Movie #1314 ........................."Learning to Drive"

Movie #1314 "Learning to Drive"  is a movie I sat down to watch tonight with different ages (two older) and at first I was embarrassed because of the language (it's rated R for it) and a couple of love scenes, but if you look beyond those, it's a very enlightening film about a lot of subjects, handled well by more than capable actors, the great Ben Kingsley, and the equally great Patricia Clarkson (and what looked to be a mostly female tech crew). She's just been dumped after 20+ years of marriage for another woman ---- she has depended on her husband for everything--- she can't even drive!  and now she  decides she must learn, and Kingsley  becomes her teacher, her friend, and maybe something more......and as their relationship builds, they grow into better people because of it.  And we do , too, by watching their journeys.  It is an unusual film that shows you what it is like to be Indian (but labeled Muslim) meeting up with white upper middle class --- you don't think they have a lot in common, but a real relationship can develop if there's listening mixed in with a little respect for each other.   A good lesson for us all in this day and age, I think.  I would give this 4 stars out of 5 --- wish it didn't have the language, but it's there.


"LEARNING TO DRIVE"       2015    R      1 hour 30 minutes

When soon-to-be-divorced Wendy Shields signs up for driving lessons, her instructor is Darwan, a Sikh immigrant to America. Though their cultural perspectives are poles apart, the two begin to develop a bond that transcends their differences.

Cast: Patricia Clarkson, Ben Kingsley, Jake Weber,

Movie #1313 ........................."Hologram for the King"

Movie #1313 "Hologram for the King" was a Tom Hanks' film I hadn't seen in the movie theatre and sat down to watch it the other night.  Not so much here.  It's a not-so-interesting film with a likable character, one whom we can identify with (Tom Hanks) , and that's about it.  By the end you wonder why you watched it all the way to the end, but more importantly, why did Tom Hanks bother doing it?  The only redeeming thing, besides Hanks' performance, is that it is topical ---- it's the ugly American (Trump?) barreling into a country with a big business promotion, but he doesn't bother to follow the very important tourist "law":  When in Rome, do what the Romans do.  So one who sits and watches this film not only can see the constant mistakes Hanks and his crew make dealing with Saudi Arabia, but we also get to learn some things about this country that we can use if we ever travel there.  I am always up for learning about another culture, so for this reason, I might recommend this, but it's so slow, and plodding, and repetitious, and humorless, and awkward in gaps, that the movie is hard to watch because it's so clunky.   So this is a toss up --- I'm glad I watched it because I enjoyed learning a little about the Saudi Arabian culture, and I also enjoyed watching Tom Hanks in some love scenes (he's usually squeaky clean), but it might be uninteresting to many (out of three in my household, only I finished it!)  I give it 3 out of 5 stars.


"HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING"     2016     R rated       1 hour 37 min.

Teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, U.S. businessman Alan Clay tries to reverse his fortunes by landing a lucrative contract in Saudi Arabia. As Alan attempts to navigate his way through an unfamiliar culture, he unexpectedly finds romance.

Cast: Tom Hanks, Alexander Black, Sarita Choudhury (excellent portrayal of his doctor!)

Movie #1312 ........................."Laggies"

Movie #1312 "Laggies" -- I enjoyed this one, and I thought I would because of the cast -- Keira Knightly, Chloe Grace Moretz and Sam Rockwell are some of my favorite actors in movies, but I was also surprised that I enjoyed the ideas behind the story, as well.  Here's Keira Knightly who is a 29 year old who finds herself at a crossroads and doesn't know where to go next --- in job, in love, in friends.........she hasn't really "grown up" and changed her boyfriend from high school, her friends, and her idea for a future job --- and she's getting growing pains --- kind of outgrowing all of them.  Now where to turn.  Well, she sees her young self in Chloe and latches on to her to fall back into that life for a few days.  By doing that, things become clearer --- but something happens along the way that clouds the "love" issue for her, something unexpected, and I'm not sure how believable it is ....let's just say,  if it weren't  these people doing the film, I'm not sure I would have  believed her journey in the film .....but because they are all so capable,  I just went along, and found it a nice romantic comedy, with likable people trying to work  their lives out.  For these reasons, I would recommend it (but not for all ages --- the older part of me  just wanted to tell Keira to just grow up, so you might feel that way if you can't identify with her struggle).  I give it 3.8 stars out of 5.

"LAGGIES"     2014        1 hour 40 minutes        R rated

28-year old Megan is stuck in permanent adolescence and unable to find her calling in life. When her boyfriend proposes to her unexpectedly, she panics and runs into a 16-year old girl, who forces Megan to come to terms about her future.

Cast: Keira Knightley, Chloë Grace Moretz, Sam Rockwell

Laggies

2014 R Rated R1hr 40m

rated 3.5 stars

3.5

• Rate 5 stars
• Rate 4 stars
• Rate 3 stars
• Rate 2 stars
• Rate 1 stars

Not InterestedClear

Our best guess for you: 3.5 stars

Average of 48438 ratings: 3.3 stars

28-year old Megan is stuck in permanent adolescence and unable to find her calling in life. When her boyfriend proposes to her unexpectedly, she panics and runs into a 16-year old girl, who forces Megan to come to terms about her future.

Cast: Keira Knightley, Chloë Grace Moretz, Sam Rockwell

Movie #1311 ........................."Hello, My Name is Doris"

Movie #1311 "Hello, My Name is Doris" -- as soon as I saw the trailer, I wanted to see this because I am a fan of Sally Field, and I think she usually makes good decisions on the films she is in. But  this walks on the edge.  I personally enjoyed it, but I am not sure I'd recommend it for lots of people.  What I didn't know from the trailer is that SHE thinks that this young guy is a possibility for  being her soul mate ---- I thought from the trailer that it was a reality, and the film was about someone younger falling in love with someone older.  Wrong! If you know that, and the film still seems intriguing to you, go right ahead and see it, but it has a lot more drama than the trailer suggested.  Yes, there are some fun moments (see Sally Field dancing to a very alternative group is a stitch! And the concert of this same group is fun to watch), but most is about her friendship with Tyne Daly and Daly's grandaughter.  And her coming to terms with hoarding for years and years.  So, bottom line --- if you are a sally field fan, or the above sounds interesting to you, see this.  otherwise, this is a "can skip" one.  I give it 3.5 stars out of 5.

"HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS"     R        1 HOUR 30 MIN., 2016

Inspired by insights gained through a self-help seminar, 60-year-old Doris Miller brazenly steps forward to pursue the affections of a much younger co-worker -- and inadvertently becomes a hit with his hipster cohorts.

Cast: Sally Field, Max Greenfield, Beth Behrs,

Movie #1310 .........................."Free State of Jones"

Movie #1310 "Free State of Jones" was a tough movie to watch (much like "12 years a slave") -- it is a history lesson but from a different angle --- we are following a Confederate soldier who is a medic and he sees how plantation owners who are bleeding are treating better than others; he also feels that blacks are people, too, so when he goes awol, he heads for the swamps and hides among the blacks and other southerners whose houses/land that were taken over by Confederate soldiers.  He starts up a  militia and tries to get more guns from the North --- they are hesitant to give them much, so the militia decides they just will take over the counties that they can and call it a free state.   I had never heard of this story, so it was quite eye-opening to follow where it was going.  Then, the film goes even further, into reconstruction, which includes the rise of the KKK where there are hangings that are so brutal to watch (one in particular of a much loved character in the film) , but also hangings of people who have come out of the swamp because they are afraid of the Confederate soldiers, just to be killed by them anyway.  The whole film is a story within a story --- but there isn't too much said on the outside story except it is a son of jones who wants to marry a white girl, and the court is saying he is part black --- there is some mystery the way this court case is presented, so I guess the director thought it would sustain our interest.  Because there wasn't much there, it seem to distract from the story a little, but I understand why they put it in, just a bit clumsy in the presentation.  Acting is good --- Matthew McConaughey, Keri Russell, Gugu Mbatha-Raw (again great!) and academy award nominee Mahershala Ali (from "Moonlight" and "House of Cards").  3.8 out of 5 stars.

"FREE STATE OF JONES"     2016      R rated       2 hr  19 mins    

As the Civil War rages on, Mississippi farmer Newton Knight, his neighbors and a ragtag group of slaves band together and lead Jones County to secede from the Confederacy, establishing a mixed-race free state in the heart of the South.

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Keri Russell, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali.

Movie #1309 ........................"Concussion"

Movie #1309 "Concussion" was a movie I wanted to see for a while, and what better time to see it was the night before the Super Bowl, right?  It took a little while to get used to Will Smith's accent (much like getting used to Natalie Portman's Jackie Kennedy), but all over, he did a fine job getting this very highly educated, earnest, but naive neurosurgeon (Brain Expert) across.  But the performance I really enjoyed watching the most here is his roommate/girlfriend/eventual wife and mother of his child played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw (who was in the next movie I am blogging on, too).  She was memorizing to me --- the camera loved her, her eyes, the way she looked at him.  What a find!  But then, when I looked her up, I discovered that she did another performance that I loved --- she was the lead in "Belle,"  a movie overlooked years ago, but one that I loved when I had seen it.  (and if you didn't get a chance to see it, it is available on netflix -- excellent historical film on race relations) Anyway, back to this one .....the storyline is pretty straight forward and ripped from the events we watched unfold in front of us on the news periodically as Pittsburgh Steelers were dying from what this doctor found was their head injuries (from football).  Of course, the NFL tries to shut the info out so it's a david vs. goliath story so nothing new there.  But like the movie Sully, we didn't hear the whole story, so this is played out here in more detail, and I liked that --- I liked getting to be up close to this doctor as the information came across his desk.  But it is slow moving, as his research was --- it was full of starts and stops and he got shut down pretty much wherever he went because of his research on concussions.  The percentage in  the end blurb  (some 25% of football players will be negatively affected by concussions from playing profooball) is pretty frightening and leaves a strong impression on this viewer.  The story deserved to be shown, and I'm glad it got into the theatres.  After seeing it, I wondered why it wasn't mentioned for awards, and I can see why they would feel that Will Smith was passed over last year.  I agree.  I think he should have been there instead of Michael Fassbender (but no one could have beaten Leo last year!  hah!)  But that's water over the bridge, but now I understand why he and his wife and others spoke out last year when there were few nods to blacks and hispanics. Okay, but disclaimer here.....the film was preaching to the choir with me --- not a fan of football, never was, never will be.  I wondered how this played out to big fans of the sport. (p.s.  I watched it alone, so that's why I'm asking).  I give this a 3.5 out of 5 and recommend it.

"CONCUSSION"      2015       2 hours 3 mins      PG-13

When Dr. Bennet Omalu's autopsy studies lead him to conclude that multiple concussions could be the underlying cause of the brain disorders suffered by many U.S. football players, he encounters harsh resistance from the NFL establishment.

Cast: Will Smith, Alec Baldwin, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Albert Brooks

Movie #1308 .........................."Deepwater Horizon"

Movie #1308 "Deepwater Horizon" was an intense movie I saw the other night, on a subject I followed in the news --- the explosion of he oil rig in 2010 that caused several men to die who were walking on it at the time.  Maybe it was just me, but from the beginning of the film, I had trouble following what was going on.  They very rarely made it clear to a layman what they were talking about.  I could follow the gist of it, because I had seen a play on the same subject which was so much better in helping us understand the ins and outs of the oil rig and what basically happened when it blew, but the film did not.  I really gave up after a while and just watched the very good special effects. And that's about all I can say that I really enjoyed about the film.  Perhaps if you like action films,  and you can follow more easily the details in the film, you probably will enjoy it much more.  I just didn't.  3 stars out of 5.


DEEPWATER HORIZON   2016      PG-13       1 hour and 47 minutes

Replaying the catastrophic explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in 2010, this tense drama recounts the horrific experiences of the 126 crew members onboard and the numerous acts of courage that saved untold lives.

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich,