isn't bad if it were going somewhere at all, but this doesn't really.    It was like "Birdman" in how esoteric some of the shots and whole scenes were, but at least Birdman seemed to have reasons to move from one scene to the other, whereas this one didn't.  Dave and I would be watching and there would be a scene where Michael Caine goes into an elevator and there's some woman with a black widow outfit on in this strange hotel, and she never would be mentioned or shown again.  Now, there were some things that were entertaining....like the betting the guys do about this one couple that comes to dinner every night, sits at the same table, and they never say anything.  Because of the title, we do know that there is much trying to be said about how we lose our youth when not even noticing, and go into an old age area that we become youths again in our naivete and ignorance.  The film has many many shots of old people (some clothed, and some not) just stagnating in pools, at dining tables, in their rooms --- the film has a definite style, but I didn't care for it.  I once got a critique sheet on one of my speech kids that read:  Tries to be stylish and fails.  I didn't know how it pertained to my student's performance, but I think it is useful to describe this particular film.  I didn't give it a 1 or 2 because I got some of the themes and reason for many of the scenes, and I liked watching Caine and Keitel together.  And I liked how Caine (a retired musical conductor)    would have moments where he would put sounds together and pretend he was conducting music again -- esp. the one in the cow field, with the cow bells!   I also enjoyed watching Paul Dano who plays a Johnny Depp kind of character who is watching Caine and the others at the hotel --- I enjoyed watching him watch people for his character work.  So there is some good stuff here, but most of it is  hard to appreciate because the style gets in the way.  






Youth

2015Rated R
On vacation in the Alps, two friends on the verge of turning 80 look to each other for support as both rush to face potentially momentous career landmarks, realizing that time is no longer on their side.

Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel play the two friends.  Jane Fonda is in this, too.  Director Paolo Sorrentino (I don't want to see any more of his work)
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Movie #1074........................."We Are Francesco"

Movie # 1074 "We Are Francesco" was the third movie we saw at the Chicago film festival and it was the worst one to me ---- I like that there was a female director, but the editing was bad, acting mediocre (everything felt screamed, but maybe that's the Italian style of acting?) and the story tried to cover too many stories and they never came together.   and here's the worst thing, that shouldn't have anything to do with judging the film, but it does to me --- and that is, that the lead really does have arms and they were tied behind his back.  Why do I know this?  The Q and A at the end of the film told us.  I felt that she should have looked for the actor who could do this ---- we found out she had someone signed on, but he backed out and they ended up with this actor.  He had to be taught to use his feet and in one scene he couldn't do the "bit with his feet signing a note on the fridge" so they had the girl who was the consultant on the film do it.  I don't know, but that bothered me ---- I guess sometimes you know too much.  The only thing I liked about the film was that I thought I was learning what a typical day was in the life of a person who had no arms, but I really didn't.  I was watching what people "thought" an armless person would act like.  That, plus the story being very weak, left me flat on this one.  There were a few moments that worked , and the two guys who are friends work well together and are funny, but that was it.  I wouldn't recommend this.  there are too many good films out there to waste time on this one.





We Are Francesco   90 mins   2014    I would give it 3 stars out of 5
Francis, a 22-year-old, does not have the arms from birth; the rest of his body is 'normal', in fact, he's quite beautiful and well-formed. Life has taught him to use his legs as unique arts and his feet are his very special and skilful hands. He is a very good university student and he has a real close friend, Stefano. He lives alone with his mother, Grazia, a famous architect from Bari. Francesco, however, unlike the dear friend, has never yet experienced the joys of love, and this, now at over twenty years, has become a problem »

Director:

 

Writers:

 , , 1 more credit »

Stars:

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Movie #1073 ........................."Very Semi Serious"


Movie #1073 "Very Semi Serious" was a documentary on cartooning for the New Yorker Magazine, and it was well done.  It covered older generation, the people running it now, and the new ones coming up ---- and the steps the cartoonists go through to sell their cartoons ,  and subjects they come up with  and conflicts and competition amongst all the cartoonists  (and a host of other subjects) .  All of this while periodically showing us many of the cartoons that have been published through the years (so we are constantly laughing) Plus, the cartoonists, many of them, are naturally funny!  The only complaint I had here is that the organization could have been a bit stronger; otherwise, good documentary, and for me to like a documentary, it needs to be entertaining from beginning to end.  And this was!  Look for it on HBO, if you get that.







Very Semi-Serious

2015Rated NR
Chronicling the New Yorker's 90-year tradition of publishing urbane and occasionally bizarre single-panel cartoons, this lighthearted documentary centers on Bob Mankoff, the magazine's cartoon editor since 1997.
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#Movie #!072 .........................."The 33"

Movie #1072 "The 33" was the first movie we saw in the Chicago Film Fest , and it ended up to be the best of the lot this weekend!  No wonder it was bought by warner brothers and will be released Nov. 13 in a whole bunch of theaters, and I recommend that  you make sure to see it because it was a great film to us!  First of all, what a story!  We heard about it in the news; some of us even followed it day by day --- this is the gold mine disaster that caused 33 men to be buried alive for 69 days!  We even know the ending, and it is still full of suspense and emotions!  There's a female director here, and she is able to move from one story (below ground, the miners) to the other story (above ground, the families).  She doesn't dwell on EVERY aspect and every person involved, but she covers enough to pull us in the human side of the story, their dreams, their camaraderie, their growth as a family above and below ground.  And it is well acted, and I never thought I'd be saying that about Antonio Banderas!  I got to talk to the director afterwards, when I told her not only did I love this movie but the other one I saw, as well:  "Under the Same Moon" --- it is a little known film, but my movie club saw it and we all loved it!  I recommend both of them.







The 33

2015Rated PG-13
Unspooling one of the most compelling true-life tales of survival in the modern age, this gripping drama chronicles the massive 69-day effort to rescue 33 Chilean miners who were trapped more than 2,000 feet underground.

starring:  Antionio Banderas, Juliette Binoche, Lou Diamond Phillips,
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Movie #1078 .........................Elsa & Fred (2014)

Movie #1078 "Elsa and Fred" was good, and I would recommend it, esp. to the 65 year and older crowd.  There are some good younger actors in here, such as Marcia Gay Harden, Chris Noth and Scott Bakula, but they have small parts as the kids of Shirley Maclaine (who is in her 70s) and Christopher Plummer (well into his 80s) and only support these two excellent actors.  Okay, so why didn't it quite click to me in authenticity?  I had problems with  buying Ms Maclaine's character.  Yes, she had the toughest character, probably, in the movie to get across, but I felt she was putting it on.  I think she's whimsical and kind of goofy of a person but in her own way and the script forced her to be goofy in a prescribed way ----not sure that makes sense, but I felt she was going through the lines and not liking the character too much.  Maybe that's just me, but that's what I felt.  So when we get to the high point (which takes place in beautiful Rome) I felt little emotion there, at least for her.  Christopher Plummer is amazing!  even with the bad overacting his son-in-law (Chris Noth)  was doing !  I just discovered when I looked it up that there is an original Spanish version of this film that I want to see to observe the comparisons to this one.

Elsa & Fred

2014Rated PG-1397 mins      I'd give this 3.8 out of 5 stars.Average rating: 3.9381
ELSA AND FRED is the story of two people who, at the end of the road, discover that it's never too late to love. After losing his wife, Fred (Christopher Plummer) feels disturbed, confused and alone, so his daughter (Marcia Gay Harden) helps move him into a small apartment where he meets Elsa (Shirley Maclaine). From that moment on, everything changes.
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Friday, October 16, 2015

Movie #1071 ........................."The Guard"


Movie #1071 "The Guard" was a film I had ordered before I went to Ireland, but  I just got around to seeing it right now.  It takes place in the countryside of Galway, and that's why I was interested in seeing it.    The movie centers on the maverick guard Gerry Boyle , and the opening sets up just what kind of guard he is --- pretty laid back, since hardly anything happens here.  But then the crime takes a turn, and there are some drug smugglers in their midst, and as they start to bump off people in the town, FBI Wendall (Don Cheadle) shows up on the scene --- He and Gerry don't hit it off at all --- Gerry comes off as a racist, and that of course, rubs Wendall the wrong way.  This back and forth agitation is typical in a detective story, but no matter what you think what will come out of Gerry's mouth, he still surprises you.  And the bad guys are not typical in tis kind of story at all.  So all in all, it's a very refreshing take on your typical drug smuggling story, and I recommend it --- I watched it with subtitles, and you might to, also, because there's a thick Irish accent (sometimes Gaelic) going on here.  





The Guard

2011  Rated R96 mins
rated 4.0 stars

When FBI agent Wendell Everett invades an Irish village in pursuit of international drug dealers, wisecracking local copper Gerry Boyle does his best to annoy the American and get on with his life. But soon there's a murder.
Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong
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Monday, October 12, 2015

Movie #1070........................."The Martian"


Movie #1070 "The Martian" I thoroughly enjoyed.  It takes what I liked about Apollo 13 ("Houston, we have a problem") , problem solving to get the astronauts back, and makes it the objective of this stranded  astronaut, and the whole film, as well.  I love to see smart people go into action and face all kinds of obstacles, but continue to soldier on until the problem is solved.  I like the acting (Matt Damon should be nominated for this role because he does it all and with aplomb!), but I do acknowledge that there were some cringeworthy lines (many spoken by Jeff Daniels!)  This is NOT based on a true story, so there are several flights of fancy, but I still found it most enjoyable ,and the special effects were amazing.   In fact, that is the one word I'd use to describe this first oscar- worthy film I've seen all year ---- Amazing!  I highly recommend it.  










The Martian   I would give this 5 out of 5 stars

2015Rated PG-13
Abandoned on the surface of Mars after his crew concludes that he perished in a dust storm, astronaut Mark Watney must find a way to survive the planet's harsh environment -- despite having only 28 days of supplies left.
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Sunday, October 11, 2015

Movie #1069 ........................."Freehold"

Movie #1069 "Freehold" has problems.  As important as its message is, the film comes across as an elevated t.v. movie on an issue that is preached to us in every frame.  And it is the actors who  elevate it --- they are very capable --- Julianne Moore and Ellen Page and Michael Shannon --- and they are the reason you keep watching at first; then, the two women's plight comes to a head, and we can't believe how cruel people can be to this issue --- at least I couldn't.  The life diminishing results of lung cancer I found very very difficult to watch, but the plight and end result are, so I have mixed emotions about recommending the film.  Just know that it is very emotional and hard to watch, but it IS a story that needed to be told, and I'm glad I watched it.  I think the film itself has too many problems to be Oscar worthy, but I applaud that this subject matter was tackled in the film.  
 












Freeheld  I would give this 3 out of 5 stars

2015Rated PG-13
In this fact-based drama, same-sex partners Laurel Hester and Stacie Andree face tragedy and discrimination when Laurel is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and her request to pass on her pension benefits to Stacie is denied.
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Sunday, October 4, 2015

Movie #1068 ........................."The Intern"


Movie #1068 "The Intern" was a lovely film I watched today with friends, and we all laughed quite a bit throughout.  It totally depends on a good script written by the inimitable Nancy Meyers (Father of the Bride, It's Complicated, Baby Boom, Private Benjamin, etc.) and wonderful acting (to no one's surprise) of Robert DeNiro as the Intern and Anne Hathaway as his mentor (however, it's debatable who is learning from whom).  Film slowly moves through a few months of this 70-year-old's internship at a clothing-on-line company that Anne Hathaway has started up.  The director Ms. Meyers lets the actors shine, and she has a secondary cast that works well, too, esp. Anne's hubby and little girl.  I haven't read the reviews, but I'm thinking the romantic comedy critics will tear it to shreds (as they usually do to romantic comedies, why?  I don't know) about being lame in the joke department and manipulative in the dramatic parts, but I really enjoyed the naturalness of the whole thing, and I recommend it.  No academy award nomination here, but good entertainment value!








The Intern     (4 stars out of 5)

2015Rated PG-13
Agreeing to participate in a community outreach program, e-commerce entrepreneur Jules Ostin hires a 70-year-old intern -- who ends up bringing his special brand of business savvy to her fashion enterprise.
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Thursday, October 1, 2015

Movie #1066 ..........................."Intermission"

Movie #1066 "Intermission" is probably one of the last Irish films for a while -- I was trying to watch as many as I could before my trip to Ireland, and now that I'm back I'm moving on.  However, this movie came in the mail and it was supposed to have been filmed in and around Dublin, so I watched it to see if I recognized any of the area, but i didn't.  This movie could have been filmed anywhere in Ireland, really.  I put the subtitles on,  and it made it so much easier to follow.  And this one has all the Irish stars:  Colm Meaney, Colin Farrell, Cillian murphy, Kelly MacDonald, and Brian F. O'Byrne so the casting is stellar.  The story, not so much.  I would pass this one up really --- it just an example of a domino effect --- one thing happens and then add to that something else, etc.  But what I will always remember about this film is the opening sequence --- pretty surprising and violent!  










Intermission   I gave it 3 stars out of 5

2004Rated R106 mins
This collection of 11 comic stories set in Dublin stems from one single circumstance: how the breakup of one couple's relationship can have unexpected repercussions on the lives of the people around them. One of those people is Lehiff (Colin Farrell), a thief trying to set his life straight by pulling off one last heist before retiring. Too bad dogged detective John Lynch (Colm Meaney) will stop at nothing to bring Lehiff to justice.
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Movie #1067 ........................."Love and Lemons"



Små citroner gula (2013)

 |  Comedy, Romance  |  20 February 2013 (Sweden)
Movie #1067 "Love and Lemons" is a swedish romantic comedy that I really enjoyed -- it was part of the Milwaukee Film Festival, and I thought it was the best i saw.  I would give it 4.8 out of 5 stars.  The only thing that held it back from a 5 was occasionally being a tad corny (like the fireworks in the background when they have their big kiss).  And some of the dialogue was clunky, but all the characters were well cast, esp. the two leads, and what an intriguing story about a girl who gets her chance to open her own restaurants and the pitfalls involved with that.  It was a swedish "chef" without the food trucks, but i enjoyed it just as much.  I highly recommend it if you like romantic comedies.  (and how could you not)
LOVE AND LEMONS is a romantic comedy about love, friendship and the courage it takes to follow your dreams. The movie is based on the successful novel with the same title by author Kajsa.  LOVE AND LEMONS is a romantic comedy about love, friendship and the courage it takes to follow your dreams by author Kajsa Ingemarsson. Agnes is a chef and she loves cooking. She has a good job, a boyfriend who loves her and a best friend who is always there for her. One day she is both fired from the luxurious restaurant and dumped by her boyfriend. Therefore she has nothing left to lose when a friend asks Agnes if she would like to be part owner in and open up a new restaurant. At the same time she manages to fall in love with the one person who cannot know who she really is.

Director:

 

Writers:

  (collaborating writer),  (novel), 1 more credit »

Stars:

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