Gideon58's Reviews

[Gideon58]

https://lh4.ggpht.com/ZqyRmpNFlWgfdL9BwcdGqtJtwpOPS2H6dyBOCvRxtcOkbADkUAd5vHfQaiEnAiXAmgDZ=w300
Arguably the masters of black comedy. Joel and Ethan Cohen had middling success with Burn After Reading, a 2008 film that sustains interest despite a hard-to-believe story and some offbeat casting choices.
http://www.standbyformindcontrol.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/snapshot20110425094750.jpg
The memoirs of a disgraced CIA agent (John Malkovich) accidentally wind up in the hands of a pair of dim-witted gym employees (Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand) who think this might be their way to easy street, but not so much.
http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/5100000/Burn-After-Reading-movies-5136894-1280-688.jpg
The Cohens' screenplay is outrageous but there is some very funny dialogue and the situations that occur are so outrageous you can't help but be curious, which is documented by the periodic updates of the story by two FBI agents (David Rashe, JK Simmons) whose reactions to what is going on almost makes what's going on worth caring about.
https://acceptthemysterydotnet.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/burn6_l.jpg
There is some odd casting here and only some of it is successful...McDormand is miscast as an insecure and lonely woman that Sandra Bullock could play in her sleep, as is George Clooney as the emasculated federal agent she's involved with, but truthfully, Pitt steals the show as the gym employee who finds blackmail is not as easy he thought. The Cohens have definitely done better work, but the story sustains interest and the cast is game. 3

[Gideon58]

Lenny Bruce's sadly tragic career as an underground comic sensation was all the more tragic because the things that made him infamous would be considered pretty much harmless today but back in the 50's and 60's the things that Bruce said and did were considered obscene and eventually destroyed his career and life.
https://travsd.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/11.jpg
Director Bob Fosse mounted an intense docudrama in 1974 called Lenny, an uncompromising and voyeuristic look at Lenny Bruce and the personal demons that were the groundwork for a controversial comic career that influenced many great comedic minds that followed even though some of them don't realize it.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IsrwN7_rSz8/TiYkvvf1CbI/AAAAAAAAEg0/LE-qnp4C89I/s1600/LENNY+STILL.jpg
The film (photographed in period appropriate black and white) traces Lenny's humble beginnings as a struggling Catskills comic whose early comic influences Lenny found stifling and allowed his personal demons to invade his material to the point where he was talking about the things that nightclub comics in the 60's weren't supposed to be talking about and how he felt his only real defense in court was to do his act in court, which, of course, was not happening.
https://journeysinclassicfilm.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/lennyhoney.jpg
Dustin Hoffman received his third Oscar nomination for the raw nerve of a performance he delivers as Lenny Bruce, a kinetic and mesmerizing performance that nails the mad genius that was Bruce. Valerie Perrine was also nominated for her Honey Harlowe, the drug-addicted stripper he eventually marries and Jan Miner also scores as Lenny's devoted mother. When it comes down to it, it is Hoffman's powerhouse performance and Fosse's evocative direction that makes this movie the very special experience it is. 4

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a3/Birdman_poster.jpg
The Oscar winning Best Picture of 2014, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), is a dark and slightly pretentious drama that begins as one of the most realistic looks at show business but eventually vacillates between the stark realism that we are initially subjected to in favor of overstated psychological fantasy that flies in the face of the wonderfully realistic look at an actor teetering on the brink and the parallels with the actor playing the role.
http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/54398a82ecad046c6bd52d19/birdman-starring-michael-keaton-is-the-best-movie-of-the-year.jpg
Michael Keaton turns in the performance of his career as Riggan Thompson, a movie star who made a career out of playing a costumed superhero, but somewhere along the line his career went south and is now preparing to make his debut on Broadway. As the last two previews occur, we learn that Riggan has invested everything he owns into financing this play, one of his co-stars has quit and is about to be replaced by an arrogant New York method actor who thinks he has to actually drink liquor in order to play drunk onstage or has to actually have sex onstage with his actress/girlfriend instead of simulating sex.
http://blogs-images.forbes.com/markhughes/files/2014/10/Birdman-5.jpg
Director/screenwriter Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu has constructed a unique and vivid look at the New York theater scene with a screenplay peppered with clever if sometimes obvious dialogue that covers things like the extremely fragile egos of actors and how most of them are pretty unhappy, screwed up people and the things that actors often sacrifice for their careers. However, the screenplay veers off course during the third act when Riggan's inner voices are given a visualization that is initially kind of hard to swallow after the stark realism of what we have been privy to before. It also touches upon public view of movie stars and actors' serious contempt of critics.
http://pop-verse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/birdman-stills-wallpapers.jpg
I have to wonder if Keaton was robbed of the Best Actor Oscar for his brilliant performance in the comeback of the decade. I can't say for sure not having seen The Theory of Everything yet, but I found Keaton mesmerizing in this once of a lifetime role and. as previously mentioned, the parallels between Thompson and Keaton just added to the power of the performance. Mention should also be made of Edward Norton, as Mike, the arrogant method actor and in the performance of her career, Emma Stone as Riggan's daughter, an angry drug addict who still resents her father for neglecting her when he was still a movie star.
http://www.post-gazette.com/image/2014/10/27/ca214,13,2197,1467/Birdman5.jpg
The third act of the film gets a little unfocused, but the film does feature some inventive camerawork (the art of the hand-held camera has rarely been utilized to greater effect) and I loved the musical score, which was almost all percussion, something I have rarely seen but really worked for me, as did most of the film, which I hope will be the renaissance of Michael Keaton's career, a career that went south for some reason and I will never understand why. 4

[Gideon58]

http://movie-sheets.com/wp-content/uploads/w/Whiplash%20-%202014%20-%20tt2582802%20-%20Poster.jpg
Don't let the fact that it won three Oscars fool you, 2014's Whiplash is an overblown examination of the singular obsession that drives musicians and the nonsensical battle of wills between a young drummer and a tyrannical jazz band conductor.

Set at the fictional Shaffer Conservatory of Music, the story concerns Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller), a 19-year old drummer who is initially thrilled at the chance to be the drummer for Fletcher (J K Simmons), an abusive and power mad musical genius who has been known for going a little too far to get what he wants from his band.
http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Whiplash.jpg
Basically, what we have here is Fame meets An Officer and a Gentleman as, despite the music school setting, the relationship between Andrew and Fletcher definitely had me flashing back to Richard Gere and Louis Gossett Jr. in the 1982 classic, the back and forth battle for the mutual respect, the abuse of power in earning said respect and the eventual understanding where the other is coming from.

Writer/director Damian Chazelle could have told a moving and realistic story about what musicians go through but has decided instead to substitute a realistic story about what drives musicians with a surface story rich with cinematic pyrotechnics...the film is rich with dazzling camerawork and editing(the editing did win an Oscar), but its a little short on some important technicalities regarding musicians.
http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/blogs/quora/2015/03/15/150316_QUORA_SimmonsWhiplash.jpg.CROP.original-original.jpg
The primary one concerns J K Simmons' performance as Fletcher, that won him the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor. Simmons' performance is theatrically bold and demands attention but should have been problematic for any real musician watching the performance. I read music, play piano and trombone and have a musical theater degree and anyone with similar training would have noticed right away that it would have been nice if Chazelle had actually hired someone to teach Simmons how to conduct. Every time he raised his hand to conduct and counted off incorrectly, it took me out of the performance, not to mention the fact that Fletcher's obsession about tempos made no sense because we really never knew what the man is looking for.
http://www.hollywoodbollywood.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Whiplash-Movie.jpg
Teller works very hard to make Andrew believable, even investing in the ridiculous cliche of "playing till your knuckles bleed." In 40 years, I have never seen a drummer's hands bleed and could not take these scenes seriously. There's just too much done here in the name of bold theatricality instead of a reality-based look at musicianship. 2.5

[Gideon58]

Steve Martin's physical comedy prowess and Carl Reiner's proven ability to write and mount credible comedy combined to make one of the top box office smashes of 1984 and one of the most underrated comedies ever, a minor classic called All of Me, which still provides laughs almost 40 years later.
http://en.academic.ru/pictures/enwiki/65/All_Of_Me.jpg
Edwina Cutwater (Lily Tomlin) is a dying millionairess who has more money that God but not the time to spend it, so she has decided, upon her death, to have her soul transferred into the body of her stableman's daughter, Terry (Victoria Tennant) so that she can continue to live, but something happens during the actual transference and Edwina's soul instead enters the body of Roger Cobb (Martin), the unhappy lawyer who has been hired to get Edwina's legal affairs in order. We then watch Roger's life become extremely complicated as Edwina now has complete control of the right side of Roger's body and becomes fascinated with the abilities afforded by a healthy human body, something she has never experienced.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/BpV5wTbvq8M/maxresdefault.jpg
Reiner and Martin struck comic gold here as we not only watch Martin garner major laughs in a physically tricky and demanding role, but create a character who is actually intelligent and relatable and the not-too-quick development of a relationship with the woman inhabiting his body who he didn't like before this all happened, all complicated by the fact that Terry is only doing this to get her hands on Edwina's money and fights her attraction to Roger to keep her eye on the prize.

Martin's performance is comic gold and there was actual Oscar buzz surrounding his performance at the time, though he didn't get a nomination, I think he should have and he's matched perfectly by Tomlin as an initially unlikable character who is softened after her death and there is a viable chemistry between Martin and Tennant that developed into a real life romance and eventual marriage.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nE58ZtIpNSo/maxresdefault.jpg
A warm and richly entertaining comedy that provides major belly laughs but, more importantly, will have you smiling throughout. 3.5

[gbgoodies]

It's been a few years since I watched All of Me, but I still remember laughing throughout the movie. I think it's one of Steve Martin's funniest movies, and the whole cast is terrific.

[Gideon58]

Stylish direction, an intriguing if slightly predictable story, some offbeat casting, and one of cinema's most memorable musical themes were the primary selling points for the 1944 classic Laura.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5SMlnCFhaTA/TNR_6itC9vI/AAAAAAAAQXA/GZ2e3xCY9ts/s1600/poster_10.jpg
Dana Andrews stars as Mark McPherson, a police detective who has been hired to investigate the murder of a beautiful socialite named Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney) and as the pieces of her life and the mystery behind her murder start to come to light, the detective actually finds himself developing romantic feelings for a woman he has never met. It also becomes clear that something is not right about this crime as there are way too many suspects, the primary ones being Laura's benefactor, radio columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) and her rather shady fiancee, Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price).
http://static.rogerebert.com/uploads/review/primary_image/reviews/great-movie-laura-1944/hero_EB20020120REVIEWS08201200301AR.jpg
Jay Dratler's screenplay, based on a novel by Vera Caspary tries to be overly intricate and has a couple of plot holes that you could drive a truck through, but it is well served by director Otto Preminger, who competently mounts the kind of melodrama at which Michael Curtiz, Vincente Minnelli, or George Cukor might have excelled.
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Film/Pix/pictures/2012/2/22/1329931132595/Laura-007.jpg
The performances are first rate for the most part...Gene Tierney's ethereal beauty was a perfect face for the title role and Dana Andrews made the most of the best role of his career as a detective who finds personal passion driving his work. And for those who only know his work as a horror movie icon, Vincent Price is an eye-opener as Laura's sleazy fiancee who has a quick answer for everything and is nothing like the guy he appears to be on the surface. Judith Anderson also scores as Laura's friend, who is really in love with Price and wants to steal him from Laura. And what can be said about David Raskin's love theme that hasn't been said? The film also features some impressive set direction...Laura's apartment is beautiful and so is that gorgeous portrait of Tierney hanging over the fireplace. It's a little dated and predictable but still wonderfully entertaining. 3.5

[MovieMeditation]

Couldn't understand your rating for Whiplash when I saw it in the Rate Last Movie Thread. Now I do.

You are one of those "musician people" who complain about how unrealistic it is and how it just doesn't come close to what "real music" is. Give me a break.

This film is a tour de force in cinema, a technical wonder and an intense simple story of the road to success. It doesn't try to be much more than that, it doesn't try to be musically accurate. I thought Teller was great, don't understand how you kind of blame problems on him that aren't his fault.

[Gideon58]

Couldn't understand your rating for Whiplash when I saw it in the Rate Last Movie Thread. Now I do.

You are one of those "musician people" who complain about how unrealistic it is and how it just doesn't come close to what "real music" is. Give me a break.

This film is a tour de force in cinema, a technical wonder and an intense simple story of the road to success. It doesn't try to be much more than that, it doesn't try to be musically accurate. I thought Teller was great, don't understand how you kind of blame problems on him that aren't his fault.
You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but I cannot help the fact that I am a trained musician and that my training affected the way I looked at this film. I don't understand why people on these forums always insist on technical accuracy and "sticking to the facts" where some films (biopics in particular) are concerned, but for other films, they can let the same things slide. And I don't blame Teller for anything...any problems I had with this film are the responsibility of the writer and director Damian Chazelle.

[MovieMeditation]

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but I cannot help the fact that I am a trained musician and that my training affected the way I looked at this film. I don't understand why people on these forums always insist on technical accuracy and "sticking to the facts" where some films (biopics in particular) are concerned, but for other films, they can let the same things slide. And I don't blame Teller for anything...any problems I had with this film are the responsibility of the writer and director Damian Chazelle.
It's just annoying me a bit, since almost all the negative comments about this film, which I have stumbled upon, have been from people who present themselves as genuine musicians and is therefore unable to enjoy such a "poor" representation of it, whether the music or the teaching or whatever they feel is "unrealistic".

I could understand if this was in fact a biopic or a film explicitly based on a true story, but it's not. It can tell its story exactly how it wants to. I understand if certain elements may take you out of the film, but throwing a lot of critique at a film for not being what it isn't trying to be seems odd.

Would you go into a Fast & Furious film and criticize the car stunts because they wouldn't be possible in terms of science and various laws of physics? Would you watch any given horror film, or even a Tarantino film, and comment on how the blood is totally unrealistic because you may be a doctor or whatever and therefore has the right and the right knowledge to criticize such things? I could go on like that... a survival expert criticizing survival films, an animal expert criticizing movies like Planet of the Apes and King Kong. It's stupid.

Yes it's my opinion, but I just don't see how a work of fiction has to be a work of fact just because you are a so-called expert on these facts. The director has freedom to create whatever he wants and that's the power of cinema in all its glory.

[ursaguy]

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but I cannot help the fact that I am a trained musician and that my training affected the way I looked at this film. I don't understand why people on these forums always insist on technical accuracy and "sticking to the facts" where some films (biopics in particular) are concerned, but for other films, they can let the same things slide. And I don't blame Teller for anything...any problems I had with this film are the responsibility of the writer and director Damian Chazelle.

It's really not hard to understand. When making a biographical film, about a real subject, facts should be accurate. When making a fictional film, about made up subjects, the facts don't really matter. I have to take MMs side on this. I think it's absurd that you praise things that actual matter in a movie (editing, cinematography, acting), criticize things that don't effect the quality at all (JK Simmons raising his hand the worng way), and come to the conclusion that it isn't a good movie. The only people I've seen say bad things about Whiplash are real musicians, and not once have I heard one of them give a cinematic fault, just that it was unrealistic. It wasn't trying to be hyper realistic, in the same way that something like Nightcrawler took a lot of leeway with how the TV world worked. For the purpose of making a good story, not everything can be 100% accurate, and that's okay.

[Gideon58]

I'm not going to criticize car stunts in a Fast & Furious movie because I know nothing about car stunts...I know about music so when I see things that I have studied represented inaccurately onscreen, they are going to take me out of the movie. It would have taken maybe an extra week or two in the production schedule for Chazelle to hire someone to teach Simmons how to conduct and count off correctly...it's not rocket science and it's a shame that Chazelle was not concerned enough with the integrity of his piece that it wasn't important enough to him to make sure his central character looks like he knows what's he's doing. I stand by my opinion of this film and I will allow you to stand by yours, so we are going to have to agree to disagree about this.

[Gideon58]

The only people I've seen say bad things about Whiplash are real musicians,



Shouldn't that tell you something?

[mark f]

They're not movie critics? :)

[ursaguy]

The only people I've seen say bad things about Whiplash are real musicians,



Shouldn't that tell you something?
It tells me that this movie probably deserved every award it got because nobody can find a flaw with the filmmaking. People are criticizing the unrealistic elements, the constant gay slurs by Simmons, and that the characters were unlikable, but Chazelle would answer all of those with "That was the point." As a detailed biographical look into how to become a drummer, it fails, and that's not a bad thing because it never tries to succeed.

[Gideon58]

Paul Thomas Anderson constructed his largest and most complex canvas with Magnolia, a scorching 1999 drama that takes an on-target look at forgiveness, redemption, and letting go of the past through the eyes of two families with dying matriarchs.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/5c/2d/d8/5c2dd832fbf43f40b63a59a1117aee8c.jpg
Anderson has mounted a story where storyline threads have paper thin connections but viewer patience will provide pleasant surprises for those who pay attention. We are introduced to Earl Partridge (Jason Robards), a dying man whose only connection to reality is his male nurse (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) who keeps his younger bride (Julianne Moore) apprised of his condition while she agonizes in guilt over her treatment of him.
http://www.tasteofcinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/magnolia.jpg
Phillip Baker Hall is a game show host whose condition concerns his wife (Melinda Dillon), but his junkie daughter (Melora Hardin) not so much. We also see a secondary thread here between one of the game show contestants (Jeremy Blackman) who cracks under the pressure and a former game show quiz kid (William H. Macy) who can't put the past in its correct perspective.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3H1dWtzmZYU/TJIiPZfzUnI/AAAAAAAAC0M/CKZaNkH1jag/s1600/3682742545_60de0fb30b_b.jpg
We also meet JT Mackey (Tom Cruise), a charismatic motivational speaker who has become a celebrity through his beyond sexist treatment of women and the reveal of his patriarchal connection that has made JT the man he is.
http://www.ew.com/sites/default/files/i/imgs/060929//164040__magnolia_l.jpg
Thomas has created a riveting story that strains credibility near the end, but, as always, we are drawn by the amazing performances Anderson always manages to draw from his rep company, especially Moore, Hoffman, and especially Cruise, in the film that should have earned him his first Oscar. Cruise has never commanded the screen the way he did here.

A triumph for Anderson and a challenge for the viewer looking for something different. 4

[MovieMeditation]

Well there is a movie we can agree to agree on. :up:

[Gideon58]

From the creative mind of Alan Parker comes a 1976 musical satire called Bugsy Malone, a strikingly original idea that didn't quite match up in the actual execution of said idea.
https://d12vb6dvkz909q.cloudfront.net/uploads/galleries/17490/bugsy-malone-2.jpg
Parker wrote and directed this clever lampooning of the gangster movie genre which follows the escalating mob war between two warring fractions who are both after ownership of the latest weapon on the street. The novel idea that Parker has employed here is that all of the characters are played by children. I'm pretty sure there isn't an actor in this movie who was over the age of 17 at the time, but the characters are still adults and written as adults and that might be part of the problem with the film.
http://www.film4.com/media/images/Channel4/Film4/1970s/bugsy-malone.jpg
Parker has written a mob story with a relatively straight face and is asking children to execute the story, children who may not be familiar with the kind of movie they are lampooning and that comes through in their playing of some of the scenes here, written for humor by Parker but sometimes not clearly understood by Parker's very talented but very young cast. It might have been a good idea for Parker to have his cast sit through some classic films like Scarface, White Heat, and The Roaring 20's so that these children might have had a better understanding of what they were doing here.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01188/arts-graphics-film_1188440a.jpg
Don't get me wrong, there are a couple of cast members who understand exactly what's going on here, particularly Jodie Foster as the femme fatale Tallulah and John Cassisi as Fat Sam...they seem to have a handle on what's going on here, which can't be said for the entire cast.
http://images.cdn.filmclub.org/resource-item__bugsymalone-456--feature.jpg
There are some technical and logistical problems here as well...Parker chose to do some dubbing of the voices during the performance of Paul Williams' serviceable but less than remarkable musical score; unfortunately, the singing voices don't always match the actors' speaking voices which I found a little distracting, but not enough to completely take me out of the proceedings.
http://31.media.tumblr.com/a74428b68cd958ec6920a2c9a1cb259a/tumblr_inline_mlracokBqh1qz4rgp.gif
A very young Scott Baio handles the title role competently enough, though I might have cast someone a little older but he manages to hold the viewer's attention along with the previously mentioned Foster and Cassisi. Parker has also paid close attention to period detail in terms of settings and costumes and how can you not love machine guns that shoot whipped cream. 3

[gbgoodies]

http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=13902&stc=1&d=1398346810

South Pacific has never been one of my favorite musicals so I was initially unenthused at the thought of watching a concert version done live from Carnegie Hall, but decided to give it a chance when I learned that Brian Stokes Mitchell would be singing Emile DeBeque.
http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=15899&stc=1&d=1403274276
As I suspected, Brian Stokes Mitchell's rich baritone and the role of DeBeque were a perfect fit, his rich, dark brown tone seemed to fill every inch of Carnegie Hall...his rendition of "This Nearly was Mine" literally stopped the show. Never one of my favorite songs, Stokes Mitchell, as he did when he played Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha, puts his own stamp on the song and I swear a chill went down my spine as he concluded the piece.

Stokes Mitchell was flawless, as always, but the real surprise for me in this concert version was Reba McIntire singing Nellie Forbush. McIntire, who starred as Annie Oakley in Annie Get your Gun on Broadway, made a surprisingly effective Nellie. Her marked southern drawl was less of a distraction in a concert version than I think it might have become in a full production.
http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=15898&stc=1&d=1403274224
McIntire's interpretation of the songs was energetic and she acceptably masked the fact that "A Wonderful Guy" and "Honey Bun" were both a little out of her range. Lillias White was brilliant as Bloody Mary, one of the few times I have heard "Bali H'ai" and "Happy Talk" completely belted...her voice was lush and controlled and I don't think I have ever been so moved by "Bali H'ai" before.

Jason Daniely's rendition of "Younger than Springtime" as Lt. Cable was lovely, but when the music stopped and he had to actually speak dialogue, he became stiff and uncomfortable to watch and I think Alec Baldwin was just miscast as Luther Billis. But the breathtaking musicianship of Brian Stokes Mitchell and Lillias White made this concert worth watching. 6.5/10


I originally watched this mainly for Reba McEntire. (I've been a fan of her music for as long as I can remember, and I loved her on Broadway in "Annie Get Your Gun".) I thought she was terrific in this version of "South Pacific", but I agree with you that Brian Stokes Mitchell and Lillias White really stole the show.

[Gideon58]

http://pop-break.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/jersey_boys_movie_poster.jpg
It's always a little unsettling when a film doesn't live up to expectations that I have unfairly placed upon it. I almost always do it when the film is based on material from another medium because there's a part of me that always expects an exact reproduction of the original source material, but that's an unfair cheat to the filmmaker and ultimately rather a bore for the viewer.
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQWADCKBwb9reKR-cvUDNmAS18WaTJDm5pS6kWBNejEbLJRc6bT
I have to admit I was concerned when I learned that Clint Eastwood was going to direct the film version of Jersey Boys, the 2014 film version of the Tony-award winning Broadway musical, which was rather stupid because I never saw the show. The movie was absolutely not what I expected...it was riveting and vivid entertainment surpassing all my expectations.
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcROraQWP242FTtF-QOLuSAJstkAu4G74dekaVUqR99cPAVNcZwQ
As for my expectations, I thought we were going to be privy to a standard biopic about Frank Valli, that incredible instrument that was his voice and his rise to fame with the Four Seasons, but the movie was so much more than that. This movie was about four guys from Jersey in the 1950's and 1960's and everything that goes along with that and how they happened to become Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
http://blogs-images.forbes.com/markhughes/files/2014/08/jersey-boys-1.jpg
According to this screenplay by Marshall Brickman (Oscar winner for Annie Hall) and Rick Elice, mob money was instrumental to the group's start-up, thanks to Tommy DeVito, the guy who started the group and childhood pal of Frankie, who discovered Frankie was the one with the voice and put him up front, though Tommy always made it clear he was the boss, not only to Frankie, but to Bob Gaudio and Tommy's brother Nick, the other two "Seasons". Between the pressure of juggling mob debt, delicate show business egos, family neglect, we once again see the connection between show business and the mob and how it can make and break careers and lives.
http://www.columbusalive.com/content/graphics/2014/06/18/ca-f-jerseyboys.jpg?__scale=w:660,h:413,t:1,c:transparent,q:80,r:1
Clint Eastwood has mounted a loving tribute to not only a great group of musicians, but an entire era and the Jersey sensibility that pervaded television shows like The Sopranos...no matter what level of fame these guys reach, we are never allowed to forget that these are "four guys from Jersey." Love the inside joke of Tommy DeVito ending up working for Joe Pesci, whose character name in Goodfellas was Tommy DeVito.

Eastwood shows undeniable respect for the music of Frankie Valli and has presented authentic sounding music that has its own richness and captures the spirit of the original recordings without being mere copies.

Eastwood also showed respect for the stage origins by casting three of the original stars of the Broadway show in the movie, including Tony Award winner John Lloyd Young as Frankie, whose voice is absolutely amazing, I could listen to him sing all day, though sometimes his acting was still a little too stagy. Ironically, Vincent Piazza, the only actor who wasn't in the stage show, gives the strongest performance of the four as DeVito, the manipulative creator of the four seasons who eventually would pay consequences for his actions in getting the group off the ground.
http://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/entertainment/movies/2014/04/18/clint_eastwoods_jersey_boys_movie_watch_the_trailer/jerseyjpg.jpg.size.xxlarge.letterbox.jpg
As he always does, Eastwood has poured a lot of money into this production and every penny shows onscreen...authentic and loving attention to period detail pervade this production and, maybe because it's a musical, the sound and sound editing deserve a special nod here. This film is a triumph for Eastwood, for Frankie Valli, and for everything Jersey. 4

[Gideon58]

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140317004919/disney/images/4/4b/Ralphnew002.jpeg
Disney Pixar has knocked another one out of the park with their creation of an eye-popping animated adventure called Wreck-It-Ralph, a brilliant and imaginative adult journey based on childhood imagination and what can stem from it that explores a possible look at what happens when a video junkie sees the words "Game Over" flash on the screen and the arcade locks its doors. From this simple concept the viewer is led on a dazzling adult adventure sprung from childhood sensibility that touches on classic cinematic subjects like self-loathing and social acceptance through an exciting journey that will keep the young and the young at heart glued to the screen.

The title character is the villain in a video game called Fix-It-Felix who is tired of being the villain in the game. While the rest of the characters in the game live and party together in the building where the game is set, Ralph lives alone in a dump and goes to a support group for video villains. Tired of being a bad guy, Ralph decides to change his life by earning a medal in another game called Hero's Duty, but becomes separated from his medal and the journey to retrieve leads him to another game called Sugar Rush where a little girl turns out to be the key to getting his medal back but, of course, there are a few hundred strings attached. Meanwhile, Fix-It-Felix and Hero's Duty have both been threatened with Out of Order signs due to Ralph's actions and their leaders must work together to get Ralph to return where he belongs.
http://abovethebuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Wreck-it-Ralph.jpg
Director and co-screenwriter Rich Moore has created a fascinating adventure filled with all kinds of interesting characters and situations, building some very human relationships and presenting in such a surprisingly adult manner that, as an animated film, you have to wonder who the intended demographic was for this film, because there is so much going on here that I have a difficult time believing children would grasp.

But what really shines through in this story is two relationships: the one between Ralph (wonderfully voiced by John C. Reilly) and the little girl Vannelope (voiced by Sarah Silverman) and the relationship that develops between Fix-It-Felix (voiced by Jack MacBrayer) and the leader of Hero's Duty, Calhoun (brilliantly voiced by Jane Lynch) and it is these two relationships that formulate the heart that brews underneath all the razzle dazzle going on here.
http://www.apnatimepass.com/wreck-it-ralph-movie-poster-11.jpg
There's so much going on here it's impossible to catch it all, there are things you just have to let go and move the same pace as the story. The film also scores in the area of art direction, set direction, and sound editing. There is joy and imagination to spare in one of the most amazing offerings from Disney Pixar I have ever seen. 4.5

[Gideon58]

http://www.dvd-covers.org/d/63607-3/Yes_Man_Custom_DVD_Covers_.jpg
I had been wondering what had happened to Jim Carrey because I hadn't seen much of him, but I have a feeling that his career has been seriously affected by comedies like Yes Man, a dull and unimaginative comedy which just doesn't work due to a storyline premise that just doesn't make sense and all we're left with is Carrey's prowess at physical comedy, which is utilized but is not enough to carry the proceedings.
http://blog.ljcfyi.com/blog/2009/may2009/yesman3.jpg
This 2008 comedy casts Carrey as Carl, a bank loan officer who is a social hermit and commitment-phobe who is constantly lying to everyone about everything in order to be left alone. Carl is persuaded to attend a seminar by a famous author (Terrence Stamp) about the power of saying "yes" and Carl is persuaded to change his life by saying "yes" to everything for a year and the positive and negative impact this life-altering commitment has on him.
http://33hpwq10j9luq8gl43e62q4e.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/images/yes-man-review-1.jpg
This story, incredibly based on a book by Danny Wallace, just doesn't hold water because I don't buy the fact that this character would continue to say yes to everything after all the ridiculously negative things that happen to him. I found myself flashing to a far superior Carrey comedy called Liar Liar which had a similar premise, but that one worked because Fletcher, Carrey's character in that film, was under the control of a wish made by his son, he had no choice but to tell the truth for 24 hours. Unlike Fletcher, Carl has a power of choice here and the fact that he keeps saying yes just doesn't make sense and neither do some of the over-the-top outrageous situations that Carl's commitment creates.
http://media1.santabanta.com/full1/Hollywood%20Movies/Yes%20Man/yes-man-6h.jpg
The screenplay, which actually took three writers, is all over the place and Peyton Reed's undisciplined direction doesn't help either. Carrey works very hard at making Carl likable but it is a real chore. I never bought the relationship with leading lady Zooey Deschanel, which just seemed to get in the way of the primary story. Bradley Cooper and Danny Masterson do provide some fun as Carl's BFF's despite their severely underwritten roles. I do have to give a shout out to Luis Guzman, who has a very funny cameo as a jumper who Carl prevents from committing suicide.
http://cdn-media-1.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2014/07/Jim-Carrey-Yes-Man-Mic-on-Nose.jpg
I've always liked Jim Carrey but getting through this film was a real chore...I almost turned it off about halfway through, but didn't think it would be right to review half the film. I think I also was hoping for some unforeseen rewards for sitting through the first half; however, they never came. For hard-core Jim Carrey fans only. 2

[Gideon58]

I am not familiar with the work of Charlie Chaplin but am aware of his reputation and his influence on American cinema history but my curiosity has definitely been piqued after viewing Chaplin, the lavishly mounted 1992 biopic that covers the life of the Little Tramp from his troubled childhood in England to his original Hollywood job working in Mack Sennett comedies to establishing his own identity as a movie star while dealing with disturbing family and romantic entanglements along the way, all the classic elements of the Hollywood biopic, but this one is worth investing in due to the extraordinary performance by Robert Downey Jr. in the title role.
http://www.millaj.com/pics/chaplin-cover.jpg
The film attempts an original hook by framing the story around a now retired Charlie narrating his life story to a biographer (Anthony Hopkins), who doesn't just take dictation but attempts to find out what made Chaplin tick and determine when Chaplin is not giving him the entire story and the funny thing is, he doesn't have to do a lot of prodding to get the entire story either. The give and take between the star and his biographer serves as a fun launching pad for several of the episodes in Chaplin's career.
http://i.imgur.com/YO8cx.jpg
Director Richard Attenborough and screenwriters William Boyd, Bryan Forbes, and Williams Goldman have mounted a loving, respectful, and detailed look at the cinema legend...perhaps a little too detailed possibly because it was known the intended demographic here was not familiar with the subject (myself included) and wanted to provide as much insight as they could into this tragic clown.
http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/15300000/Chaplin-Promos-robert-downey-jr-15352603-1300-867.jpg
The film becomes another in a large group of films over the last few decades that has driven home the point of how unhappy and screwed up people comedians and comedy actors are. Charlie's mother is presented here as mentally unstable (he is even assigned partial blame) and his relationship with his brother was stormy as well. Add the struggle for Hollywood respect, the multiple marriages, the advent of talkies (a subject humorously addressed in SIngin in the Rain is addressed a little more seriously here), and the Hollywood blacklisting of the 50's that destroyed so many Hollywood careers and you have a story that is engrossing but perhaps tries to cover too much ground.
http://hildyjohnson.ferfoto.es/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/chaplin.png
There is no denying the power of Robert Downey Jr.'s performance in the title role...the actor looses himself in a role with such authenticity the performance did earn him his first Oscar nomination. Mention should also be made of Geraldine Chaplin playing her own grandmother and Kevin Kline in a flashy turn as Douglas Fairbanks.

The film is beautifully photographed and effectively recreates old Hollywood and as entertainment value, it has its merits but it does go on way too long. 3.5

[Gideon58]

https://rashmanly.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/town_and_country_ver1_xlg.jpg
Warren Beatty took control of his career way back in the mid 60's when he produced and starred in Bonnie and Clyde, so I was intrigued when I learned he had accepted the lead in 2001's Town & Country, a tired all-star comedy that has little more than star power going for it. After complete control of his career for almost 40 years, what would motivate Beatty to accept a role in a film merely as an actor?

Beatty plays Porter Stoddard who cheats on his wife (Diane Keaton) right round the same time his best friend,Griffin (Garry Shandling) cheats on his wife (Goldie Hawn), which motivates the guys to take off to a mountain cabin retreat, which leads to even further adultery and outrageous slapstick adventures.
http://onthesetofnewyork.com/locations/townandcountry/townandcountry02.jpg
Michael Laughlin and Buck Henry's screenplay plays like bad Woody Allen, a dizzying musical beds chronicle with a "spot the star" cast which might have worked with a younger, more energetic cast, but the cast that director Peter Chelsom has assembled for this piece is just too old for this kind of sexual slapstick.

Oscar winners Beatty, Keaton, and Hawn have all been seen to better advantage and appear to be appropriately embarrassed to be involved in these silly proceedings. Natassjia Kinski, Andie McDowell, Jenna Elfmann, Josh Hartnett, and Charlton Heston also somehow got trapped in this mess. Co-screenwriter Henry even makes a cameo as a divorce attorney.
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.97256.1331566721!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/gallery_1200/gal-flop-24.jpg
The film just appears to have been mounted in a rather haphazard fashion...the film even appears to have a grainy look like it was made back in the 70's or something. I had never heard of this director prior to this film and now I can see why...this cast deserves a lot better. 1.5

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/71/Finding_Nemo_Coverart.png
2003's Finding Nemo is another richly entertaining comic adventure from Disney Pixar that brings a wonderfully imaginative story to the screen via some entertaining characters and a perfect voice cast.
http://purenyx.com/brittanyconstable/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2014/05/woj-finding-nemo_-1080p-4.jpg
Nemo (voiced by Alexander Gould) is the son of a clown fish named Marlin (wonderfully voiced by Albert Brooks) who is kidnapped by a scuba diver on his first day of school and ends up in a dentist's fish aquarium in Sydney, Australia. We then watch Marlin try to find his son with the help of an emotionally crippled fish named Dory (voiced by EllenDeGeneres) while it is also revealed that Nemo is going to be a gift to the dentist's neice, a little girl named Darla who accidentally kills fish.
http://i.azcentral.com/thingstodo/movies/images/34125/34125_an.jpg
The screenplay sadly and effectively sets up the relationship with Marlin and Nemo in the opening scene, establishing their relationship and making us want to see them back together more than anything in the world.
https://fanart.tv/fanart/movies/12/moviebackground/finding-nemo-507657d8293dc.jpg
The voice cast is wonderful with some standout work from Willem Dafoe, Brad Garrett, and Allison Janney as other tenants of the aquarium but the film is easily stolen by DeGeneres as Dory, the hot mess of a fish with nothing but good intentions. Disney Pixar scored big time here and actually won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. 4

[gbgoodies]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/71/Finding_Nemo_Coverart.png
2003's Finding Nemo is another richly entertaining comic adventure from Disney Pixar that brings a wonderfully imaginative story to the screen via some entertaining characters and a perfect voice cast.
http://purenyx.com/brittanyconstable/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2014/05/woj-finding-nemo_-1080p-4.jpg
Nemo (voiced by Alexander Gould) is the son of a clown fish named Marlin (wonderfully voiced by Albert Brooks) who is kidnapped by a scuba diver on his first day of school and ends up in a dentist's fish aquarium in Sydney, Australia. We then watch Marlin try to find his son with the help of an emotionally crippled fish named Dory (voiced by EllenDeGeneres) while it is also revealed that Nemo is going to be a gift to the dentist's neice, a little girl named Darla who accidentally kills fish.
http://i.azcentral.com/thingstodo/movies/images/34125/34125_an.jpg
The screenplay sadly and effectively sets up the relationship with Marlin and Nemo in the opening scene, establishing their relationship and making us want to see them back together more than anything in the world.
https://fanart.tv/fanart/movies/12/moviebackground/finding-nemo-507657d8293dc.jpg
The voice cast is wonderful with some standout work from Willem Dafoe, Bard Garrett, and Allison Janney as other tenants of the aquarium but the film is easily stolen by DeGeneres as Dory, the hot mess of a fish with nothing but good intentions. Disney Pixar scored big time here and actually won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. 8/10


Finding Nemo is one of my favorite animated movies. I love Ellen DeGeneres as Dory, and I can't wait to see the sequel.

[Gideon58]

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131002122858/disney/images/5/58/Frozen-movie-poster.jpg
Not since Beauty and the Beast have I been so completely enchanted by an animated fantasy as I was by the 2013 Oscar Winner for Best Animated Feature, Frozen, a magical entertainment that is part love story, part Broadway musical, part adventure, a multi-layered and original look at cinematic staples like the responsibility that comes with power, guilt, family is family, and, of course, that love conquers all.
https://filmfork-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/content/frozen-movie-still-28.jpg
Elsa and Anna are sisters and princesses who have been raised separately in the castle because of a childhood accident stemming from Elsa's discovery that she has the power to freeze things but doesn't always have complete control of said power. A conflict with Anna causes Elsa to freeze the kingdom and leave, prompting Anna to find her sister and simultaneously save their kingdom.
http://images.contactmusic.com/images/m4vstill/frozen-disney-640.jpg
This fairy tale sucked me in from the beginning and had me riveted to the closing credits. As has become accustomed with the Disney Pixar I've been exposed to thus far, the overly intricate screenplay is rich with deliciously flawed and human characters who are adults with brains and seem to have been designed for adult consumption, despite the fact that this is an animated film. I can't recall an animated film that actually featured a love triangle. These kind of characters are usually assigned to animals in previous Disney Pixar features but it was nice to see them assigned to actual human characters this time, with the exception of a horse named Sven and a snowman named Olaf. I liked that Sven had a character but didn't really speak...his relationship with Kristoff reminded me of Han Solo and Chewbacca.

The film features some wonderful songs by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez that enhance characters and advance story, highlights being "Let it Go", which won the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Song and "In Summer", an absolutely brilliant comic confection sung by Olaf the Snowman about how he can't wait for summertime.
http://theridgewoodblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/iq.tvUgQSi4o.jpg
Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell voice the sisters beautifully and I also loved Jonathan Groff as Kristoff and Joshua Gad stole all his scenes as the voice of Olaf. A once-in-a-lifetime cinematic experience that was 100-megawatt entertainment and way too smart for kids. 4.5

[gbgoodies]

Great review of Frozen, another great Disney movie. :up:

[The Gunslinger45]

I agree, this was a fantastic movie. Great review.

[Gideon58]

I agree, this was a fantastic movie. Great review.
I'm becoming totally addicted to Disney Pixar...these movies are amazing...it started when I finally broke down and watched Toy Story about six months ago and I can't believe what I've been missing...any suggestions on what I should watch next? I was thinking about Up or Ratatouile.

[gbgoodies]

I'm becoming totally addicted to Disney Pixar...these movies are amazing...it started when I finally broke down and watched Toy Story about six months ago and I can't believe what I've been missing...any suggestions on what I should watch next? I was thinking about Up or Ratatouile.


I think you may have seen them already, but if you haven't seen WALL-E and Monsters Inc., I would highly recommend both of these movies.

[Gideon58]

I think you may have seen them already, but if you haven't seen WALL-E and Monsters Inc., I would highly recommend both of these movies.
I have seen Monsters, Inc, I wrote a review on this thread, but I haven't seen Wall-E, thanks for the suggestion.

[Gideon58]

http://images2.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/864_front.jpg
My recent journey through the world of animated cinema recently brought me to 2007's The Bee Movie, a bee's eye view of the world which piqued my curiosity because I thought it might be Disney Pixar, but it turned out to be Dreamworks and I could definitely tell the difference, though Jerry Seinfeld being the creative force behind it did motivate me to give it a look. It's no Frozen or Monsters Inc, but it's watchable with an impressive all-star voice cast.
http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2011/02/24/1226011/619205-bee-movie.jpg
Seinfeld provides the voice for Barry B. Benson, a recent bee college graduate, not terribly thrilled about the well-worn bee tradition of making honey, who escapes the hive and defies bee law by befriending a human named Vanessa (voiced by Renee Zellweger) who leads Barry to the discovery that human beings have been storing and selling honey for years, which motivates Barry to sue the entire human race for profiting from the bee's livelihood, which expands into an even bigger story involving ecological principles and the common man VS big bad corporate America.
http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/screenshots/bee_movie_3.png
The sometimes overly cute screenplay by Seinfeld, Spike Feresten, Barry Marder, and Andy Robin manages to incorporate every single play on words involving bees that they could think of and I found myself wishing they could have been a little more selective in the stories they are attempting to tell. It seemed like we were originally going to get a story of inter-species romance between Barry and Vanessa, but the story expands to the point where the film has at least two too many endings, though I was amused by Vanessa's boyfriend, Ken, being so jealous of her relationship with Barry.
http://news.illinois.edu/WebsandThumbs/InsectFearFilmFest/BeeMovie_still_b.jpg
As mentioned, Seinfeld has gathered some solid actors to voice his characters with standout work from John Goodman as a pompous attorney, Matthew Broderick as Barry's BFF Adam, Rip Torn as the pollen jockeys leader, and especially Patrick Warburton as Ken. The film goes on a little too long, but Seinfeld's reputation in this business and his fantastic voice cast do make the film a curio, to say the least. 3

[Gideon58]

http://www.sofakingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/glengarry-glen-ross1.jpg
If you've ever been harassed on the phone by a salesperson or telemarketer, you might want to check out Glengarry Glen Ross, the scorching 1992 drama, based on David Mamet's play, which sheds an unflattering light on the real estate business and on salesman in general and the deception, betrayal, and desperation of those in the field to be number one on the board again.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RcVHIu7jAUU/T1DcsoREz0I/AAAAAAAADuk/v2fP8dWrLRU/s1600/tumblr_lmvvh0SKzz1qg3i1io1_1280.png
Set in a seedy, second rate real estate office, a small group of salesman are threatened with termination if they don't start closing more deals. The sales staff agree that the reason sales are down is due to a lack of strong leads. When a new set of leads find their way to the office, the Glengarry leads, the office manager refuses to let go of them which forces someone to break into the office and steal them, resulting in some startling repercussions for everyone in the office.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cEODgkzgiqk/VL0ck0yq3UI/AAAAAAAASyM/bvniZO7a68U/s1600/glengarry-glen-ross-2.jpg
The players involved here are strikingly realistic, rich with resentments and hidden agendas regarding their work. Shelley "The Machine" Levine (Jack Lemmon) is the veteran salesman whose best days are behind him, desperate to get back on the board again and stay from underneath the bills for his hospitalized daughter. Ricky Roma (Al Pacino) is currently leading sales in the office, apparently because he gets the strongest leads, but also because some of his sales techniques are less than kosher. Dave Moss (Ed Harris) and George Aaronow (Alan Arkin) are the two sales guys stuck in the middle and lost in the shuffle, convinced that stronger leads are their ticket out. All four salesman are given motive and opportunity to steal the Glengarry leads and therein the effective mystery and drama lie. It's also fascinating watching the salesman involved in their individual sales techniques over the phone and how much of it is just smoke and mirrors.
http://thisdistractedglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/glengarry-glen-ross-1992-alan-arkin-ed-harris-pic-2.jpg
Director James Foley creates a dark and moody atmosphere here...it is raining during most of the story's running time and it almost always seems to be early in the evening here, implying that these guys have put everything else in their lives on the back burner in pursuit of the strongest leads. David Mamet's adaptation of his own play is brilliant and Oscar-worthy, with sizzling dialogue delivered by Foley's hand-picked cast.
https://lidafilmmaker.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/glengarry-glen-ross.jpg
Al Pacino received an Oscar nomination for his Ricky Roma, a cocky know it all whose short cuts to success are a mystery for most of the story. Jack Lemmon delivers the performance of his career, which should have earned him an Oscar nomination, as the grasping and desperate Shelley, the sales veteran willing to do anything to stay in the game. I love that Roma and Shelley, who should be mortal enemies, seem to have a strong mutual respect for each other, which effectively works its way into the climax of the film. Harris and Arkin have their share of explosive moments and Kevin Spacey is appropriately greasy as the office manager, who is definitely painted in shades of gray and there is a brilliant cameo from Alec Baldwin as the corporate honcho who introduces the termination threats that fuel this volatile story.

A once in a lifetime drama fueled by sizzling dialogue, vivid and atmospheric direction, and knockout performances. 4

[Gideon58]

http://www.dvd-covers.org/d/81295-3/296Sid_and_Nancy_R1_MGM.jpg
The world of sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll has rarely provided a more effective canvas for a film than in 1986's Sid and Nancy, an unapologetic and voyeuristic look at the relationship between 1980's punk rocker Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols and longtime girlfriend Nancy Spungen, whose murder scene opens the story.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LrSL2e03Aew/VWXtIE44teI/AAAAAAAABPk/V1HxlKPs3D8/s1600/sidnancy_600x450.jpg
This gritty and uncompromising drama looks at a relationship that defies logic and sense most of the time but does make for compelling movie viewing. According to director and co-screenwriter Alex Cox, Vicious was a self-destructive drug addict who really didn't care about anything, including Nancy or his career and why Nancy stays with him and defends him also defies logic. The film follows the Sex Pistols' humble beginnings on London's lower west end to the American tour which destroyed the group and Sid's feeble attempts to ignite a solo career with Nancy's help, but it all takes a back seat to their addiction and how nothing else becomes important.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/3a/49/3e/3a493ee7b90d1c1d990feb51408082a3.jpg
This gritty story is fueled by two electrifying starring performances...Gary Oldman is strikingly unhinged as Sid, a performance so riveting that it should have earned him an Oscar nomination. Oldman completely loses himself in this performance and apparently began his career as one of cinema's greatest chameleons. Chloe Webb's explosive performance as Nancy matches him note for note and these performances make this film worth investing in.
http://media.giphy.com/media/vhsiWC7iBaIAo/giphy.gif
The film is pretty much a long anti-drug commercial and goes where you expect it to and you see the tragedy of Sid and Nancy when they connect to the real world, which comes shining through in a scene where they visit Nancy's grandparents. The film is long and depressing but the performances of Oldman and Webb make it worth watching. 3.5

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/05/Up_(2009_film).jpg
Disney Pixar does it again with the Oscar-winning Up, an imaginative, logic-defying, and emotionally manipulative 2009 fantasy that has all the accustomed Disney Pixar touches, including an intricate screenplay that reveals a rather sad backstory that seemingly provides too much information, but as the story progresses, all the information we have been provided falls into place.
http://www.chicagonow.com/hammervision/files/2013/05/Up-movie-picnic_610.jpg
Carl (voiced by Edward Asner) is a cantankerous old widower who has been sentenced to living in a nursing home after striking a construction worker. Just as the men in the white coats (or blue in this case) come take him away, his house magically takes off, powered by a huge pile of balloons. It is revealed that Carl had this escape planned and the destination is a South American location that he planned to visit with his late wife. Carl finds his plan complicated when a young boy named Russell (voiced by Jordan Nagai) stows away in the house. Carl and Russell then find themselves facing a childhood idol of Carl's and helping a female bird named Kevin.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Up_at_the_66th_Mostra.jpg
Co-directors and screenwriters Peter Docter and Bob Peterson have mounted a lovely and heartwarming story that starts off with exposition that we don't really know is exposition as it's happening. We see Carl's entire relationship with his late wife, Ellie laid out so that we immediately understand why Carl's journey to Paradise is so important to him and the way Ellie is kept a viable character throughout the story as Carl's through line is amazingly effective. We even get a wonderful contemporary backstory for Russell when it is revealed he is neglected by his dad and dad's new wife. The film also features some wonderful non-human characters, especially Kevin, who is part Big Bird, part Chewbacca, and part Jar Jar Binks.
http://static01.nyt.com/images/2009/05/29/arts/29up_600.jpg
The animation is gorgeous and lush as is the music score and the voice work by Edward Asner and Christopher Plummer is outstanding. Like most Disney Pixar work, the somewhat complicated screenplay has a few too many endings but you will want to make sure you know how each one turns out. Another animated treat for the young at heart. 4

[Gideon58]

http://www.joblo.com/posters/images/full/1984-the-lonely-guy-poster1.jpg
A recent re-watch of the 1984 comedy The Lonely Guy revealed that the film does not hold up as well as I was hoping it might, despite a solid lead performance from Steve Martin in the title role and sporadic humorous elements of the screenplay.
http://www.chud.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/the+lonely+guy.jpg
Martin plays Larry Hubbard, a greeting card writer who has been dumped by his cheating girlfriend (Robyn Douglass) and finds himself starting life over again as a "lonely guy" and gets guidance on his new life from a "lonely" veteran (Charles Grodin) while attempting to romance a woman (Judith Ivey) who has been married six times and a self-proclaimed "lonely guy" expert.
https://gildednest.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/the_lonely_guy_1984_buying_a_fern.jpg?w=529
Neil Simon contributed to the unfocused screenplay, along with Stan Daniels and Ed. Weinberger, two of the writers behind The Mary Tyler Moore Show, provides some some funny moments here and there, but is not sure what kind of story they're trying to tell...the writing is not tongue in cheek enough to be a true satire and there's too much breaking of the 4th wall for it to be a true character study of Larry or romantic comedy and Arthur Hiller, a director not known for romantic comedy or satire, provides a manic pacing to the film that doesn't always fit the story. There are a couple of on-target scenes though...I especially LOVE the scene where Larry goes to a restaurant to eat by himself and how a single diner in a restaurant is treated...just hysterical.
http://www.themoviescene.co.uk/reviews/_img/2049-2.jpg
Martin invests completely in the character of Larry and keeps him likable and Grodin's turn as Martin's guide through the world of loneliness is beautifully understated. Despite some dated plot elements and a screenplay that is kind of all over the place, Steve Martin fans should definitely check it out. 3

[Gideon58]

http://thefedorachronicles.com/flicks/posters/the-prince-of-tides-movie-poster.jpg
Barbra Streisand made a more serious impression as a director with 1991's The Prince of Tides, a sensitive adult drama/romance that is far superior to her directorial debut in Yentl because Streisand has chosen to let go of her ego a bit and not let the entire film revolve around her and therefore produced quality entertainment that actually earned seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/z8SBtReuI4Q/maxresdefault.jpg
Based on the runaway bestseller by Pat Conroy, this is the story of a guy named Tom Wingo, an unemployed teacher and football coach who lives on the South Carolina coastline, whose marriage is falling apart and learns that his twin sister, Savannah, has tried to commit suicide for the third time. At the bequest of his sister's psychiatrist, Tom travels to Manhattan to help the doctor learn more about Savannah in order to help her and ends up becoming romantically involved with the doctor.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_toFzqagMF84/TSdgQPxNNjI/AAAAAAAAD3g/60lcftIdLMk/s1600/New+Picture+%25283%2529.bmp
Streisand has mounted an expensive and detailed look at a troubled family history...almost too troubled, it's almost hard to accept everything that happens to Tom, his brother, and his sister, but it does help to explain Savannah's terminal unhappiness, not to mention a detailed look at Lila Wingo, Tom's mother who appears to be a different kind of woman in every scene in which she appears...when she's with her children, she appears to be a confident and self-assured woman but at home with her abusive husband, she appears to be completely helpless, except for when she fixes him a dinner made out of dog food. We learn initially that Tom hates his mother, but in the flashback sequences Tom seems to think the sun and the moon sets on her. There's a lot of contradictory emotions presented here that sometimes makes it hard to invest in what's going on.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--KY8F4zSEPE/U8mf4Og71dI/AAAAAAAABo0/R2sqKqjsSXY/s1600/The+Prince+of+Tides+%25281991%2529+StartCine.com+Drama.jpg
Streisand did strike gold with the casting of Nick Nolte in the role of Tom, a performance that effortlessly blends strength and sensitivity and earned Nolte an Oscar nomination. Kate Nelligan's quietly powerful turn as Lila Wingo earned her an Oscar nomination as well. Blythe Danner has some effective moments as Tom's wife, Sally, as does Jeroen Krabbe as Streisand's philandering husband. Jason Gould, Streisand's real life son, also appears as her son here, who develops a relationship with Tom that is one of the more entertaining and believable aspects of the film. The only performance I found a bit troubling was Streisand's as Dr. Susan Lowenstein...I just think Streisand let her ego get the best of her here because I just didn't buy her as a psychiatrist nor did I buy into the romance with Nolte's character, which just came off as forced and something that was enhanced for the purpose of making this story more entertaining to movie audiences. The film is worth watching thanks primarily to Nolte and Streisand's direction, which actually earned her a nomination. 3.5

[Gideon58]

http://www.controappuntoblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/the-conversation-1974-poster-artwork-gene-hackman-john-cazale-allen-garfield.jpg
The stylish direction and intelligent screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola and a brilliant lead performance by Gene Hackman make 1974's The Conversation appointment viewing for the serious student of film making and film acting. This is a chilling and voyeuristic look into a world that has an almost underground sensibility in its anonymity, seamlessly blending with a stark character study of a man whose work often finds the lines between work and obsession blurring to a point where the man has lost any sense of self.
https://ckckred.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/the-conversation-original.jpg
Hackman plays Harry Caul, a surveillance expert based in San Francisco, who is reputedly the best in the business. He has his own business and own equipment and works out of his spacious but sparse loft. He contacts his clients on pay telephones because he has no phone in his home but partly because of his work, he also has no life and basically no other human contact in his life. There are several moments in the film where multiple characters mention to Harry that they don't know anything about him and he avoids revealing any personal information at all cost.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/d-F_UDbtNpE/maxresdefault.jpg
Harry's latest client, referred to here as "the director" (Robert Duvall), hires him to conduct surveillance on a couple (Frederic Forrest, Cindy Williams) without knowing why and that seems to be OK with Harry since he's being paid $15,000 for his services and his silence, until his surveillance uncovers the possibility that the lives of this couple might be in danger, which ignites a crisis of conscience in Harry that actually forces him to initially refuse the money and try to save this couple.

Coppola has mounted a sizzling and riveting story that offers mystery and surprises at every turn and just when you think you've figured out what's going on, you find out you're wrong. But the intense story actually takes a back seat to the stunning creation of Harry Caul, embodied by Gene Hackman...Hackman beautifully internalizes this character whose obsession with his work has made him practically incapable of human contact. There's a wonderful moment in the film where Harry realizes he's been bugged and he loses it and Hackman's work in the climax of the film is devastating...or watch how comfortable Harry is when he slips under a hotel bathroom sink to listen to what's going on next door...like he belongs there. Hackman didn't even receive a nomination for this amazing performance, which I'm pretty sure trumps Art Carney's work in Harry and Tonto.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0NEhGkrYSAI/UX2oe5hftRI/AAAAAAAALZg/hj4gq2HUJXE/s1600/11.png
It's so easy to overlook this quiet little thriller that Coppola sandwiched between his two Godfather movies, but there are rewards here for the brave and it's an absolute must for fans of the amazing Gene Hackman. 5

[Gideon58]

https://trailertracker.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/toy-story-3-02.jpg
I was a little uneasy about venturing into Toy Story 3, thinking there was no way Disney Pixar could come up with yet another viable story for these characters that we have really come to care about and don't want to see thrown on the screen in a story unworthy of them. Fortunately, the genius that is Disney Pixar proved me wrong and came up with yet another entertaining story that, though traditionally intricate, provides imaginative entertainment with some new fun characters, all wrapped up in a story about the values of loyalty and friendship.
http://i.imgur.com/dmIX8AU.jpg
In this third installment, Andy is 17 and is getting ready to go to college and hasn't played with any of our friends (Woody, Buzz, Ham, Jessie, etc.) in years. For some reason, Andy decides to take Woody to college with him and put the rest of the toys in the attic, but his mom mistakes the bag with the rest of the toys for garbage and through a series of circumstances, end up getting donated to a daycare center, where the toys are overseen by a strawberry-smelling Teddy Bear (wonderfully voiced by Ned Beatty, sounding a lot like Disney narrator Rex Allen) who has abandonment issues of his own.
http://trailers.apple.com//705/us/media/galleries/disney/toystory3/toystory3_img11_720.jpg
Director Lee Unkrich has mounted a typically complex story but the difference I found here that I didn't in the other two films is that just about everything (the validity of the opening scene is debatable) we are presented is viable to the story and connects to the underlying themes of loyalty and friendship...I love the way Woody leaps into action when he realizes the rest of his friends are going to the daycare center instead of the safety of the attic. There are several hair-raising sequences along the way, including Woody's memorable escape from a bathroom and the climax, which literally had me on the edge of my chair. There are a couple of fun subplots, the best of which is the legendary meeting of Barbie (voiced by Jodie Bensen) and Ken (voiced by Michael Keaton), who actually end up in opposite camps at one point. I also must mention that in my review of the second film, I felt the section regarding Jessie's backstory was unnecessary and brought the film to halt. In this film we get a backstory for the Teddy Bear, that is perfect and works its way perfectly into the Bear's current motives.
http://www.iamag.co/features/tstory3preview/ToyStory3-4.jpg
This was a wonderfully exciting adult adventure where most of the villains are little kids and the importance of friendship is always paramount and always at the center of what's going on. And as much as I enjoyed this movie (despite the accustomed multiple endings), if there was never to be a Toy Story 4, I would be okay with that. 4

[Gideon58]

http://dvd.box.sk/newsimg/dvdmov/max1179602919-frontback-cover.jpg
Steve Martin served as executive producer, screenwriter, and star of LA Story, a jaded and ultra hip look at the very unique counterculture known as Los Angeles and some of its bizarre inhabitants, combined with some whimsical touches of fantasy that don't always jive with the cynicism of the rest of the story, resulting in an ultimately uneven cinematic experience.
http://www.samefacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Kiss-her.png
Harris Telemacher (Martin) is a "wacky" weatherman who is dealing not only with discontentment from his work but navigating some choppy relationship waters with his current bitchy girlfriend (Marilu Henner), a ditzy clothing store employee (Sarah Jessica Parker) who is going to "Spokesmodel" School, and an English reporter named Sarah (Victoria Tennant) who dresses like a Greenwich Village Bohemian and plays the tuba in her spare time. He also finds himself getting career and relationship advice from a California freeway billboard that communicates with him.
http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.moviefone.com/media/2010/06/sjp-la-story.jpg
Martin's screenplay is smart, almost too smart in that it touches on a lot of things that are exclusive to large cities like Los Angeles and New York, making it seem like Mr. & Mrs. Middle America were not the intended demographic here. There are a lot of "inside" jokes inserted in the script that might be just a little too inside for Joe Q. Public, but there is enough stuff included that we can all laugh at, like watching the large dinner party where everyone orders coffee, the full service gas station. or the credit check required to get dinner reservations that we find ourselves initially drawn into what's going on.
http://starwrecked.com/contents/other-parts/Next-Generation-Patrick-Stewart-Captain-Jean-Luc-Picard/LA-Story-Mr-Perdue-Maitre-D-at-L-Idiot-11.jpg
Unfortunately, it turns out that the character of Sarah is supposed be our guide, the outsider looking in at the crazy world that is LA and it is through her that we are supposed to relate to what's going on, but it becomes hard to sustain because Sarah is just not that interesting a character and it becomes even more complicated when it turns out that Sarah is the one that Harris really wants to be with but as the story progresses we just have to wonder why. Martin and Tennant, who first starred together in All of Me (and eventually married IRL), where they achieved some semblance of chemistry just didn't have it here...Martin wrote the character of Sarah on the assumption that Tennant was in possession of some sort of comic timing or instinct, but she really was not and when the character who is supposed to link us to the rest of the film doesn't really work, it makes it hard to sustain interest in her or her relationship with Harris.
http://thewhittierhousewife.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/3/6/12365471/3054678_orig.jpg
Mick Jackson's direction is intricate and detail-oriented and Martin manages to keep his character likable but the lack of chemistry with Tennant and her lack of comic timing really make large chunks of this film very hard going. 3

[Gideon58]

The 1968 film Head was for the Monkees what A Hard Day's Night was for the Beatles. I had to watch this film twice before actually figuring out exactly how to review it.
http://www.monkeesconcerts.com/uploads/7/8/9/5/7895731/7770704_orig.jpg
For those too young to remember any of this, back in the early 1960's, the American music scene was victim to "the British Invasion", an influx of rock and roll music from across the pond, led by an incomparable quartet of musicians named John, Paul, George, and Ringo, who were known as the Beatles and changed the face of American pop music forever. The Beatles fame was so overwhelming that they were actually pegged to star in two different movies based on titles of their songs, A Hard Day's Night and Help!. In order to cash in on the success of the Beatles, a record company held auditions and cast four show business unknowns as a group called The Monkees. Michael Nesmith, Mickey Dolenz, Davy Jones, and Peter Tork had pretty much no show business experience and only Nesmith was a trained musician but with the help of recording studio technicians, first rate songwriters, and record making magic, this quartet became almost as famous as the Beatles, recorded a string of best-selling record albums, including 2 or 3 top 40 singles and even had their own TV series for awhile. Following in the footsteps of the Beatles, a movie was the next logical step for the Monkees and that movie was a cinematic acid trip called Head.
http://www.monkeesconcerts.com/uploads/7/8/9/5/7895731/5337466_orig.jpg
With a screenplay by Bob Rafalson and Jack Nicholson (!) and directed by Rafalson, the movie is a pointless, plotless, and nonsensical musical journey through contemporary culture making pointed comments about the period, most particularly the absurdity of war and of the phony veneer that is Hollywood and how we have been fooled by it all these years but the oh so clever Monkees haven't been and they are so much smarter than any of us ever will be and they have decided to let us in on some of these secrets as well as their own symbolic method of "sticking it to the man."
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mUzQNFlIKc0/UHFm9K7wc6I/AAAAAAAADjY/C1dOSqTmMGM/s1600/head-3.jpg
There is constant breaking of the 4th wall here, including one scene where we get to glimpse the director and if you don't blink, you will also catch a brief glimpse of co-screenwriter Jack Nicholson, but it all seems to be such a big Hollywood inside joke that it's really hard for us to care. There are a bizarre set of cameo appearances throughout, ranging from Annette Funicello to Victor Mature (!) and they all seem just as confused as the viewer probably is.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/stills/130265-6df2502dd6a480a6ffc848a8a88e4cd2/Film_544w_Head_original.jpg
The Monkees were known for some very melodic pop rock during their hey day, but the music for this film is nothing to write home about...there's a darkness about it that goes against the image the Monkees worked so hard to project and has no connection to anything else going on in the film, but I guess that makes it appropriate since I had a hard time figuring out what Rafelson and the Monkees were trying to say here. The film ran 1 hour and 25 minutes long but it felt like 14 hours. On the other hand, as an object of 1960' filmmaking, a curio to be sure. 2.5

[edarsenal]

another great stroll through some great reviews for several favs and a one or two movies (like rachel getting married) that i've been curious to see and that curiosity grew reading your reviews.
BRAVO

[Gideon58]

another great stroll through some great reviews for several favs and a one or two movies (like rachel getting married) that i've been curious to see and that curiosity grew reading your reviews.
BRAVO
Thank you so much for continuing to read my reviews, it's very flattering.

[Gideon58]

http://movit.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Grown-Ups-2-Poster-Movit.net_.jpg
2013's Grown-Ups 2 is one of those inane movie comedies that so painfully reminds us why sequels have become a poison that is quietly and methodically destroying Hollywood.
http://cdn.sheknows.com/articles/2013/07/grown_ups_2.jpg
Don't get me wrong, the first film was no masterpiece either, a pointless comedy about a Hollywood screenwriter (Adam Sandler) who is reunited with three childhood friends (Chris Rock, David Spade, Kevin James). In the sequel, Sandler has decided to move back to his childhood hometown with his wife (Selma Hayek) and his three kids to give them a normal lifestyle but it turns out that life in hometown is anything but.
https://jeffreyklyles.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/grown-ups-2-kevin-james-david-spade-chris-rock-and-adam-sandler.jpg
God, I don't even know where to begin here...once again, Sandler has gathered all of his Hollywood buddies together for this big inside joke that deals with crazy bus drivers, bullies past and present, emotionally insecure cops, and some really arrogant frat kids who have taken over our heroes' favorite childhood hangout.
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1239444/images/o-GROWN-UPS-2-REVIEWS-facebook.jpg
Sandler, his fave director Dennis Dugan and co-screenwriter Fred Wolf have mounted an episodic comedy that provides sporadic laughs and makes little sense, filled with wild slapstick moments that almost don't remain in the scope of reality, including an opening scene involving a deer that makes no sense at all.
http://content.internetvideoarchive.com/content/photos/8426/903478_014.jpg
If, nothing else, Sandler and his buddies do appear to be having a good time here,,,wish I could say the same. One of the worst sequels ever. 1.5

[Gideon58]

http://www.vectorstorm.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/theincredibles.jpg
The Incredibles is another 2004 gem from the Disney Pixar library that is not only an affectionate valentine to action/adventure films, but family comedies as well and provides solid entertainment once it gets going.

This is the story of Bob Parr (voiced by Craig T. Nelson), who used to be a super hero called Mr. Incredible who has decided to settle down with Helen (voiced by Holly Hunter), who used to be a super heroine called Elasti-girl. He tries an office job and Helen seems happy being a hausfrau but Bob's boredom with regular life leads him back to the Super Hero life which finds Helen following him, along with their two kids, who discover powers of their own.
http://scottjrealtor.typepad.com/.a/6a00e55359180588330133f48fddf7970b-pi
There is a whole lot going on here with other fun characters on the canvas including an obsessed fan of Mr. Incredible (voiced by Jason Lee) who has a huge chip on his shoulder, a chilly villainness voiced by the late Elizabeth Pena and Bob's best friend (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson), a super hero who seems to have the same powers as the mean princess in Frozen.
http://rollingout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/the-incredibles-with-frozone.jpg?769134
Writer director Brad Bird's story is over elaborate and it takes a little while to get going, but once it does, it's a helluva roller coaster ride that never forgets its underlying theme about the importance of family. Love when the family is headed to confront a bad guy and the son whines "Are we there yet?" Disney Pixar has definitely done better work, but this one is definitely worth a look. 3.5

[Gideon58]

https://pmchollywoodlife.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/the-heat-movie-reviews-lead.jpg?w=600
A well-worn comedic premise is given another variation in The Heat, an all-too-familiar story that is watchable due to the surprising comic chemistry between the stars.
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1215025/images/o-THE-HEAT-REVIEW-facebook.jpg
Sarah Ashburn (Sondra Bullock) is an uptight special agent for the FBI whose best friend is her neighbor's cat. Shannon Mullins (Melissa McCarthy) is a foul-mouthed Boston cop who has her entire precinct shaking in their boots. These two polar opposites are, of course, forced to work together to bring down a drug dealer.

Katie Dippold's screenplay is talky and overly complex, taking way too much time to establish the differences between the two lead characters, but their differences are obvious from jump and spoon-feeding this to the viewer was unnecessary.
http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/the-heat-melissa-mccarthy-sandra-bullock-1.jpg
Bullock and McCarthy work well together and both display a gift for physical comedy that should come to no surprise if you've seen Miss Congeniality or Identity Theft but the story is a little too predictable to take the time it takes to get where it's going on. There are sporadic laughs throughout, with the majority of them coming from the scenes that involve Mullins' family, who find themselves targets of the bad guys.
http://www.theheatmovie.com/mobile/images/photos/7.jpg
Paul Feig's direction is alternatively manic and deadening and there are some viable action sequences that help make this film worth checking out, though you might find yourself checking your watch from time to time. 3

[Gideon58]

http://www.geraldpeary.com/reviews/the/fantasticks.jpg
In 1960, a stage musical called The Fantasticks opened at a little theater in Greenwich Village called The Sullivan Street Playhouse and, to this day, is still playing at that theater, making it the longest running theatrical production in history. A film version of this musical seemed like a no brainer, but it actually took 35 years for this classic musical to make it to the screen.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iutkuxUhesM/hqdefault.jpg
The 1995 film version of this classic musical is the story of Luisa and Matt, two young lovers who actually live next door to each other and are in love, but are unaware that their romance has been orchestrated by Luisa's father Bellamy and Matt's father, Huckaby who have fabricated a feud to cover up the fact that they are arranging Luisa and Matt's marriage by paying a circus troupe to stage an abduction of Luisa by the troupe's charismatic leader El Gallo, where Matt would rescue her and how things go awry when Louisa and Matt actually learn of the elaborate lie that was their courtship.
http://cinapse.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Fantasticks.jpg
The musical features songs by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, which were a major selling point of the musical onstage and the score comes to the screen mostly intact, with the exception of one of the show's best songs, "It Depends on What you Pay", which I suspect was considered inappropriate for the film version due to its repeated use of the word "rape" and the show's most famous song, "Try To Remember" is reduced to a throwaway at the end of the film, tiredly performed by Jonathan Morris' El Gallo.
http://jeanlouisakelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/the-fantasticks04.jpg
Director Michael Ritchie has gone to a lot of trouble making this stage musical look like a movie but that's the whole problem...this really is a stage musical and that's where it should have stayed, despite some lovely cinematography and solid performances from Jean Louisa Kelly, Joey McIntyre, and Joel Grey as Louisa, Matt, and Louisa's father, the film comes off as kind of empty and pointless because the story is just too thin for a viable movie musical. 2

[Gideon58]

http://images.latinpost.com/data/images/full/25515/new-scenes-from-fifty-shades-of-grey.jpg?w=600
Based on the runaway best selling book by E.L. James, 2015's Fifty Shades of Grey is a stylishly expensive and undeniably erotic look at a previously unexplored aspect of sexuality in a mainstream theatrical film. It should be mentioned at this point that this review is coming from someone who did not read the book upon which the film is based.

The film recounts the accidental meeting between a college student named Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) and an enigmatic billionaire named Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan)...the attraction/heat between these two is immediate and neither shy from it, but these are two people who are looking for very different things in terms of a relationship. Anastasia is looking to be romanced but it is slowly revealed that Grey doesn't do romance: he is a sexual dominant, who is into rough sex where he dominates women and has the women he becomes involved with sign a lengthy and detailed contract detailing exactly what is expected of them.
http://mountainx.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/fifty-shades-of-grey-movie.jpg
This film is alternately titillating and disturbing as it offers no simple answers and provides us with three dimensional characters, perhaps a little too three dimensional for us to accept everything that happens here. It is revealed early on here that Anastasia is a virgin, which makes it hard to believe that the first time Christian shows her his "playroom", she doesn't go screaming into the night, yet we accept Christian's seduction of the girl because despite his sexual proclivities, Christian is a gentleman and always up front about what he wants. His seduction of Anastasia is subtle...there is a moment not long after their first meeting where he sees her bite her lip and tells her he needs to do that. Even Christian's off screen recitation of "the contract" makes it hard to dislike the man because it is perfectly clear, free of a lot of a legalese...we know that Anastasia knows exactly what she's getting into. Further sympathy is developed for Christian when it is revealed that his first sexual experience was six years as a submissive to a woman, making us understand him, even if we don't like him, but we do. Ironically, despite all of the sex scenes here, my favorite scene in the film found our leads fully dressed...the scene where Anastasia goes to Christian's office to renegotiate the contract is brilliantly written and directed.
http://i2.wp.com/www.desdehollywood.com/http://desdehollywood.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/fifty-shades-of-grey-movie.jpg?resize=750%2C400
Kelly Marcel's intricate screenplay does its best to keep the characters true to themselves even though the story may not and director Sam Taylor-Johnson definitely has an eye for what is erotic. The movie is expensively mounted and beautiful to look at, with some outstanding editing as are Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, who spend a great deal of the film in the nude and manage to present characters we care about, even if we're not crazy about what they're doing. An adult love story that sometimes stretches credibility but never allows your eyes to leave the screen. 3.5

[Sexy Celebrity]

Hmmmm. Interesting review of Fifty Shades of Grey. That kinda makes me wanna see it now.

[Gideon58]

https://projectedrealities.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/ratatouillec.jpg
Ratatouille is a clever and stylish animated adventure where rats are humans and humans are rats and friendship and family loyalty rule over all, an underlying theme in most Disney Pixar works, that won the Oscar for Outstanding Animated Film of 2007.
http://www.futuregamez.net/movies/ratatouille/ratatouille1.jpg
This is the story of a rat named Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt) with a highly sensitive nose for food and a passion for cooking stemming from his love of a deceased French TV chef named Gusteau (voiced by Brad Garrett). Gusteau's spirit leads Remy to Gusteau's restaurant, where Remy helps the establishment's new garbage man, Linguini (wonderfully voiced by Lou Romano) become the restaurant's new gourmet chef. Remy and Linguini's success is threatened by Gusteau's current head chef, Skinner (voiced by Ian Holm) and a nasty food critic named Anton Ego (flawlessly voiced by the late Peter O'Toole).
http://ohmydish.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Ratatouille-movie.png
Disney Pixar really knocked it out of the park here, creating a world of rats with human sensibilities without forgetting the real place that rats have in human society. The danger that Remy encounters when he enters Gusteau's kitchen for the first time is real and palatable, almost making the viewer a little ashamed to be human. A genuine look at the human world from a rat's point of view that becomes even more engaging when it is established that Remy accepts his position in the world and refuses to completely discount humans and their attitudes toward rats.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3YG4h5GbTqU/maxresdefault.jpg
Co-writers and directors Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava have constructed a viable world where humans and rats co-exist and have created a visually arresting atmosphere...I can't remember the last time I saw Paris so beautifully recreated in animated form...there is a shot of Remy sitting on a rooftop when he first arrives in Paris and is overlooking the landscape that is just breathtaking.
http://hdmoviespoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Ratatouille-2007-Movie-HD-Free-Download.jpg
As always with Disney Pixar, the voice work is on the money with standout work from Oswalt, Romano, and O'Toole and the music is rich with Parisian atmosphere and is always scene-appropriate. A delicious animated adventure that works on all levels. 5

[Tugg]

"Fifty Shades of Grey" wasn't as bad as IMDB rating would suggest.


I watched "Ratatouille" in cinema when it came out and liked it very much, but haven't rewatched it ever since.

[Gideon58]

http://newrelease-dvd.com/images/I_think_I_love_my_wife.jpg
The film career of Chris Rock has always been a bit of an enigma. He stole every scene he had with his supporting roles in New Jack City, Nurse Betty, and The Longest Yard, but leading man status has always alluded him. When he had the juice to become a leading man he came up with the 2007 comedy I Think I Love My Wife, for which he was the star, director, and co-screenwriter and usually when an artist wears multiple hats on something like this, the project suffers and this was no exception.
http://alarmedshow.com/wp2/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/vlcsnap-2012-01-25-11h43m30s208.png
Rock plays Richard Cooper, a married investment banker with two kids, but is bored with his sexless marriage and finds his comfy existence threatened by the return of a friend from the past named Nikki Tru (Kerry Washington), who complicates Richard's life to no end.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/auteurs_production/images/film/i-think-i-love-my-wife/w448/i-think-i-love-my-wife.jpg?1298792140
Rock's screenplay with Louis CK does have its merits, taking some on target jabs at the institution of marriage and showing how you don't have to actually commit adultery for a relationship to be inappropriate. Nikki just about destroys Richard's life without having sex with him. Her blatant and unapologetic visits to Richard's office in the middle of the day have co-workers' tongues wagging, friends concerned, and superiors fed up. Not to mention the fact that the script makes Richard's wife Brenda (Gina Torres) look like a frosty bitch.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LwRNtknR2Tc/hqdefault.jpg
Rock's off screen narration is actually the funniest thing in the movie and Washington is an eye opener as Nikki...Washington is charismatic as the potential homewrecker and she looks absolutely AMAZING here. Steve Buscemi is wasted as Richard's best friend/co-worker and Torres works hard to make Brenda sympathetic though the script is fighting her all the way, but the whole thing has sort of an emptiness to it that is only acceptable because the film runs under 90 minutes. 2

[Gideon58]

http://images2.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/38827_front.jpg
Director Garry Marshall decided to follow up his glossy, but substance-challenged comedy Valentine's Day with another glossy, but substance-challenged comedy targeted at another holiday New Year's Eve.
http://www.stageandcinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/2011_new_years_eve_038-sarah-jessica-breslin.jpg
Once again, Marshall has gathered an impressive all-star cast to star in multiple storylines centered around one New Year's Eve in Manhattan. We are introduced to a restaurant owner (Katherine Heigl) who is reunited with a singer (Jon Bon Jovi) who dumped her a year ago. The head of the Times Square Alliance (Hillary Swank, in a humorless performance) is freaking out when there is some kind of malfunction with the ball and its scheduled drop. A man in the final stages of cancer (Robert De Niro) wants to see the ball drop for a final time while frazzling the nerves of his nurse (Hallie Berry). Ashton Kutcher plays a comic strip artist who gets trapped in an elevator with one of Bon Jovi's back-up singers (Lea Michele).
http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2011/12/07/1226216/425887-new-year-039-s-eve.jpg
My favorite story involved a spinsterish secretary, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, who asks a bicycle messenger (Zac Efron) to help her with her New Year's resolutions. The relationship between these two is believable and though what happens between them might be a little hard to swallow, it ties into the general theme of the story.

Other stars involved here include Sarah Jessica Parker, Cary Elwes, Seth Meyer, Sarah Paulson, Til Schweiger (very funny as a dad-to-be trying to win a cash prize for the first New Years Baby), Josh Duhamel, Ludacris, Sofia Vergara, and, of course, Marshall's good luck charm, Hector Elizondo. Marshall's sister, Penny even makes a cameo.

It's a little better than Valentine's Day, but that's not saying much. 2

[Gideon58]

http://www.fatmovieguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Magic-Mike-Movie-Poster.jpg
Just because the primary setting of the film is the world of male strippers, the 2012 film Magic Mike is still just another tired show business movie that employs just about every tired Hollywood cliche the genre has ever offered. I don't know how many older and better movies flashed through my mind while I was watching this.

Mike (Channing Tatum) is a male stripper who really wants to have his own furniture making business who brings a 19-year old named Adam (Alex Pettyfer) to the club with him one night, and in the best tradition of Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell, Adam gets shoved onstage and is an instant success, which, of course goes immediately to his head. Things get even more complicated for our barrel-chested heroes when Mike starts developing feelings for Adam's sister (Cody Horn).
https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/magicmike__140415175537.jpg
Reid Carolin's cliche-ridden screenplay is positively juvenile (the character of Adam is even actually referred to as "the Kid" for the first third of the film) and I don't know what possessed Oscar winning director Steven Soderbergh to get involved with this mess. Only Matthew McConaughey manages to rise above this muck as the owner of the club. The guys look good and know how to move and if that's your idea of movie entertainment, have your fill, otherwise, if you've seen movies like Gypsy, or Forty Second Street, or Flashdance, you've seen this before. 2.5

[Gideon58]

https://mrrumsey.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/nine-movie-posters-nine-2009-movie-review1.jpg
Rob Marshall followed up his triumph with the Oscar winning Best Picture of 2002, Chicago, with the 2009 film version of the Broadway musical Nine, based on the Broadway show that is loosely based on the Fellini film 8 1/2, a director's cinematic self-examination of his life and career, viewed primarily through the women in his life.

The musical opens in 1965 Italy, where we meet Guido Contini (3 time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis), an arrogant and self-absorbed film director who, after two flops, is getting ready to begin work on his latest film, an epic grandly titled "Italia", but this is all the information Guido is providing about the film, except for the fact that it will star his longtime leading lady/muse, Claudia (Nicole Kidman). It is revealed that there is no script and that Guido doesn't seem terribly concerned about that fact either. The story then moves into a an inside look at Guido through the female influences in his life and Guido's effects on their lives, warts and all. It should be noted that this review is coming from someone who never saw the show onstage.
https://popculturenerd.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/2009_nine_008.jpg
Director Marshall faced the same problem mounting this musical as he did with Chicago...finding a way to legitimize what is essentially stage piece and making it viable for the screen. The screenplay by Michael Tolkin and Anthony Minghella flows seamlessly between what is in inside look at Italian celebrity and what appear to be fantasy musical sequences which are actually legitimized during the film's climax, even though we accept them as they are occurring because of Marshall's choreographic skills and his keen eye for what a musical number should look like, we are allowed to look past the lack of realism in what is going on and accept that we are actually watching and investing in a musical and all that entails.

Daniel Day-Lewis works very hard to keep the main character likable though he seems a little uncomfortable with his two musical sequences at the beginning and end of the film, but the little moments where the character is so rarely honest with people is where Day-Lewis really makes the character shine. Marian Coitillard is beautiful and charismatic as Guido's wife, a former leading lady of Guido's who is no longer content with the distant place she has taken in Guido's life. Her song "My Husband Makes Movies" is quite moving. Penelope Cruz also scores as Guido's desperate and clingy mistress, a performance that actually earned her an Oscar nomination. Her "A Phone Call from the Vatican" is a real eye-opener. Mention should also be made of cinema legend Sophia Loren, who Marshall talked into returning to the big screen to play Guido's mother and moral compass.
https://ninemovie1.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/ninemovie21.jpg
The movie also features some lovely Italian scenery and some stunning Oscar nominated costumes by Colleen Atwood, and I love Marshall's Fosse-influenced choreography, but the film never quite overcomes its obstacle of being a stage piece that should have remained there. Marshall did redeem himself though with Into the Woods, but musical fans will definitely find something to revel in here. 3

[Gideon58]

https://lh4.ggpht.com/vjZFofzJS-r1OSEocizADU-puCHeyMhWicwjg5kesgCNXDL0gzkpV-2AQELHxPQNIrC1=w300
Disney Dreamworks took another animal-eye's view of the world with a 1998 charmer called Antz, which seamlessly blends a story of star-crossed romance with a look at the class system and totalitarian society and the mental manipulation of existing in such a society.
http://www.lotsofrobots.com/images/Antz.jpg
Our hero is an ant named Z (wonderfully voiced by Woody Allen), a worker ant in an ant world where all ants are workers or soldiers and, of course, is unhappy with his existence as a worker until he briefly encounters the crown princess of the colony, Bala (voiced by Sharon Stone) in a bar and in order to see her again, convinces his best friend, soldier ant Weaver (voiced by Sylvester Stallone) to trade places with him in order for him to see his princess again, unaware that the princess has been promised in marriage to the insane General Mandible (brilliantly voiced by Gene Hackman) by her mother the Queen (voiced by Anne Bancroft), but Z and Bala find themselves on the run, a pairing that could upset the whole ant society.
http://onthesetofnewyork.com/locations/antz/antz02.jpg
Todd Alcott and Chris Weitz have constructed a smart and witty screenplay that might even be too smart for children. The character of Z has clearly been patterned after the performer who gives him voice and you have to wonder if children can relate to the many neuroses associated with the actor and the character, which are pretty much interchangeable and that's OK. The screenplay imaginatively presents dangers to the ant world via humans that don't even register with us...the scene where Z and Bala encounter a human picnic, which they refer to as "Insectopia" is quite realistic and I couldn't help but snicker when Z was unable to bite through the cellophane on a sandwich.
http://onthesetofnewyork.com/locations/antz/antz01.jpg
The film is a rare technical achievement, receiving an Oscar nomination for Special Effect, though I think the sound editing and music are Oscar-worthy as well and the voice cast is extremely effective with standout work from Allen, Hackman, Stallone, Stone, Jennifer Lopez as Z's BFF and Christopher Walken as Mandible's second in command. A wickedly entertaining animated tale for the discriminating adult. 3

[Gideon58]

http://images.redbox.com/Images/EPC/Kiosk/7627.jpg
The 2014 version of Annie is the third film version of a Broadway musical that captivated audiences in 1977 but this version is definitive proof that it is time to give this vehicle a reprieve from remakes.
https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/annie-16.jpg?w=670&h=377&crop=1
This musical, based on a classic comic strip, follows the relationship between an orphan named Annie and a millionaire named Daddy Warbucks, first came to the screen in 1982 with Albert Finney playing Warbucks and Carol Burnett playing the evil head of the orphanage Miss Hannigan. ABC/Disney and director Rob Marshall (Chicago) remade the musical for television in 1999 with Victor Garber as Warbucks and Kathy Bates as Miss Hannigan. This version attempts to be Annie for the computer age and it just doesn't work because the story is not of the computer age.
https://consequenceofsound.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/o-annie-facebook.jpg?w=806&h=403
This version takes the story from its original setting of the Great Depression and changes it to 2014 Manhattan, which is a nice idea but it doesn't jive with the story that the musical presents for a myriad of reasons, primarily that the story was written about life during the Depression. It also seems dated because orphanages are pretty much a thing of the past, the foster system doesn't work like this anymore making the hooking up of Warbucks and Annie a little contrived in 2014. Political correctness is attempted by making Annie and Warbucks African American and I didn't have a problem with that, but the butchering of the musical score and some serious alterations in the characters don't work at all.
http://content.internetvideoarchive.com/content/photos/9286/292785_050.jpg
Jamie Foxx plays Will Stacks, the renamed Warbucks and Oscar nominee Quvenzhavene Wallis play Annie now and the relationship that develops onscreen between them is viable for the most part, but of the rest of the movie is not. Cameron Diaz turns in what is probably her worst performance as Miss Hannigan, a performance that is akin to nails on a chalkboard and even worse than Bad Teacher. Rose Byrne is miscast as Stacks' loyal secretary Grace and has no chemistry with Foxx. Even the usually reliable Bobby Cannavale is embarrassing as Stacks' campaign manager a character created just for this movie.
http://images.fashionnstyle.com/data/images/full/49544/annie-2014.png
Director and screenwriter Will Gluck made a fatalistic decision in updating the score because so little of it works, only three songs are performed as written by Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin in 1977 and the updated versions of some songs, the deletion of others, and the songs written especially for the movie just don't work. All the musical numbers sound canned and the lip-synching is laughably bad. Other than a solid turn from Jamie Foxx as Will Stacks, there's just not much to recommend here and fans of the original 1977 musical? Be afraid...be very afraid. 1.5
\

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1c/A_Single_Man.jpg
The sensitive direction of Tom Ford, an imaginative screenplay, and an Oscar-nominated performance from Colin Firth in the lead role are the primary selling points of a 2009 drama called A Single Man, a quietly powerful indictment on the effects of grief, how its grip can close us off to the point where we think we have no options, and how there can be options if we open are eyes to them.
http://screenmusings.org/movie/blu-ray/A-Single-Man/images/A-Single-Man-469.jpg
Set in November of 1962, we are introduced to George Falconer (Firth), an English college professor who teaches in Los Angeles, who is still stinging from the death of his lover (Matthew Goode) after a year and has decided that, after a farewell dinner with his best friend Charley (Julianne Moore), that he is going to commit suicide, despite attention from a stunning male hustler named Carlos (Jon Kortajarena) and the obvious advances of one of his students named Kenny (Nicholas Hoult).
http://screenmusings.org/movie/blu-ray/A-Single-Man/images/A-Single-Man-029.jpg
Ford has constructed a lovely story here, based on a novel by Christopher Isherwood, that is a powerful character study about a man who has to hide who he really is because it is the 1960's when such things weren't discussed and deal with the loss of a man he will always love and whose face he sees everywhere. George's grief is further complicated by Charley. who he once was involved with, who has never gotten over him and was certain that his homosexuality was just a "phase" and not a real relationship. Even Kenny admits that he first approaches George because he's worried about him...I love the way Kenny makes his feelings about George clear without ever coming out and actually saying it and I think that's because Kenny doesn't know how to say what he's feeling.
http://www.fashioninfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Single-Man-82.jpg
This film is rich with romantic images, the relationship between George and his lover, recalled in flashback , is lovely to watch and Firth realistically brings this tortured character to fruition and Nicholas Hoult, of the pouty lips and big green eyes, is wonderful as Kenny. Julianne Moore is superb, as always, doing a perfect British accent, as the woman thinking that the death of George's lover is her passport back into George's life.

The film is rich with period detail, the art direction/set direction is effective and the lush musical score is on the money. Despite an unsettling climax, still a riveting film experience for the discriminating film goer. 3.5

[Gideon58]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_v0fV15P7uQo/TDtfYeExXbI/AAAAAAAAH-s/NH4garxLKiU/s1600/wired+poster.jpg
Wired is the 1989 film version of Bob Woodward's book, which looks into the final days of SNL legend John Belushi that works so hard at not being the standard Hollywood biopic that it fails miserably on being what it should be, as well as being so unworthy of its subject.

In the tradition of A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life, the film opens with Belushi's ghost being introduced to pertinent events in his life by a guardian angel (Ray Sharkey), in the guise of a cab driver and then switches to the discovery of Belushi's body and the investigation that leads to one Cathy Smith, allegedly the last person to see Belushi alive and to put that fatal needle full of heroine into Belushi's arm. Then there's yet another switch of focus when Bob Woodward suddenly becomes involved and decides to get to the bottom of what happened after a discussion with Belushi's widow where he learned that Belushi hated needles and would never use heroine.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DHRaZdFOVvs/hqdefault.jpg
The jarring switches in focus are just the tip of the iceberg of what's wrong with this movie. The movie never really never gives us any insight into Belushi and the whole "Drugs is Bad" message is delivered with a sledgehammer, a message that has been delivered much more effectively in at least 50 or 60 movies of the past. There is too much focus on Belushi's death and not enough on his life to make us really care about what's going on. It's also never made clear why someone like Bob Woodward would have such a keen interest in Belushi.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/auteurs_production/images/film/wired/w448/wired.jpg
Earl Mac Rauch's screenplay employs every show business and drug cliche imaginable and Larry Peerce's manic direction doesn't help. The film is cheap looking on what appears to be a budget of about $40.00. I've seen Lifetime TV movies that looked better than this.
http://tgwd.fireboxstudios.info/wp-content/uploads/blogger/wiredchiklis.jpg
Michael Chiklis works very hard at being believable as Belushi but the rest of the performances are dull and unconvincing. The usually reliable JT Walsh is wooden as Bob Woodward, as is Gary Groomes as Dan Aykroyd. A real disappointment and here's to hoping someday the subject will be given a film tribute worthy of him. 2.

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/34/Duplex_film.jpg
As a director, Danny DeVito has proven to have a real flair for bringing black comedy to the screen, evidenced in his films Throw Momma from the Train and The War of the Roses, but his 2003 film Duplex isn't quite as effective as the other two films, primarily due to a screenplay that provides unrealistic motivations for the central characters.
http://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2003/09/25/cf2b4949-a642-11e2-a3f0-029118418759/thumbnail/620x350/3a7f958d8498d91a49345557e0dd959a/image575117x.jpg
The film stars Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore as Alex and Nancy, married upwardly mobiles who find a beautiful duplex in Brooklyn and plan to convert the second floor into a nursery, a plan halted by the fact that an old woman named Mrs. Connelly still resides on the second floor who refuses to move out. Things get complicated when Mrs. Connelly starts driving our young couple crazy with outrageous demands and behavior unbecoming a good tenant, forcing the couple to actually consider murdering the woman to get her out of their lives.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/auteurs_production/images/film/duplex/w1280/duplex.jpg
The film's primary problem lies with Larry Doyle's screenplay and his presentation of the character of Mrs. Connelly. The character is unbelievable because at one moment the character appears to be a sweet old lady who innocently causes problems for this couple and at other moments she appears to be this sneaky and manipulative woman determined to make these people miserable. If the character had just been a sweet old lady or a manipulative bitch, the story would have been more believable. Even if she started out as a sweet old lady and became a manipulative bitch, I might have believed that, but the character doesn't come off that way and the way her personality changes from one scene to the next, makes it hard to believe the character or have sympathy for her. If the character evoked some kind of sympathy, the whole story might have made more sense.

Stiller and Barrymore work well together, with a special nod to Stiller, underplaying effectively and displaying a genuine gift for physical comedy and Eileen Essell's sweet face works for the character of Mrs. Connelly, though the screenplay is fighting her all the way.
http://www.tailslate.net/wp-content/uploads/2004/05/Duplex-Ben-Stiller-Drew-Barrymore.jpg
DeVito creates an atmosphere suited to what's going on here, utilizing some imaginative camerawork and employs some wonderful art direction/set direction, providing a wonderful setting for this story. It's a shame that the problematic screenplay takes away from the technical expertise that DeVito and company have employed here. 2.5

[honeykid]

As with a few of Drew's comedies, this is something I only saw because she was in it. I think I've seen all those other comedies again at least once (and a couple of them I really like a lot/love) but this I've only seen once. I thought it was pretty awful. I do hate Ben Stiller, though. It's a shame, as Drew looks great in this. OK, I think she looks great most of the time in most things, but especially so in this.

[Gideon58]

http://www.iceposter.com/thumbs/MOV_c38e6fdd_b.jpg
The romantic comedy of the two lead characters being formerly married but still in love with each other is not an original concept, but 2010's The Bounty Hunter attempts to give this well worn premise a fresh coat of paint, even if it is an overly complex one.

Jennifer Aniston plays Nicole Hurley, an investigative reporter whose belief that a reported suicide was not a suicide, leads her to jump bail after not showing up in court for having an accident with a police horse. Enter Milo Boyd (Gerard Butler), an ex-cop turned bounty hunter and Nicole's ex-husband, who has been offered $5000 to bring her in and that's just the beginning of a comic adventure that rarely gives the viewer a chance to breathe.
http://screencrave.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/the-bounty-hunter-score-LA-3-17-10.jpg
Director Andy Tennant displays some talent for mounting a viable action sequence but when the movie slows down and Nicole and Milo start talking about their "feelings", the film comes to a dead halt. The other problem is Sarah Thorp's extremely complex screenplay which involves way too many bad guys and good guys pretending to be bad guys.making the story kind of hard to follow, right up to the multiple and unnecessary endings. I also found it hard to believe that Milo and Nicole were only married for nine months because they fought and read each other like they had been married 20 years.
http://www.toledoblade.com/image/2010/03/19/800x_b1_cCM_z/Movie-review-The-Bounty-Hunter-1-2.jpg
Butler is energetic as Milo and does display a penchant for physical comedy (despite the fact the guy could use a little more time in the gym) and he does create a viable chemistry with Aniston (who looks incredible). Jason Sudekis has some funny moments as a co-worker of Aniston's who is obsessed with her as does the always reliable Christine Baranski as Aniston's mother.

If you're a fan of Butler and Aniston, this is definitely worth a look, but others beware that this is a film that suffers from trying to be too many things for too many kinds of moviegoers. 3

[Gideon58]

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is a slightly over-the-top but still very amusing lampooning of a movie genre that is relatively new to this kind of spoof: the musical biopic.
http://i.jeded.com/i/walk-hard-the-dewey-cox-story.20567.jpg
Though the primary inspiration for this movie appears to be the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, I also noticed brief winks to Coal Miner's Daughter, Sweet Dreams, and Ray as well.

The 2007 film follows Dewey from a childhood tragedy that left him and his father forever estranged to his first appearance at a talent show and the two ladies in his life (Kristin Wiig, Jenna Fischer), his discovery of drugs, and a journey of self-discovery leading that leads our hero back to a possible comeback.
https://filmfork-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/content/walkhardgoat.jpg
Director and co-screenwriter Jake Kasdan has done his homework here...every scene you have ever seen in a musical biopic is accurately spoofed here...from the childhood incident that haunts our hero to the "rise to success" montage to the hero's first discovery of drugs, to his lesson that love and family are more important than fame. Kasdan and co-screenwriter Judd Apatow have constructed a laugh-filled screenplay that gets a little too silly in points but delivers.
http://www.movpins.com/big/MV5BMTU1NjgyODg4Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjA4NzYxNw/still-of-john-c.-reilly-in-walk-hard:-the-dewey-cox-story-(2007)-large-picture.jpg
John C. Reilly is energetic and sincere in the title role and proves to be a strong singer as well, which was documented five years earlier in Chicago. Also loved Tim Meadows and Chris Parnell as members of Dewey's band and Raymond Barry as Dewey's father. There are also a slew of cameos including Jackson Brown, Jewel, Morgan Fairchild, Patrick Duffy, Cheryl Ladd, Lyle Lovett, and Cheryl Tiegs. There's also a hysterical cameo appearance by Jack Black, Justin Long, Paul Rudd, and Jason Schwartzman as the Beatles.
http://www.movpins.com/big/MV5BNzMyMzQ4OTgwMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMzg2MDUzMw/still-of-john-c.-reilly-and-kristen-wiig-in-walk-hard:-the-dewey-cox-story-(2007).jpg
This spoof of the musical biopic works because it is played with a straight face by the cast and those straight faces manage to bring the laughs. 3.5

[Gideon58]

https://natashastander.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/the-great-gatsby-movie-2013.jpg
Baz Luhrmann has always been a director obsessed with the visual...a director who seems to prefer flash over substance at times, not always trusting that his source material is strong enough to stand on its own power. This has never been more apparent than in his 2013 re-thinking of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.
http://bkkhubhostel.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/201401_movie-night_great-gatsby2.jpg
This third theatrical version of the classic Fitzgerald novel begins with Nick Carroway (Tobey Maguire) talking to a doctor who suggests that he recount in writing his relationship with an enigmatic neighbor named Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), a billionaire who lives in a huge mansion and throws elaborate parties on a regular basis that everyone in Manhattan attends but Nick doesn't show up until he receives a written invitation. Nick then learns the reason that he has been befriended by this lonely millionaire is that he wants to enlist Nick's help in reuniting with Nick's cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan), a long lost love who is now married to Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton), but Gatsby doesn't seem to care about that or even consider it an issue.
https://werenotsorry.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/jay-gatsby-leonardo-dicaprio-the-great-gatsby-2013-baz-luhrmann.png
As he always does, Luhrman creates a vivid and striking atmosphere that is deliciously appealing. He makes New York in the roaring 20's seem like the only time and place that was ever worth living and makes sure the view never feels like an outsider looking in...he puts us directly in the center of what is happening and makes us immediately care about these characters and question their motivations as well.
http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/AR-AC403_FilmAr_P_20130509125054.jpg
I have never seen the 1949 version with Alan Ladd as Gatsby but I have seen the 1974 version with Robert Redford as Gatsby and that is the primary difference between this version and that version, the way the character of Gatsby is presented. In the '74 version, Gatsby is portrayed as a little obsessive and self-absorbed, but Luhrmann gives us a Gatsby who is more than obsessed...this Gatsby seems more than a little obsessed with Daisy and displays possible mental issues that might be due to PTSD from Gatsby's time in the military, an issue that was glossed over in the '74 version and in Fitzgerald's novel, but Luhrmann chose to put it front and center as the through line for the character, making certain things the character does cringe-worthy.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02558/gatsby_2558815b.jpg
It is this part of DiCaprio's performance that really works...watch him in the scene where he has Nick's house turned upside down for Daisy's first visit and is waiting on her arrival...he's like a ticking time bomb. Or when he tells Nick that Daisy has to tell Tom that she never loved Tom. Gatsby is not satisfied with Daisy loving him now, he is only happy with Daisy telling Tom she NEVER loved him and this I think the "a-ha" moment for Daisy when even she realizes this man is not all there. The rest of DiCaprio's performance, anything that has nothing to do with Daisy, is a little affected and stagy...the way he says the phrase "Old Sport" really grated on my nerves.
http://www.litkicks.com/sites/default/files/wetgatsby.jpg
Tobey Maguire's wide-eyed sincerity was perfect for the role of Nick and Carey Mulligan made an enchanting Daisy. Joel Edgerton is effective as Tom, even though the character comes off dumb as a box of rocks (preferred Bruce Dern in the '74 version), but I loved Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan Baker and Isla Fisher as the tragic Myrtle Wilson.

Luhrmann's creative team is on-target as always...the film is beautifully photographed with Oscar winning production and costume design from Catherine Martin that serve Lurhmann and Craig Pearce's screenplay to maximum effect. The film is worth seeing if you've never seen any other version of this story, but I wish Luhrmann might have put more trust in the power of F. Scott Fitzgerald that he didn't feel the need to enhance this classic story with a lot of smoke and mirrors. 3.5

[Citizen Rules]

Nicely done review on The Great Gatsby, Gideon.

I loved the sets and the rich details in how they were dressed out. The clothes, especially the women's A line gowns looked fabulous. Wow, I have to say the women looked really good decked out in flapper fashions. The casting choices were great and I was actually very happy to see DiCaprio in this. I think the role suits him to a tee. But the tradionalist in me couldn't go for the modern music score set to the roaring 1920s and all the CG splash lost me. Still I enjoyed your review!

[Captain Steel]

I've only seen Walk Hard once, but I find myself talking about it and referring to it a lot. That's probably because, as you mentioned, Gideon, it's a parody of the music biopic. And the great thing is it lampoons so many of them as there are both overt & subtle reference to almost every rocker that ever had a movie made about them.

My problem with the movie is it had such potential, but as you pointed out, it's sometimes silly to a fault - if it had played it slightly more straight, but maintained its comic edge, it could've been great(er)! My other problem is it's a bit too vulgar at parts which was unnecessary since the laughs are contained in the parody aspects - it didn't require extra raunchiness. I thought the performance of "Let's Duet" was ingenious, but that's about as suggestive as it should have gotten. (I was really turned off by the flash of frontal male nudity - I just don't need to see that.)

Other things are hilarious - the progressive drug scenes (which have been a part of most every music biopics) and Tim Meadow's lines, the spoofs on Bob Dylan, and of course the Beatles scene. Having Jack Black as Paul was comedic insanity as they could not have found a comedian who resembles McCartney LESS than Jack Black.

For fun, here's one of the Dylan scenes - listen to the lyrics - they're very deep. (Also, an appearance by Ed Sullivan!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u5x9pdInTU

[Gideon58]

Nicely done review on The Great Gatsby, Gideon.

I loved the sets and the rich details in how they were dressed out. The clothes, especially the women's A line gowns looked fabulous. Wow, I have to say the women looked really good decked out in flapper fashions. The casting choices were great and I was actually very happy to see DiCaprio in this. I think the role suits him to a tee. But the tradionalist in me couldn't go for the modern music score set to the roaring 1920s and all the CG splash lost me. Still I enjoyed your review!
Thank you Citizen...I totally agree with you regarding the costumes and regarding the music...Luhrmann's attempts to mash contemporary music with roaring 20's music just didn't work.

[Gideon58]

http://artofvfx.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/man_of_steel_ver12_xlg.jpg
Man of Steel is an ambitious and somewhat successful re-thinking of the Superman legend that , which not only provides a classic good vs evil story rooted in Superman's legacy but a character study of the conflicted man inside the red cape and blue tights.

This 2013 film seems to borrow inspiration from the 1978 Richard Donner film and the 1981 Richard Lester film, minus the tongue-in-cheek aspect that the screenplays for those films had. This story is told with a straight face, but not a somber or dull one. The film recounts the end of Krypton and the conflict between Jo-Rel and General Zod which revealed a dangerous agenda for Zod, which reaches far beyond a personal grudge with Jo-Rel. We see how this agenda brings together Superman and Lois Lane, before he assumes his job at the Daily Planet, but what makes this story unique is that we get to see a young Clark Kent deal with his complicated legacy, his extraordinary powers and their origins and how they affect his life with adopted parents Jonathan and Martha Kent.
http://images.gamenguide.com/data/images/full/8766/man-of-steel.jpg
This was the most interesting aspect of the film for me...it was so fascinating watching a pre-teen Clark Kent trying to figure out what his powers mean while heeding Martha and Jonathan's warnings about how important it is to keep them hidden. This is the first time where young Clark is observed utilizing his powers to save lives, rather than showing off like in the Donner film. As the adult Clark ventures out into the world, we see him continue to try to live by his parents' warning, evidenced in a scene where he is bullied in a diner, similar to a scene in the Richard Lester film, but we see Clark handle it without directly displaying his powers. I also loved Clark's first encounter with Jo-Rel where he learned who he is and where he came from and the way it was unfolded in front of Clark.

This film is non-stop action that barely gives the viewer a chance to breathe. Director Zack Snyder shows a definitive flair for mounting viable action sequences and though screenwriter David S. Goyer's screenplay is a little cliche-ridden, it works for this story. There are some visual images that are burned in memory...the final moments of Jonathan Kent onscreen are startling and heartbreaking and there is a shot of Superman flying out of explosive debris with Lois in his arms that seemed to encompass the entire legend of this character, while putting a genuine human face to him, even though, technically he isn't human.
http://www.cinemablend.com/images/news_img/38061/Man_of_Steel_38061.jpg
This fresh look at this character required a fresh face in the title role and Henry Cavill fills the blue tights admirably. Amy Adams makes the best Lois Lane since Margot Kidder and produces a viable chemistry with Cavill. Michael Shannon is brilliant as General Zod and Russell Crowe is equally solid as Jo-Rel. Kevin Costner and Diane Lane are also wonderful as Jonathan and Martha Kent. Needless to say, the film is technically flawless, with special nods to the art direction, cinematography, and sound editing departments. I was troubled by the full circle ending, which once again finds Lois Lane being fooled by a pair of glasses, which was the main reason the rating for this film is not as high as it should have been. 3.5

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b1/Frost_nixon.jpg
Crisp and detailed Oscar-worthy direction, an uncompromising screenplay, and on-target performances are the primary components of the 2009 docudrama Frost/Nixon that make it the riveting film experience it is, possible the finest work of director Ron Howard, for my money, the industry's most underrated director.
http://cache.reelz.com/assets/content/repFrame/37811/2008_frost_nixon_002.jpg
As he did with Apollo 13, Howard has mounted a dazzling cinematic entertainment based on real-life events and the figures involved in them. In 1974, Richard M. Nixon resigned as the 37th President of the United States, in order to avoid impeachment and criminal prosecution for his involvement in the Watergate scandal. A few years later, Nixon agreed to sit down with British television talk show host David Frost for a series of interviews, during which Watergate would only be discussed in their final interview. I was in high school when the Watergate scandal broke but only saw snippets of the interviews that are the subject of this film.
http://images.popmatters.com/news_art/f/frost-nixon1.jpg
Howard has mounted a fascinating look at this historic event, what led up to it, and an unbiased look at this controversial politician and this on-the-surface charming talk show host. This film puts front and center the oily quality of both of these men in a bare spotlight that at times is hardly flattering. On the plane to meet Nixon for the first time, Frost actually invites a woman, a complete stranger, to attend the historic meeting with him, apparently for no other reason than to get in her pants.
http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/still/frost_nixon18.jpg
Peter Morgan's brilliant screenplay, based on his stage play, which can only be a combination of fact and speculation, takes us up close and behind closed doors that no could have been privy to. We watch as Nixon's agreement to do this interview not to be the magnanimous gesture he initially tries to portray...the man only agrees to do it for an obscene amount of money that Frost doesn't have but goes through tireless fundraising and we watch Nixon's struggle right down to the climactic moment to avoid Frost's primary purpose of the interview...to get an admission of guilt and contrition from the President for his role in Watergate, a moment in the drama that literally had me holding my breath and on the edge of seat. This moment works because of nearly perfect direction and acting.
https://alexraphael.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/film-quizzes-colour-adaptations-from-plays-film-6.jpg
The acting in the movie is exemplary, led by an extraordinary performance by Frank Langella, whose all-consuming portrait of Richard Nixon earned the actor his first Oscar nomination after 40 years as a working actor and this one the Academy got right...Langella disappears inside this character, making him human and not shying away from the previously mentioned oily factor...watch him in the moments before the initial interview where he plays mind games with Frost to throw him off his game and how well it works. Michael Sheen matches Langella in his intense and slightly manic David Frost, the journalist who definitely underestimated his opponent and did his homework too late. Kudos as well to Oliver Platt, Kevin Bacon, Matthew MacFadyen, and especially Sam Rockwell as Nixon and Frost's various handlers and front men, who know the opponents better than they know themselves.

This movie brought up a myriad of emotions and I actually found my allegiance to the two central characters switching from scene to scene and that is a testament to Peter Morgan's screenplay and the undeniable genius that is Ron Howard. Obviously, this film and All the President's Men would make a fantastic double bill. 4

[Gideon58]

http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120202001942/disney/images/5/57/Pocahontasposter.jpg
In the tradition of stories like Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story comes 1995's Pocahontas, Disney's darkly romantic animated re-imagining of the romance between the Indian Princess and an English soldier named John Smith. This story of star-crossed lovers kept apart by social class and family had the potential to be something really special but suffers a bit due to Disney's relentless pandering to its intended demographic.
http://images.mentalfloss.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_640x430/public/pocahontas_2.jpg
The story opens with our heroine (speaking voice by Irene Bedard; singing voice by Judy Kuhns), the daughter of an Algonquin Indian chief, restless and not terribly thrilled about her arranged engagement to an Indian warrior named Kocoum (voiced by James Apaumut Fall). Meanwhile, a group of English soldiers, employed by a Governor Ratcliffe (voiced by David Ogden Stiers), arrive at the village in search gold and other foreseen riches. It is the accidental meeting of English soldier John Smith (voiced by Mel Gibson) and the Indian Princess, who fall in love at first sight, that provides the canvas for this romantic tale.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b3/16/4f/b3164fc1dbe94e4058a3c093318a416d.jpg
Directors Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg have mounted a tale that effectively combines action and romance to great effect, thanks to some colorful and skillful animation which features most of the story bathed in beautiful green and brown hues that are, at certain times, visually arresting. Some lovely cinematic pictures are featured throughout, especially in demonstrating the simple ways of Indian culture and heroine's desire for something more.
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/b/b5/Pocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-3600.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140430213823
Like Belle in Beauty and the Beast, the screenwriters have created a strong and independent-minded heroine here...she has enormous respect for her father, her people, and her culture, but she is clearly discontent and has an outlet for her discontentment in a magical talking tree (voiced by Linda Hunt). And you can see that she has found what she has been looking for in her initial face to face meeting with John Smith...I love the moment where she arranges the face to face, stalking him through the woods like a wild jungle panther and the moment they come face to face is magical...a scene done with minimal dialogue and believable facial expressions that appear real. I cannot recall the last time I saw so much viable onscreen chemistry between two animated characters.
http://cdn.moviestillsdb.com/sm/4a597ca625fa42716d4616df76e512be/pocahontas.jpg
The film features a handful of effective songs by Alan Mencken including "Savages", "The Bend of the River" and "The Colors of the Wind", which won the 1995 Oscar for Best Song. Judy Kuhn's crystal clear coloratura was perfect for the lead and I also was impressed with the fact that some of the voice actors not really known for being singers, like David Ogden Stiers, Mel Gibson, and Linda Hunt, are all given a chance to sing.

My only problem with this film was Disney's obsession with providing the story with comic relief, through allegedly cute and cuddly animal characters...in this case, a raccoon named Meeko, a humming bird named Flit, and a bulldog named Percy. I found these characters completely unnecessary to the story and totally annoying. Every time one of them appeared, it took me totally out of the really lovely story being told. I wish the writers and directors had enough confidence in the primary story being told that they didn't feel the need for comic relief. Yes, we expect laughs in an animated film, but a relatively serious love story was being presented here and it's a shame that the creative team didn't have the confidence to let this story stand on its own. If they had, this film could have been something really incredible, but as it stands, still watchable and worth your time. 3.5

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6b/Other_guys_poster.jpg
It's always interesting to see what a star on the rise will do when they have achieved enough success that they have the juice to put whatever they want on the screen, get the biggest stars in Hollywood on board, and have an unlimited budget to work with. Sometimes you get a disturbing final product like the 2010 action comedy The Other Guys, a film with a logical and believable comedic premise that gets blown way out of proportion with enough plot holes and nonsensical story elements that somehow provided very selective and very forced laughs.
http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/The_Other_Guys_movie_image_Will_Ferrell-1.jpg
This story about two very different kind of police detectives, both on desk duty for very different reasons, who finally get a chance to break away from their desk with a big case and the expected bonding of the two main characters.
https://gabtor.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/the_other_guys-5.jpg
Will Ferrell plays Allen Gamble, a cop who LOVES desk duty and is happy to do everyone else's paperwork due to a troubled past. His partner, Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg)was a front line cop who was assigned to desk duty after accidentally shooting baseball legend Derek Jeter. These central characters provide the framework for a story with promise, but somehow got away from the director and screenwriter.
http://beverlypress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/OtherGuysSheila-and-Allen-Gamble1.gif
Ferrell's longtime collaborator Adam McKay is the creative force behind this one, serving as director and co-screenwriter and assuming that Ferrell has such a solid fan base that they will accept and embrace anything he does, but it's hard to accept a lot of what's going on here...there's a lot of stuff here that doesn't make sense and there is a modicum of cheap and unmotivated laughs here and there, but not nearly enough to sustain a film of this length and expense and the huge budget Ferrell and McKay were clearly given is evident in every frame.

Ferrell is kind of funny playing against type as an extremely anal cop consumed with fear, but Mark Wahlberg is ridiculously over-the-top as Hoitz, a role that as I watched, had a feeling was meant for John C. Reilly but I guess he was unavailable. Michael Keaton is very funny as their captain with the obsession for R&B group TLC and there is a hilarious cameo at the beginning of the film by Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson as rogue cops whose actions ignites this ridiculous story. As the usual with Ferrell's films, there are a lot of great actors wasted in pointless roles who apparently just wanted to work with Ferrell.
https://generationfilm.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/otherguys.jpg
I have to admit that I did find myself chuckling now and then in spite of myself, and kept asking myself why because so little that happens in this movie makes sense...though I did love the gimmick of Gamble being married to a babe (Eva Mendes) and Hoitz being completely confused by it, but this is definitely one of those cases where the parts are better than the hole and the star is definitely overestimating what his fans will tolerate from him...a lot of money wasted here...what a shame. 2

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/36/The_Assassination_of_Richard_Nixon_poster.JPG
A powerhouse, Oscar-worthy performance from Sean Penn is the primary reason to check out a 2004 docudrama called The Assassination of Richard Nixon, the story of a man who actually tried to hijack a jet to force it to fly him to Washington so that he could assassinate Nixon. But it is the up close and personal look at the main character's methodical decay as a human being that forms the framework for this film.
http://cineplex.media.baselineresearch.com/images/254588/254588_full.jpg
Penn plays Sam Bicke, a pathetic loser who works in an office furniture store and is on the verge of being fired. He is in complete denial about the end of his marriage to Marie (Naomi Watts) and has stolen money from his brother (Michael Wincott) in order to jump start his own business, money he planned to payback with the loan he applied for which was denied. Throw into the mix Sam's disillusionment with Nixon's role in the Watergate scandal and you have all the ingredients of a heartbreaking mental breakdown which, at times, is very difficult to watch.
http://cineplex.media.baselineresearch.com/images/254592/254592_full.jpg
The first thing I noticed as I was watching this film was the startling resemblance between the central character, Sam Bicke, and the character of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver and the similar surnames notwithstanding, I have to wonder if the Bickle character was inspired by Bicke, the similarities between the two characters are no coincidence...the mental decay and pathetic factor are practically identical, not to mention their obsessions with politicians and the women in their lives. The latter being the primary thing about the characters that are so similar...they are so pathetic and you just want to shake them out of their denial and their OCD behavior.

There is a school of thought that Penn's performance here is a little over-the-top but I think it rings true throughout...his breakdown in the furniture store and his late-night phone call to Marie were just heartbreaking. I still think Penn should have received an Oscar nomination for this one, even though I don't know half a dozen people who have actually seen this movie.

Director and co-screenwriter Niels Mueller has crafted an extraordinary and compelling story about an everyman whose mental decay is evident in every frame for the viewer even if the character himself doesn't see it. It's not an easy watch, but I think fans of the 1976 Martin Scorsese classic would find some rewards here. 3.5

[Citizen Rules]

I seen The Assassination of Richard Nixon, you're right it was a powerful movie....and it's true story which makes it all the more ominous. Not many people know that Nixon was almost assassinated. Good review Gideon.

[Gideon58]

Thanks Citizen...had some technical difficulties on the computer I was working on, but I've added some pictures. I actually saw this movie the first time a couple of years ago, but at the time didn't catch that this was a true story, which made it all the more compelling and I think Sean Penn is ALWAYS worth watching.

[Gideon58]

http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2015/news/151026/the-wiz-01-800.jpg
NBC definitely had middling results last year when they presented a live remake of the classic musical The Sound of Music, but they fared much better this year with their re-mounting of The Wiz, the urban re-thinking of The Wizard of Oz, which takes the original story and employs a new score and an entirely African American cast. Despite a couple of questionable casting choices and an overly padded screenplay, this is a splashy and entertaining update of this musical.

The Wiz first hit the Broadway stage in 1975 and won the Tony Award for Best Musical, making a star out of a young Stephanie Mills as Dorothy. The show became a dreadful movie in 1978 with Diana Ross inheriting the role of Dorothy and with major changes in story and the score that just didn't work.

Director Kenny Leon has gone back to the show's roots here and though the show has been updated for the computer age, Leon respects the origins of the 1975 stage musical, unlike Sidney Lumet's 1978 film. Once again, Dorothy is a little girl as she should be, and the story here utilizes the same musical comedy symbolism that made it so groundbreaking in 1975...once again, the tornado is represented by dancers and not computer-generated effects. Harvey Fierstein, seemingly an odd choice for the job, does a competent job with the teleplay, keeping the story and characters true to their original spirit, though the script could have used a little tightening as some rather minor scenes went on way longer than they needed to be, particularly the scenes involving the gatekeeper (Common), which I'm thinking were expanded in order for Common to accept the role.
http://www.nbc.com/sites/nbcunbc/files/files/images/2015/10/09/151009_2919460_Coming_in_December___The_Wiz_Live_.jpg
Most of the casting is on the money...Shanice Williams does a lovely job inheriting the role of Dorothy, combining the child-like innocence and the powerhouse pipes required to do this role. Elijah Kelly, Ne-Yo, and David Alan Grier are all perfection as the Scacrecrow, the Tinman and the Lion, understanding their characters and all making their musical moments shine...Kelly shines in "You Can't Win", a number originated in the '78 film by Michael Jackson but Kelley makes it his own. Ne-Yo's "What Would I Do If I Could Feel" is quite moving and Grier's duet with Williams "Be a Lion" brings down the house.

Also loved Amber Riley (Mercedes on Glee) as Addeperle and Uzo Adoba as Glinda. And the original Dorothy on Broadway, Stephanie Mills, is a lovely Aunt Em and nails "The Feeling We Once Had." My only casting problems were with the roles of Evillene and The Wiz....Mary J. Blige was not the least bit convincing as Evillene and Queen Latifah seemed confused as to how to justify her casting in a role that was written for a male. It was odd that the Wiz is referred to as "he" throughout the story here and when we learn that he is a she, it is never really addressed.
http://newimages.bwwstatic.com/upload11/1140659/files/NUP_171101_1291.JPG
These are minor quibbles though in a production that spares no expense...the scenery is gorgeous and the costumes and makeup are definitely Emmy-worthy, as was the choreography that never got in the way of the songs. Not perfect, but a dazzling entertainment that works for the most part. 4

[gbgoodies]

I've never seen the movie The Wiz, but I watched The Wiz Live! (that aired last night) while I was getting work done today. I didn't have high hopes for it because I've heard the movie version wasn't very good, so it didn't have my full attention, but I love the movie The Wizard of Oz, so I wanted to see this. (It's still on my DVR, so I'm sure that I'll watch it again before I delete it.)

I thought it was very enjoyable. I agree that the casting was great, with the exception being the role of The Wiz, but it wasn't off enough that it bothered me at all. I thought it was a nice update to the story, with several jokes bringing it into the modern age. I liked the music, but I didn't find any of the songs memorable, with the exception of "Ease on Down the Road", which I've heard before.

But overall, I think they did a very good job.

[Gideon58]

Elisabeth Shue's performance in Adventures in Babysitting was fun and innocent. I also liked her in Back to the Future. But I would rather not mention her other performances since then.
Wow, this is the first comment I've received regarding Adventures in Babysitting...I loved her in this movie and I think she made the movie a lot better than it really is. I also liked her in Leaving Las Vegas though I'm not sure she deserved an Oscar nomination. Oh, and for the record, Shue was in Back to the Future II, not the first film.

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e4/Alice_movie_poster.jpg
Just when I think I've seen everything I can possibly imagine from the elaborately complex mind of Woody Allen, he always finds something a little more offbeat and nutty that is not necessarily rooted in realism, but because it is Woody, you forgive and accept and expect the unexpected. It happened with Purple Rose of Cairo and it happened with Deconstructing Harry and it happened with Everyone Says I Love You and it has again happened with a 1990 comedy-drama called Alice.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oFOsWXU06c8/hqdefault.jpg
This is the story of Alice Tait (Mia Farrow), a pampered and wealthy Manhattan housewife and mother who seemingly has the perfect life, but it is clear from jump that this is another one of those housewives who is screaming on the inside. Alice is experiencing back problems and is referred to an acupuncturist named Dr. Yang (Keye Luke) who takes one look at Alice and realizes her problems have nothing to do with her back. He prescribes some herbs to Alice which have some startling effects, turning Alice into a person she doesn't know, embarking on a journey of self-discovery that has her questioning her marriage to an insensitive clod (William Hurt) and contemplating an affair with a charming divorced musician (Joe Montegna).
http://moviemezzanine.com/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2013-07-24-at-5.38.08-PM.png
As always, Woody's imaginative screenplay takes Alice and the moviegoer to unexpected and sometimes unrealistic places...one of the herbs that Dr. Yang gives to Alice makes her invisible. This is the point in the film where the real Woody-philes separate from the neophytes and decide whether they want to be a part of Woody's deliciously eccentric journey into self-help, the validity of therapy, materialism, and the pros and cons of alternative medicine. Each herb takes Alice somewhere different, my favorite journey was a reunion with the ghost of an ex-lover (Alec Baldwin), who knows and still remembers the Alice that her husband doesn't care about. An audio flashback to their marriage while Alice dances with the ghost is one of the film's loveliest moments.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xoc97UFmntA/VH3_jqKpMBI/AAAAAAAAFdw/atw1pwAt2Hg/s1600/alice-1990-04-g.jpg
Woody's direction, unlike his screenplay, is steeped in realism...I love the way his characters talk over each other yet never seem to miss anything that they are saying to each other. And like a lot of Woody's stronger work, the film has a quietly voyeuristic feel to it like we're watching Alice and we're not supposed to be.
http://www.unsungfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/alice_01.jpg
Woody's hand-picked cast makes up for a lot of the nuttiness. Mia Farrow completely invests in the complex role of Alice, a character whose through line changes with every scene and she makes what could have been a very unsympathetic character fascinating to watch. Montegna is charming and Hurt is appropriately greasy as her husband. Luke was a bit much and the way he always referred to himself and Alice in the third person was kind of annoying, but I loved Blythe Danner as Alice's sister and Robin Bartlett as her best friend.
http://movie-roulette.com/photos_big/alice-6-1.jpeg
Once again, Woody uses Manhattan as the ultimate cinematic landscape to maximum effect and surrounds the proceedings with some lovely music. Not for all tastes, but Woody-philes will definitely have a head start. 3.5

[Gideon58]

http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/moviemom/files/2014/11/hr_Horrible_Bosses_2_6.jpg
Horrible Bosses 2 is a silly and unnecessary sequel to the 2010 hit that doesn't fit any of my requirements for a good sequel (See my review for The Dark Knight Rises), that provides sporadic laughs here and there, but most important, really has NOTHING to do with the first film.

This 2014 film has Nick (Jason Batemen), Kurt (Jason Sudekis), and Dale (Charlie Day) starting their own business but have it taken from them by an unscrupulous billionaire (Christoph Waltz) and their plan to get it back finds the billionaire's son (Chris Pine) a primary player in their plan of revenge.
http://www.joblo.com/newsimages1/horrible-bosses-2-review.jpg
Director and co-screenwriter Sean Anders has taken what appears to be a big inside joke and just filmed it...about a third of this film appears to be improvised, Anders overestimating the comic gold he has attempting to deliver the goods and attempting a legitimate connection to the first film by having Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, and Jamie Foxx reprising their roles from the first film, even though their roles have nothing to do with this story.
http://cdn2-www.comingsoon.net/assets/uploads/gallery/horrible-bosses-2-1387117500/Horrible_Bosses_2_13.jpg
Bateman does manage to maintain his dignity but Charlie Day's performance is like Gilbret Gottfried on crack. The only completely satisfying performance for me was from Chris Pine as the spoiled son of the billionaire...a cliched character that Pine put his own funny stamp on, but other than that, the rest of this film is a mess...you know you're in trouble when the funniest thing in the movie are the outtakes during the closing credits. 2

[Citizen Rules]

Good review....it sounds like a movie I won't be watching...but Jennifer Aniston really looks good in your pic (and I'm not a big fan of hers either). So kudos to the make up department for making her look better than usual.

[Gideon58]

Good review....it sounds like a movie I won't be watching...but Jennifer Aniston really looks good in your pic (and I'm not a big fan of hers either). So kudos to the make up department for making her look better than usual.
Aniston looked absolutely incredible in both this and the first film.

[cricket]

Gideon, did you like the first one? I sure did, and that's why I've had some interest in watching this one.

[Gideon58]

http://images.redbox.com/Images/EPC/Kiosk/8201.jpg
Biopics are a tricky thing for the filmmaker and the film goer. As a filmmaker you want to tell a story that presents the facts and entertains and often facts are altered or glossed over for the sake of entertainment. As a film goer, when we know the subject of the film, we want to make sure the facts are accurate and everything else comes second. I have to admit to enjoying a biopic where I know nothing about the subject...I have no preconceived opinions and find myself looking at the film strictly for entertainment value.
http://media2.popsugar-assets.com/files/2014/08/04/728/n/1922283/2ee29aba49a12e17_thumb_temp_cover_file8452101407169435.xxxlarge/i/Big-Eyes-Movie-Pictures.jpg
Big Eyes is the 2014 biography of painter Margaret Keane, who was famous for painting children with huge saucer-like eyes and her explosive relationship with her husband Walter, who actually took credit for his wife's work.
http://mountainx.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/bigeyes.jpg
The film opens in 1958 California with Margaret leaving her husband and entering into a quick courtship and marriage with Walter, a real estate agent who has a passion for painting, but not the talent. Walter begins putting Margaret's work out there and when the opportunity presents itself, he begins taking credit for her work and keeps Margaret a virtual prisoner in an attic where she produces the work and he takes credit for it. For some reason, Margaret quietly goes along with this scheme, which almost destroys her relationship with her daughter. Walter continues to live the high life but finds consequences of sort when he reads of a particular art critic who hates Margaret's work, not to mention the legal ramifications of Walter's actions when Margaret finally has had enough.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8868/17630305972_583cb936df_c.jpg
This film stirred strong emotions as I watched, mostly anger, as I couldn't understand why Margaret would allow this monster to take credit for her work. Perhaps because it was the 1950's and 1960's and it was a man's world, but it still doesn't legitimize what Walter was doing and my heart broke for Margaret as she sat in that attic locked to that easel or when she had to lie to her daughter about what was going on.

Director Tim Burton, in a way, seems an unusual directorial choice for this kind of subject matter, yet, his last biopic, Ed Wood, is, for my money, the best film he ever made and I think this one is a worthy follow-up. I knew nothing about the subject prior to this film so I don't know how factually accurate it is, but while watching I really didn't care...except for a brief moment into slasher movie suspense near the climax, just about everything presented here rings true and Burton's direction is steady and balanced.
http://www.contactmusic.com/images/feature-images/big-eyes-christoph-waltz-danny-huston-636-380.jpg
Amy Adams gives a beautifully controlled performance as Margaret and Christoph Waltz is gutsy and unapologetic in his flashy turn as Walter, a performance that is slightly grating but you can never take your eyes off the man when he is onscreen, he makes the transition of Walter from romantic leading man to dangerous and foolish psychopath completely believable. There's also a stylish turn from Terrance Stamp as the art critic who is instrumental in Walter's downfall.

As always, Burton's attention to period detail is on the money, flawlessly reproducing the 1950's and 60's with brilliant color schemes and cinematography and Danny Elfman's music is wonderful a well. And I'd like to personally thank Tim Burton for not casting Johnny Depp as Walter. 3.5

[Gideon58]

Gideon, did you like the first one? I sure did, and that's why I've had some interest in watching this one.
I liked the first one a lot...I think I gave it 8/10, there's a review of it in here somewhere, that's why I was looking forward to this one and was ultimately, extremely disappointed.

[Gideon58]

I've never seen the movie The Wiz, but I watched The Wiz Live! (that aired last night) while I was getting work done today. I didn't have high hopes for it because I've heard the movie version wasn't very good, so it didn't have my full attention, but I love the movie The Wizard of Oz, so I wanted to see this. (It's still on my DVR, so I'm sure that I'll watch it again before I delete it.)

I thought it was very enjoyable. I agree that the casting was great, with the exception being the role of The Wiz, but it wasn't off enough that it bothered me at all. I thought it was a nice update to the story, with several jokes bringing it into the modern age. I liked the music, but I didn't find any of the songs memorable, with the exception of "Ease on Down the Road", which I've heard before.

But overall, I think they did a very good job.
I didn't really care for Queen Latifah either.

[Citizen Rules]

Oh cool, you watched Big Eyes. I thought highly of that film too. I agree with what you say about Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz...two of my favorite actors working today. I was surprised Tim Burton didn't make this a wacky Butonesque type film, but he did a good a job with it. Enjoyed your review.

[gbgoodies]

I also knew nothing about the movie Big Eyes before I watched it. In fact, I thought it was an animated movie when I saw the movie poster for it. I liked the movie, but I had a hard time feeling sympathetic for Margaret because she did nothing to stand up for herself. She basically just sat back and let her husband take credit for her work.

However I love her paintings. :)

[Gideon58]

I also knew nothing about the movie Big Eyes before I watched it. In fact, I thought it was an animated movie when I saw the movie poster for it. I liked the movie, but I had a hard time feeling sympathetic for Margaret because she did nothing to stand up for herself. She basically just sat back and let her husband take credit for her work.

However I love her paintings. :)
Yeah, I couldn't understand why Margaret just allowed Walter to do what he did either. It's not like he was abusing her or blackmailing her in some way, he wasn't holding anything over her that forced her to sit in that attic and let him take credit for her work. That's one of the reasons my rating wasn't higher...we weren't really given an explanation for Margaret's behavior.

[Gideon58]

http://www.cultflicks.net/wp-content/uploads/reservori-dogs-poster.jpg
Quentin Tarantino first showed his penchant for unconventional and out of sequence storytelling with an unrelentingly intense and bloody 1992 crime drama called Reservoir Dogs, a story that never goes where you think it's supposed to or where you want it to, but remains riveting from start to finish, thanks primarily to the film's surprising economy. This is another one of those films that is extremely difficult to review without including major spoilers but I'm going to give it a shot.
http://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2012/04/resdogs.jpg
The film opens quite unassumingly with a bunch of guys in black suits having breakfast together discussing the hidden meaning of Madonna's record "Like a Virgin" and the importance of properly tipping a waitress and before we realize it, it is revealed that these men have been brought together for the robbery of a jewelry store that goes terribly wrong and before we know it, we learn that one of the men we met at breakfast is dead, one is missing, one is dying from a gunshot wound to the stomach, one has stashed the jewelry, and one has taken a cop hostage and has him stuffed in the trunk of the getaway car. We also learned that it is suspected that the robbery went wrong because the cops were tipped off and that one of the crew is really a cop.
https://noirwhale.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/film-noir-reservoir-dogs-mr-blonde-mr-white-mr-pink.jpg
Tarantino and Roger Avary's screenplay is alternately aggravating and fascinating because we keep waiting to see what happened at the jewelry store, but Tarantino's introduction of the characters and how they came together for this crime becomes so fascinating that we actually find ourselves forgetting about the actual crime itself. I found myself caring less and less about the actual crime itself and more and more about the gathering of these men and the consequences of their actions, which I guess was Tarantino's intent.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/eio-0iLToJ0/maxresdefault.jpg
As always with Tarantino's direction, his eye for cinematic carnage is unapologetic as is his ability to get riveting performances from his hand-picked ensemble cast. There is standout work from Michael Madsen, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, and especially Steve Buscemi, who I don't think has ever been better. The unrelenting violent eye of Tarantino has rarely been displayed with the intensity that it is with the scene of Madsen torturing his cop hostage, given even more power via Tarantino's flawless ear for music of the 1970's. This film is not for the squeamish, but if you want to see the genesis of Pulp Fiction, the Kill Bill franchise, and Django Unchained, this seems to be where it all started. 4.5

[Gideon58]

http://thepennywisemama.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Little-Mermaid-DE-Combo-Pack-Box-Art.jpg
Disney Studios initiated a more sophisticated form of animated entertainment with the release of 1989's The Little Mermaid, a captivating and charming story that was the first time that Disney attempted to meld the animated comedy, the love story, and the Broadway musical to maximum effect, a groundbreaking piece of cinema that I suspect was the genesis of Pixar Animation.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/dvd/disney/littlemermaid/Ariel_Eric_boat_L.jpg
The film is the story of Ariel (voiced by Jodi Benson), a teenage mermaid who is fascinated by the lives of humans on the surface of the sea, despite lifetime warnings from her father, King Triton (voiced by Kenneth Mars) to stay away from the surface. Her encounter with a handsome human prince named Eric (voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes) motivates her to enter into an unholy alliance with Ursula (voiced by Pat Carroll), an evil sea witch who agrees to turn Ariel into a human for three days in order to make Eric fall in love with her and all she has to do is give up her voice.

Animators Ron Clements and John Musker have created a deliciously entertaining world that provides a wonderful bridge between classic Disney like Snow White into a more sophisticated form of animated entertainment, that would be molded into perfection with work like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, but what works here is the simple good vs evil story with effective comic relief and not complicated by multiple and unnecessary endings, which seems to be a fixture of Disney Pixar films.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/dvd/disney/littlemermaid/Ariel_L.jpg
The story is simple and straightforward and Ariel is the first in a new series of independent Disney heroines that you can't help but fall in love with instantly. Jodi Benson's sweet speaking voice and clear soprano are a perfect match for the character as is the voice work of Carroll, Barnes, and especially the fabulous Samuel Wright as a very wise and loving crab named Sebastian.
http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/Previews/Little-Mermaid-movie-10.jpg
The film features a handful of charming songs by Alan Mencken and Howard Ashman including "Your Part of the World", "Kiss the Girl" and 1989's Oscar winner for Best Song, "Under the Sea." A lovely animated gem whose intended demographic was definitely 13 year old girls, but I found myself enchanted as well. 4

[MovieMeditation]

Great review of Reservoir Dogs!

Reminds me that a rewatch is due.

[Gideon58]

http://www.pop-cultured.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/hitchcock-movie-poster.jpg
Hitchcock is a rare cinematic look at the legendary director who never won an Oscar, but did receive a nomination for the film around which this film is based. The film is a look at Hitch's extraordinary journey to get Psycho to the screen, his obsession with his leading ladies and everything else in his life, but most of all, it looks at the sometimes ugly love story between Hitchcock and his longtime wife/collaborator Alma Reville, allegedly the woman behind the man whose influence on the directorial legend was news to me. Unfortunately, this film suffers from trying to be too much...biopic, docudrama, glossy romantic soap opera, and psychological drama, and though it doesn't really work as any of these genres, I found the film riveting from start to finish.
https://cbssanfran.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/hr_hitchcock_27.jpg
The 2012 film opens at the premiere of Hitch's 1959 classic North by Northwest where it is immediately pounded into our heads that Psycho was unlike anything Hitch had ever done and how no studio wanted anything to do with it, but this doesn't deter the director in the least. Hitch poured his own money into the film (including the mortgaging of his home) and apparently had all copies of the book Psycho bought and removed from bookshelves so that people would not know the ending of the movie.
http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/hitchcock-jessica-biel-scarlett-johansson-james-darcy.jpg
We also get a surprising look into Hitch's marriage to Alma Reville, a former writer who gave up her own career in order to be Mrs. Hitchcock and who, also according to this film, had major influence on the film Psycho...from casting to rewrites and cutting room decisions. Ironically, a glance at the IMDB page for Psycho finds Alma Reville's name nowhere to be found in the credits and after seeing this film, I have to wonder whose decision this was. There's also a look at Hitch's obsession with Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, and how none of them ever stood up to Grace Kelly, who always was his number one obsession.
http://static01.nyt.com/images/2012/11/23/arts/23HITCHCOCK1_SPAN/JPHITCHCOCK1-superJumbo.jpg
There are some wonderful performances here with Anthony Hopkins undergoing a remarkable transformation to become Hitchcock, but it is Helen Mirren's crisp and kinetic performance as Alma that really makes this film sizzle. I also have to mention a brief but absolutely incredible performance by an unknown actor named James D'Arcy, who plays Anthony Perkins. Also loved the always watchable Toni Collette as Hitchcock's loyal assistant. Sacha Gervasi's direction is a little syrupy and as mentioned before the screenplay tries to cover a little too much ground, but Hopkins and Mirren made this a very entertaining ride. 3.5

[Gideon58]

http://altscreen.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Editors-Pick-Bob-Carol-Ted-Alice.jpg
Writer and director Paul Mazursky made an impressive feature directorial debut with one of the most controversial and talked about films of 1969...a little gem called Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, which shocked audiences back in '69 with its bold look at the beginning of the sexual revolution and how sex could be displayed and addressed in a mainstream theatrical film. Though it's lost a lot of its shock value and suffers from dated plot elements and dialogue, it is still worth a look if you're a fan of the late director's work.
http://emanuellevy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Bob__Carol__Ted__Alice_2_mazursky.png
Bob and Carol Sanders (Robert Culp, Natalie Wood) are an affluent California couple who have just attended a weekend seminar on marriage and come back with a whole new attitude about sex and its role in their marriage, including the apparent theory that infidelity in marriage is acceptable as long as you are honest with your partner about what happened. Bob and Carol's new outlook on sex is completely foreign and unacceptable to their best friends Ted and Alice Henderson (Elliott Gould, Dyan Cannon) initially, but the Sanders' influence on the Henderson marriage becomes the canvas for this unconventional romantic comedy.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LhWo7kKU_So/hqdefault.jpg
This film raised eyebrows for a lot of reasons back in 1969...it was one of the first mainstream theatrical films that I recall that featured full frontal female nudity (though not from either of the leading ladies) and the screenplay by the director and Larry Tucker is brave and shameless in its approach to sexual topics, something which really hadn't been seen on movie screens prior to this, which I suspect is one of the reasons that the screenplay received an Oscar nomination.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfeoPMUjPrM/S9Ee1ANxB3I/AAAAAAAABQA/zK40-ShP9Fs/s1600/BobAndCarol_cheat.png
The performances by the four leads are first rate...Culp, an actor whose career was primarily based in television, proved he had the chops to carry a theatrical film and generates mad chemistry with Wood, who not only gives a strong performance but has rarely been more beautiful onscreen. But the real acting honors here go to newcomers Gould and Cannon, who both received Oscar nominations for their performances as the sexually uptight couple who find themselves re-thinking their entire relationship in more ways than one. This movie made Gould and Cannon movie stars and deservedly so...Cannon's scene in a psychiatrist's office is just brilliant.
http://img11.nnm.me/f/0/d/b/f/57fb22b6e31ccdd1b36313126bd.jpg
A lot of the shock value has definitely worn off here and I doubt that this film would make a ripple if it were released today, but back in 1969, this was groundbreaking stuff and a testament to the genius that was the late Paul Mazursky. 3.5

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b9/Psycho_(1960).jpg
My recent viewing of the film Hitchcock motivated me to finally sit and down and watch the master's 1960 masterpiece Psycho, the groundbreaking psychological thriller/murder mystery that completely re-defined the career of the amazing Alfred Hitchcock, crowning him the King of Cinematic Suspense.
https://fogsmoviereviews.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/pyscho33561.jpg
This is the story of Marian Crane (Janet Leigh), a Phoenix-based secretary who steals $40,000 from her boss' client in order to be able to marry her hunky but empty-headed fiancee (John Gavin) and skips town. An exhausted Marian makes the fatalistic decision of pulling off the road and getting a room at the Bates Hotel, run by the outwardly charming Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), who runs the hotel while taking care of his invalid mother.
http://www.gonewiththetwins.com/pages/archive/screenshots/psycho/006.jpg
The story is so not what makes this film work, but the way Hitchcock chooses to tell the story...he takes Joseph Stefano's screenplay and drapes it in such a dark and chilling atmosphere. It starts from jump with the opening credits flashed across the screen accompanied by Bernard Herrmann's flawless musical score (which was robbed of an Oscar) to the off-screen narration during Marian's journey where she has been found out to the unraveling of Marian's guilt about what she has done while relaxing in her hotel to the private investigator getting too close to the truth and, of course, Marian's fatal shower. It's not the story itself that is so riveting but the way Hitchcock chooses to tell it...there is cinematic artistry everywhere here...that shot of the blood going down the drain morphing into Janet Leigh's comotose eye is bone-chilling.
http://blog.soton.ac.uk/bmlr1g13/files/2013/12/psycho.jpg
We had seen nothing like this before and though we've seen many imitators, this was the original and no one does it better than Hitch did. Everything take second place to Hitchcock's artistry here...Hitchcock makes sure the actors serve the vision of the story he wants to tell...Leigh is a revelation as Marian Crane, a surprisingly complex performance that earned her an Oscar nomination and Anthony Perkins was robbed of an Oscar for his raw nerve of a performance as Norman Bates, the most sympathetic and heartbreaking villain in cinema history. A cinematic textbook on the art of creating onscreen suspense that should be required viewing of all film students...breathtaking. 5

[honeykid]

Not surprised you liked it as it's brilliant. But I am glad that you finally watched it. :) Have you seen Peeping Tom? If not, I'd recommend taking a look at that.

[Gideon58]

Not surprised you liked it as it's brilliant. But I am glad that you finally watched it. :) Have you seen Peeping Tom? If not, I'd recommend taking a look at that.
Have not seen Peeping Tom, but I respect your opinions, Honeykid and will add it to my watchlist.

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d6/Planes_trains_and_automobiles.jpg
The late John Hughes, the king of 1980's teen angst comedies, tried something a little different with a 1987 comedy called Planes, Trains, & Automobiles which is a little bit road trip comedy, a little bit buddy comedy, a little bit character study and though it's not completely successful in capturing the essence of these genres, it's an ultimately rewarding cinematic journey for the patient.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02734/stevemartinplanest_2734437b.jpg
Steve Martin stars as Neal Page, a marketing executive who is trying to get home in time for Thanksgiving and when his flight home is cancelled due to bad weather, he somehow finds himself hooked up with a fellow traveler named Del Griffith (John Candy), a shower curtain ring salesman whose obnoxious exterior demeanor and well-intentioned motives for helping Neal get home prove to be futile, instigating an outrageous road trip that sometimes strains credibility, but more importantly, is the springboard for a friendship that was never meant to be.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jgg_vWq7KNk/maxresdefault.jpg
Director/writer Hughes has mounted a surprising story that prepares the viewer for an outrageous slapstick comedy and there is outrageous slapstick comedy fueled by two of the best physical comedians ever, but the slapstick is peppered with scenes of flawed and human bonding between the central characters that sometimes defies explanation or logic, but we find ourselves accepting it and enjoying it, even if it takes a little too long to happen.

Martin offers one of his best performances as Page...a seamless combination of a believable everyman and wonderful physical comedy that provides laughs but never strains credibility and Candy's Del Griffith becomes more and more likable as the story progresses, something I didn't see coming at all because the character was never intended to be what I wanted it to be.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/u2pu0m9iTo4/maxresdefault.jpg
It is the work of these two incomparable screen comedians, the breezy direction and writing of Hughes and some striking location photography from varied parts of the country, especially Hughes' beloved Chicago, that make this road trip worth the investment. 3.5

[Citizen Rules]

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Excellent review Gideon...This is the ONLY time that I have ever read a review here of a film that I had just seen. So this was totally cool to read your review as the movie is fresh in my mind and I can then see what you found in the movie, and be able to relate to it. I essentially agreed with everything you said, (I'll write a review latter today.)

The late John Hughes, the king of 1980's teen angst comedies, tried something a little different with a 1987 comedy called Planes, Trains, & Automobiles which is a little bit road trip comedy, a little bit buddy comedy, a little bit character study and though it's not completely successful in capturing the essence of these genres, it's an ultimately rewarding cinematic journey for the patient. I like what you say here. I too noticed right away the film felt different than other of Hughes' films. And you're right if one is patient the film will reward.


Martin offers one of his best performances as Page...a seamless combination of a believable everyman and wonderful physical comedy that provides laughs but never strains credibility Yes he did. Martin makes the perfect straight guy. I need to watch more of Steve Martin's films.

and Candy's Del Griffith becomes more and more likable as the story progresses, something I didn't see coming at all because the character was never intended to be what I wanted to be. I'm curious about this...what did you want Candy's character to be?

[Gideon58]

I thought Candy's character was going to be more of a direct protagonist, deliberately trying to make Martin's life miserable and that's not what he was at all...I'm trying to think of an example of what I'm saying but I'm drawing a blank right now, but I expected Candy's entire motivation throughout was to keep Martin from getting home and that's not what he was at all. OK, I just thought of an example...did you ever see Identity Thief with Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy? McCarthy's character fought Bateman most of the way and made it as difficult as possible for him to get home. Del Griffith wasn't like that at all,,,his intentions were always above aboard even if his actions weren't and I loved that he didn't reveal the truth about his wife until he did...he could have used that information much earlier than he did to elicit sympathy and help from Neal but he didn't.

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d1/Five_hundred_days_of_summer.jpg
I heard nothing but positive things about the 2009 romantic comedy 500 Days of Summer prior to seeing it so imagine my disappointment to find this allegedly quirky and offbeat romantic comedy hard to invest in because it works SO hard at being quirky and offbeat that it just becomes forced, manipulative, and annoying.
http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/image-base/Movies/F/Five_500_Days_Of_Summer/500_days_of_summer_movie_image_joeseph_gordon_levit_and_zooey_deschanel__1_l.jpg
This is the story of Tom (Joseph Gordon Levitt), a dreamy-eyed romantic virgin, and Summer (Zooey Deschanel), a cynical non-believer in love whose favorite Beatle is Ringo, and their rocky, on again off again romance, but the primary hook that was supposed to make this film something different is that the story is told out of sequence...each scene is represented by the number corresponding to each day of Tom and Summer's relationship.
https://thoughtcatalog.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/screen-shot-2014-07-10-at-12-13-23-pm.png?w=786&h=516
The screenplay by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weaver is awash in romantic cliches, despite the complex set-up of the story not being told in sequential order, a writing concept that, for some reason, really worked with a crime drama like Pulp Fiction, but just doesn't work with romantic comedy for some reason, at least this romantic comedy...as the final credits rolled, I really wasn't sure why the relationship ended...or even if it really did or not.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oxCQUSGOHgw/maxresdefault.jpg
Joseph Gordon Levitt displays leading man potential as Tom, but the screenplay is fighting him all the way, but he has a grand assist from director Marc Webb who has clearly given the actor enough trust in his own instincts to make some unexpected moves from the character work. Deschanel, an actress whose screen persona has always defined "offbeat and quirky" comes off surprisingly stifled here and maybe it's just me, but I felt no chemistry between the two actors at all, stemmed primarily from the fact that Deschanel, costumed like a sixth grade teacher and Levitt, costumed like a prep school student just didn't look right together. Deschanel looked about ten years older than Levitt here.
http://www.iamnotastalker.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/ScreenShot4226.jpg
The film is not all bad...Webb has an imaginative director's eye that includes an off-the-cuff musical number set to a Hall and Oates song, effective use of Manhattan locations, but the confusing screenplay and the inability to invest in the leads as a couple made it hard for me to love this film as much as everyone else does. 2.5

[Citizen Rules]

I thought Candy's character was going to be more of a direct protagonist, deliberately trying to make Martin's life miserable I see what you're saying. I could see a director doing that too.

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/49/Pennies_from_Heaven.jpg
The Depression was a time of financial ruin and desperation in America and for a lot of people, their only escape from the misery that was their lives was going to the movies and watching Fred Astaire woo Ginger Rogers or Dick Powell chase Ruby Keeler. This is the inspiration for a 1981 musical called Pennies from Heaven, a dark and moody musical that breaks all the rules where musicals are concerned and that might be why the film was such a box office disaster.
http://www.nicksflickpicks.com/f100pheaven.jpg
The film stars Steve Martin as Arthur Parker, a song salesman who loves his work even if he isn't terribly successful at it. Arthur is unhappily married to the sexually inhibited Joan (Jessica Harper) who won't satisfy Arthur in bed so it's no surprise when Arthur finds himself drawn to a lonely schoolteacher named Eileen (Bernadette Peters), but it is a chance encounter with a blind girl (Eliska Krupka) that changes Arthur's life forever.
https://alfredeaker.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/pennies.jpg
The unsettling hook with this musical, in addition to a dreary setting and a really depressing story, is that the emotions of Arthur and the other characters are displayed in lavish song and dance numbers, where the actors lip-sync to original 1930's recordings of the songs that provide an outlet for Arthur's unhappiness.
http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/600full-pennies-from-heaven-screenshot.gif
Director Herbert Ross (Funny Lady) and choreographer Danny Daniels have effectively channeled Busby Berkley in mounting some of the most elaborate musical numbers mounted for a film musical and it is the stark contrast between these musical numbers and the story that makes this film such an initially unsettling experience.
http://media.baselineresearch.com/images/286817/286817_full.jpg
Dennis Potter's screenplay adds to the discomfort by giving us characters who are mostly unlikable, particularly Arthur Parker...his treatment of Joan and Eileen does not endear him to the viewer, another reason why it is hard to invest in this film, but what the film does have is striking originality...you have never seen anything on the screen like this before and probably never will again. Steve Martin is charismatic as Parker, completely investing in the negative aspects of the character and making him oddly riveting. Bernadette Peters is lovely as Eileen and there is a fabulous cameo from Christopher Walken as a slickster who tries to pick up Eileen in a bar. This film is definitely not for all tastes, but lovers of musicals and Steve Martin will have a head start. 3.5

[Gideon58]

http://www.arterritory.com/images/main/TheDoorsPoster
Oliver Stone's penchant for overindulgence as a director was never more evident than in the 1991 biopic The Doors, an overblown look at the rise of the 1960's counterculture rock group, but more specifically, at its charismatic front man, Jim Morrison that provides some insight into its controversial subject, but not enough to sustain interest in a film of this length.
http://www.film4.com/media/images/Film4/images/T/the-doors-1991-01.jpg
The film follows Morrison from his days as a UCLA film student to his early fame at the Whiskey a Go Go in California to his eventual passing at the age of 27 in Paris. Set during the turbulent 1960's, Stone mounts an effective canvas for Morrison's story that perfectly conveys how Morrison's "it's all about me" songwriting and poetry was perfect for the hedonistic 1960's and the hippie sensibility that pervaded everything in the day. Like a lot of biopics about musicians, Morrison is presented as a guy who became an instant success even though commercial success wasn't really on his radar...what seemed to be on his radar was sex, drugs and rock-n-roll, and he definitely imbibed to the point of excess which was his eventual downfall.
http://screenmusings.org/movie/blu-ray/The-Doors/images/The-Doors-421.jpg
Oliver Stone has taken a great deal of care and expense in bringing Morrison's story to the screen and his respect for the subject is evident in every frame. His screenplay with Randall Johnson is a little too talky at times but is rich with 1960's sensibilities, but what this film has above all else is an Oscar-worthy lead performance from Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison, an unapologetic and charismatic performance that haunts long after the credits roll. He also gets solid support from Kyle MacLachlan, Frank Whaley, and Kevin Dillon as the Doors and mention should be made of a surprisingly stylish cameo from Kathleen Quinlan as a Satan worshiping reporter with whom Morrison has an affair.
http://www.imcdb.org/i211834.jpg
Stone employs some striking camera work in bringing southern California and Manhattan to the screen and also employs a great deal of care in bringing the music of the Doors to the screen. I read somewhere that the real Doors had hard times distinguishing between original Morrison recordings and Kilmer's recreations. Kilmer's electric performance does make this worth checking out, but as a film experience, the
movie is a little long and rambling to be truly effective. 3

[Citizen Rules]

Enjoyed your review on The Doors. When I was younger I was a huge Doors fan and must have read No One Hear Gets Out Alive the book that this film was largely based on, at least a half dozen times.

It's been like 20 years since I seen The Doors movie, but from what I remember you're spot on with your review. Kilmar embodied Morrison and did a damn fine singing job too. I really like Kyle MacLachlan as the older and wiser Ray Manazarek.

[Gideon58]

http://s2.dmcdn.net/IqG2O.jpg
A clever screenplay and the surprising comic chemistry between the stars make Get Hard worth watching, and don't be turned off by a title that sounds like bad porn.
http://screencrush.com/442/files/2015/03/get-hard-review-pic-1.jpg?w=720&cdnnode=1
Will Ferrell plays James King, a millionaire who gets sentenced to 10 years in jail for embezzlement and is given 30 days to get his affairs in order. Darnell Lewis (Kevin Hart) runs a car wash business in the parking level of King's company and King has always treated him like an indentured servant. King is terrified of going to prison and offers Darnell $30,000 to prepare King for survival in prison, predicated on King believing that Lewis is black and, therefore, must have done time in prison. Darnell, who has never been in prison, plays on the stereotype and seeks his own help in helping James, which includes turning James' mansion into a simulated prison, turning his swimming pool into "the yard."
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/za8a3iYT1Uk/maxresdefault.jpg
Screenwriters Jay Martel and Ian Roberts have constructed a very funny story that contains material that could be deemed racially offensive, but is written and delivered with just the right amount of tongue in cheek that all we get is laughs, comfortable and appropriate laughs. Director Etan Cohen displays great trust in the comic skill of his stars and keeps the reins on them somewhat loose while mounting some viable action sequences and memorable set pieces that prove Cohen knows how to deliver an action comedy.
http://image.nola.com/home/nola-media/width960/img/tpphotos/photo/2015/03/23/-908714f7798e45f0.jpg
Ferrell is terrific as King, garnering major laughs and working effectively with Kevin Hart as Darnell, a standup comic who proves he has the chops to bring his talent to the movie screen with a performance that is hysterically funny but never over the top. There is also solid support from Craig T. Nelson as Ferrell's boss and future father-in-law and Allison Brie as James' bitchy and self-absorbed fiancee. Though a little on the predictable side, the film delivers solid laughs and sustains interest through the closing credits. 3.5

[Gideon58]

http://cdn.wegotthiscovered.com/wp-content/uploads/Danny-Collins-Movie.jpg
Actors and musicians often have to give up a lot in their pursuit of fame and fortune and this is the theme of a 2015 character study called Danny Collins, which also works due to the charismatic star turn from the Oscar winning actor in the lead role.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tzUlfTypuM8/maxresdefault.jpg
Al Pacino plays the title character, an aging rock star who has definitely seen better days who, upon receiving a cherished childhood souvenir from his idol, John Lennon, decides to cancel the rest of his tour and go on a journey of self-discovery which includes attempting to connect with the family he never knew he had and bringing a lonely hotel manager (Annette Bening) out of her shell.
http://www.theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/images/stories/FILM/collins2.jpg
Director and screenwriter Dan Fogelman has really nailed the whole burnt out rock star thing, but his title character seems to be based on a different kind of rocker....Danny is not like a Mick Jagger or an Axel Rose who still attracts a younger demographic. Danny reminded me of Neil Diamond, which became glaringly clear by the gray hair and pot bellies that populated his audience during the opening scenes, which, for some reason, raised the pathetic factor of the character, making us feel terrible for him when his new found family initially wants nothing to do with him. We understand how they feel. but Fogelman's script and Pacino really makes us care for and root for Danny...he is sad but he is so likable. The story and actor combination here reminded me a lot of the Alexander Payne/Jack Nicholson triumph About Schmidt and how Pacino's habitation of this character makes the film seem a lot better than it is. I fell in love with Danny instantly and was terribly upset by the curve balls the screenplay threw him in the final third of the film, but realized they only added to the realism of what I was watching.
http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/danny-collins-annette-bening.jpg
Pacino sparkles with a real movie star turn here...there is a consistent twinkle in Danny's eye that is hard to resist and he creates a viable chemistry with Annette Bening in a role quite unlike anything she's ever done. Bobby Cannavale brings the proper anger to his role as Danny's unforgiving son and Jennifer Garner also scores as his wife, as does Christopher Plummer as Danny's manager and voice of reason. This movie is probably not as good as I thought it was and maybe that's because I'm a huge Pacino fan and Pacino fans will definitely have a head start here. 3.5

[Gideon58]

http://www.moviesmacktalk.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/blended_ver6_xlg.jpg
Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore team for a third time in the 2014 comedy Blended, which scores points for attempted originality but loses points for predictability and lack of economy in telling a story where we can see the ending coming from miles away.
http://movieboozer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Blended-main-review.jpg
Sandler plays Jim, the widowed father of three girls, who has a disastrous blind date with Barrymore's Lauren, the divorced mother of two boys, who are then reunited at a resort/seminar for blended families that takes place in Africa of all places, where they connect through c
each other's children first.
http://cdn.wegotthiscovered.com/wp-content/uploads/MV5BMTcwMDQ1NTY0N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMTk1NDc3MTE@._V1._SX600_SY600_.jpg
Even though we pretty much know what's going to happen once our star-crossed lovers meet again in Africa, there is a certain amount of curiosity as to how exactly it's going to happen. We watch as Jim gives Lauren's younger son baseball tips and as Lauren helps Jim's daughter Hillary to let go of her inner tomboy and discover that she really is a girl, despite the fact that Jim might have been raising her to believe the contrary. The fact that this all happens in Africa is kind of original and there is a lot of attractive location photography, but it doesn't take away from the story's predictability and the fact that the film is about 20 minutes too long.
http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/drew-barrymore-blended.jpg
Ivan Menchell and Clara Sera's screenplay does have a spark of originality to it, due to the fact that both our lead characters are single parents and it is refreshing to see the lead characters in a romantic love story put the needs of their children first. but when the children start pushing them together, that's where the predictability kicks in. I think this story would have been a lot more interesting and realistic if Jim and Lauren had found a way to put their kids' needs first and still work on their own relationship despite the fact that their kids hate each other, but the kids are practically shoving these two at each other from jump, which was what I was expecting, but every now and then I like something to happen in a movie that I don't expect.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2y6FhFxCLlI/maxresdefault.jpg
Sandler and Barrymore's reputation as a screen team has to go a long way here and I'm not sure if it was enough to sustain the film since the performances from the kids are kind of annoying and the supporting cast, which includes Terry Crews, Wendie McClendon-Hovey, Kevin Nealon, and Shaquille O'Neal, is pretty much wasted in thankless roles. Recommended for hard core fans of Sandler and Barrymore only. 2.5

[Gideon58]

http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/the-incredible-burt-wonderstone-blu-ray.jpg
The 2013 comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is a severely underrated comedy that works thanks to a clever story, a razor-sharp screenplay, a first rate-cast and some terrific magic effects.
http://www.apnatimepass.com/the-incredible-burt-wonderstone-movie-picture-10.jpg
Steve Carell plays the title character, an arrogant and obnoxious magician who finds himself at a loss when he has a falling out with his longtime partner, Anton (Steve Buscemi), losing his permanent gig at Bally's Casino in Las Vegas and forcing a fateful encounter with the magician (Alan Arkin) who was his childhood idol.
http://www.joblo.com/newsimages1/ncredible-Burt-Wonderstone-review-3.jpg
I hadn't heard a lot of great things about this movie prior to seeing it, but I have to admit I enjoyed this film thoroughly. Jonathan M. Goldstein and John Francis Dailey's screenplay is a little long-winded but rich with comic dialogue that had me on the floor for most of the running time, stemming not only from some great physical comedy but an on-target character study of the title character as we watch grow from clueless and obnoxious show business snob to actual human being...I love when he loses his suite at Bally's and is shocked to learn that room service doesn't deliver outside of the hotel.
http://www.healthfitnessrevolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/INCREDIBLE12.jpg
Director Don Scardino has a sharp comic eye and a definite talent for casting the right actors in the role, even when they are cast against type like Buscemi. Carell is fall on the floor funny as one the most obnoxious characters he has ever played and he and Buscemi make a credible comic team. Olivia Wilde was a lovely leading lady, displaying some surprising comic timing which I didn't see coming. The late James Gandolfini also garnered laughs as the owner of Balley's, but if the truth be known, the best performance in this film came from Jim Carrey, doing a dead on takeoff on magician Criss Angel that was almost a little frightening in its accuracy, kind of like his Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon, but always, always funny and surprising because Carrey has done quite a few stinko movies in the last decade or so, but maybe Scardino found the secret...give him a key supporting role where the film doesn't rest entirely on his shoulders because it sure worked here.
http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/incredible-burt-wonderstone-steve-carell1.jpg
I also found it interesting watching Carell doing scenes with Arkin, the man who stole the Oscar Carell should have won for Little Miss Sunshine, but Carell's respect for Arkin as an actor was clear in every moment they shared onscreen. This was a deliciously entertaining comedy with a story that comes full circle to a very satisfying conclusion. 3.5

[Gideon58]

https://www.movieposter.com/posters/archive/main/125/MPW-62550
Director and writer Woody Allen, whose early career was predicated on writing and producing laughs onscreen, made his first foray into drama with the 1978 film Interiors, a scorching, uncompromising, dark and voyeuristic drama that was Woody's homage to his cinematic mentor, Ingmar Bergman, who Woody has actually referred to onscreen as "the only true genius in cinema". This look at family dysfunction at its zenith was groundbreaking movie making due to Woody's unapologetic screenplay, his keen directorial eye and a knack for casting the last actor you would expect in a certain kind of role and making it work.

The film centers on an affluent New York family who we meet as the family patriarch, Arthur (E.G. Marshall), quietly announces one morning at the breakfast table that he wants a trial separation from wife, Eve (Geraldine Page), an event that sends not only Eve, but Arthur and Eve's three daughters' lives into a tailspin.
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/sfmomaopenspace/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/18-Interiors.jpg
Joey (Mary Beth Hurt) is Arthur's pet and happily married, but has been unable to find a career that she is either happy with or can be successful with. Flyn (Kristin Griffith) is an actress who has been out of the family loop for awhile because she is always on location working somewhere. Renata (Diane Keaton) is an extremely successful writer who is married to a writer (Richard Jordan) who is nowhere near the success his wife is, which is probably why he drinks heavily and has been harboring a secret crush on his sister-in-law Flyn. Things get ugly because the daughters refuse to accept the possible end of their parents' marriage, despite Arthur's history of infidelity. Things get even uglier when Arthur brings a new woman named Pearl (Maureen Stapleton) to a family function and announces his plans to marry her.
http://flickminute.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Interiors-1978-Forgotten-Flick-Minute_-Woody-Allen-First-Drama.jpg
In many of my reviews, I have often spoken about characters that speak "without filter" but I think this is the film where it originated...I have never seen family members speak to each other with such insensitivity and cruelty without a second thought. Arthur's matter of fact attitude when he announces he wants out of his marriage is undeniably disturbing. He is so upset that favorite daughter doesn't approve of his decisions but every time he speaks to anyone else about her, all he does talk about what a disappointment she has been to him. Renata's arrogance as the most successful member of her family and her boredom with everyone depending on her, not to mention the emasculation of her husband is startling and Eve's emotional blinders about the end of her marriage and her refusal to accept her part in it is alternately annoying and heartbreaking. These are angry, insensitive, and callous people who happen to be family, but absolutely nothing that happens during this 90 minutes comes off as false or affected.

Allen's genius at creating sympathy for unsympathetic characters works in his casting...Arthur is one of the most reprehensible characters that I've ever seen, but the casting of E.G. Marshall in the role and his subtle underplay made the character fascinating to watch. The way the story is constructed, the character of Pearl is supposed to be the alleged villain of the piece, but Maureen Stapleton brings such a vivacious and rich quality to the character (with the help of Allen's writing of the character) that there is no way you can hate Pearl. Eve is a foolish and slightly pathetic character, but with Geraldine Page in the role, you forget that very quickly.

Allen's genius as a director is evident in every frame...one of the most startling directorial touches I noticed here was that with the exception of a single party scene where characters are dancing with each other, the film has no music score at all...the power of the storytelling here drives the film and until the scene with the music happened, it didn't even occur to me that the film had no music and I really didn't miss it, which I found very ironic because Woody's taste in music has always been flawless, always picking the right music for the right scene.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/35/7a/cc/357acc6015a94ae3f7e1dee14e5774ad.jpg
Allen also knows how to draw powerful performances from his cast and this film is no exception...Page, an actress who was incapable of giving a bad performance, is magnificent in a performance that earned her an Oscar nomination for lead actress and Stapleton's sparkling turn as Pearl earned her a supporting nomination. Marshall is a revelation as Arthur and Keaton's interpretation of a very complex character is powerhouse.

If you want to see where films like Crimes and Misdemeanors, Another Woman, and Husband and Wives came from, check out this early masterpiece of the master, which certainly should have won Allen a screenplay Oscar. This is a must-see for serious students of cinema. 5

[Gideon58]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81t1DzxECzL._SL1500_.jpg
Little Fockers is the second sequel to the 2000 hit Meet the Parents which is definitely a classic case of going to the well once too often.
http://www.joeutichi.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Little_fockers_04.jpg
This 2010 comedy starts in a pretty positive place for the principal characters, the tightly wound ex-FBI agent Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) and his male nurse son-in-law, Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) who has now given Jack twin grandchildren. Jack is thrown when he learns that his other son-in-law, Dr. Bob (Tom McCarthy) cheated on his other daughter Debbie and instantly jumps to conclusions about a Greg and a new co-worker (Jessica Alba). Things are further complicated by the return of Pam's former fiancee, Kevin (Owen Wilson) who has just been dumped by his latest girlfriend and still seems to be carrying a torch for Pam (Teri Polo).
http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/Little-Fockers-movie-image-2.jpg
Screenwriters John Hamburg and Larry Stuckey have done their homework, effectively mining the history of these characters into a story but ten years after the first film, it's a little hard to care and more misunderstandings of Byrnes always thinking the worst of Greg and working hard to trap him in lies and make him look bad in Pam's eyes, are just tiresome and predictable now. We saw it in two previous movies and nothing terribly original has been done for this third film. What does ring true though is Greg's resentment of Kevin's return to their lives...it was nice to see a man who has been married over a decade actually still be jealous over his wife's old boyfriend...I think a much more interesting film could have developed if this had been the primary story presented, providing a contrast to the first sequel.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jb-QS-nZMlM/hqdefault.jpg
The stars have settled comfortably in their roles and Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand's pointless appearance as Greg's parents just seems obligatory and a waste of screen time. Jessica Alba, despite looking amazing, is way over the top, but there is a fun cameo by Harvey Keitel and it was fun watching him and old Taxi Driver co-star De Niro share the screen, but there just wasn't enough viable new material for a second sequel. Incredibly, another sequel is implied at the end of this film and it hasn't happened yet...thank God. 2

[Gideon58]

http://www.pastposters.com/cw3/assets/product_expanded/R/a-civil-action-cinema-quad-movie-poster-(1).jpg
There's an old joke..."What do you call a thousand lawyers at the bottom of the ocean? A good start." For some reason, this joke continually flashed through my mind while watching the manipulative but effective 1998 courtroom drama A Civil Action.

This fact-based story stars John Travolta as Jan Schlictmann, a slick civil action attorney who has built a reputable law firm from years of ambulance-chasing who, thanks to a phone call during a radio interview and a speeding ticket becomes involved in a civil suit regarding toxic waste and dead children that puts his reputation and his business on the line.
http://www.crawfordsworld.com/rob/AP%20Macro%20Year/CivilAction/pic5.jpg
Director and co-screenwriter Steven Zaillian, who won an Oscar for writing Schindler's List has created a story that does not paint attorneys in a flattering light at all. From the opening scene, underscored by a rather callous narration from Schlichtmann about who makes the best clients in a civil action suit to his handling of the above referenced radio phone call to his accepting this case, it is initially unclear what Schlichtmann's agenda but at some point, his motives come into focus and his agenda is clear but the problem here is that I never really noticed when that change in Schlichtmann happened and I found that troublesome.

One aspect of the story that really worked for me was an uncompromising look at the expense of mounting a civil suit for the plaintiff's law firm, something that I don't recall being addressed too much in courtrooom dramas prior to this one. In Erin Brockovich, we see the firm sharing expenses with a larger firm, but here we actually see the firm crumble financially under the weight of this suit, which wasn't pretty, but very realistic.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nht933BvZ0c/sddefault.jpg
Travolta is solid as Schlichtmann and there's a brilliant performance from the always reliable Robert Duvall as the opposing attorney. Also loved James Gandolfini as a possible witness, Kathleen Quinlan as the mother of one of the victims and especially William H. Macy as one of Schlictmann's partners who tries to keep an eye on the bottom line. There's also a classy cameo by the late Sydney Pollack as one of the defendants in the case.

The film is expensively mounted with some interesting camera work and some sharp film editing, but it is the compelling and well-rounded story, that doesn't provide easy fixes, that make the film worth checking out, even if it doesn't endear you to lawyers. 3.5

[Gideon58]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51PWXQSEYBL.jpg
A pair of charismatic lead performances and intelligent direction are the primary reasons to check out Urban Cowboy, the 1980 smash that made country and western music, a bar called Gilley's, a mechanical bull, and being a cowboy, sexy.

Bud Davis (John Travolta) is an oilfield worker, obsessed with being the king of the mechanical bull at Gilleys, who falls for Sissy (Debra Winger), a barfly at Gilley's who Bud actually proposes to after their second meeting. Of course, they married too soon, separate and eventually get involved with other people: an ex-con named Wes (Scott Glenn) casts his eye on Sissy and a glamorous socialite named Pam (Madolyn Smith) becomes obsessed with Bud.
http://www.outhousetickets.com/Artist/2680/photo/Urban%20Cowboy.jpg
The story is so not what makes this film work, but the way director James Bridges chooses to tell the story...the whole country and western ambiance was something we hadn't seen before and a pervading theme throughout the film is how cool it is to be or to be with a cowboy, even though it's never really made clear exactly what a cowboy is, though that first closeup of Bud after he shaves his beard at Gilley's with his black cowboy hat was a definite clue. Bridges shows a real talent for advancing story without dialogue...the scene on the dance floor where the above mentioned characters are trying to make each other jealous is brilliantly photographed and directed.

Travolta cemented the stardom he created with Saturday Night Fever and Grease with his star turn here, a character not that much unlike Tony Manero, but Travolta puts a unique stamp on this somewhat sexist character and also proves that he is just as adept with a Texas Two Step as he was on the disco dance floor three years earlier. Winger lights up the screen with her natural and unaffected performance as Sissy. Winger is one of those actresses, like Toni Collette, you never catch "acting" and she is a joy to watch here. Her slow ride on the mechanical bull is one of the scene's most memorable scenes. Scott Glenn is the perfect combination of dangerous and sexy as Wes and Smith perfectly combines bitchy and sexy.
http://www.silveremulsion.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/urbancowboy_2.jpg
Needless to say, the film also features one of the most toe-tapping music scores I've heard in a while and I don't even like country music but the appearances by Bonnie Raitt, Johnny Lee, Charlie Daniels, and, of course, Mickey Gilley just added to the rich and entertaining atmosphere that director Bridges creates here. Well worth a look. 3.5

[Gideon58]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51X3SBR1KYL.jpg
Primary Colors is the splashy and expensive look at a presidential candidate and his first run, which appears to be a thinly veiled look at Bill and Hillary Clinton, as seen through the eyes of a young African American campaign worker who finds surprises at every turn working for the charismatic candidate.
http://por-img.cimcontent.net/cms/data/assets/bin-201408/d249c21f3c5948742aa2c3e6e79d441f_600x400.jpg
John Travolta plays Jack Stanton, an amiable and charismatic governor who has begun a campaign to become POTUS when news of an arrest in his past, as well as an extra-marital affair come to light, which motivates Jack's campaign staff to beat the press to any further dirt by hiring a special investigator named Libby Holden (Kathy Bates) to dig up any more dirt on Jack before the press does.
https://cinemanero.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/blog-primary-colors.jpg
The parallels between this and the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal notwithstanding, it is really hard to tell how much of what we're seeing here really factual, so I will be talking about this film purely for its entertainment value and for that, this film really hits the bullseye...the late Mike Nichols has assembled a spectacular all-star cast who really deliver the goods, and by the goods, I refer to Elaine May's superb screenplay, which is a no-holds barred look into the political machine and the scars it can leave its warriors.
http://empireonline.media/jpg/80/0/0/1000/563/0/north/0/0/0/0/0/t/films/9440/images/uTtmKYTqcNFPN1A5pYMTMwh28QD.jpg
Travolta lights up the screen as Stanton and Emma Thompson buries her English accent long enough to be believable as Stanton's wife, Susan, the woman behind the man and probably the strongest resemblance to her real-life counterpart. Kathy Bates received an Oscar nomination for her performance as the slightly demented investigator and Adrian Lester held his own with a screen of old pros as the idealistic young campaign worker who finds his head turned by the Stantons. Billy Bob Thornton, Larry Hagman, Paul Guilfoyle, Diane Ladd and Maura Tierney also score in supporting roles in this sparkling political comedy that even without its roots in real-life political history, is still solid entertainment. 3.5

[Gideon58]

http://www.kurzweilai.net/images/Her-with-Theodore-Twombly-on-red-movie-poster-wide.jpg
Spike Jonze' Oscar-winning screenplay and a dazzling lead performance from Joaquin Phoenix anchor 2013's Her, a riveting and manipulative romantic drama that truly is "a love story for the computer age."

Phoenix plays Theodore Twombley, a soon-to-be-divorced writer and techno geek who gets a new organizational system installed into his personal computer that has a female voice (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) and Theodore actually finds himself entering into a relationship with this new system, who named herself Samantha, that defies explanation.
http://www.kurzweilai.net/images/Her-screenshot-at-desk-with-booklet.jpg
Jonze, one of the creative forces behind the brilliant Being John Malkovich has once again tread where no filmmaker has tread, creating one of cinema's most unique love stories that has you rooting for the protagonists even though you know in the pit of your gut that there is no way this will work.

And it's not for lack of trying or imagination...Samantha even manages to somehow convince a woman to act as a surrogate so that she can actually touch Theodore, but it doesn't work for Theodore.
http://s2.dmcdn.net/JxHk0.jpg
Jonze' story is sparkling with originality and I expect nothing less from him and Phoenix delivers a performance of pathos and empathy, creating a character of such depth and likability that we can't help but pray that he and Samantha get together. Fans of Being John Malkovich will definitely have a head start here, but if you're looking for something completely different, give it a chance. I should also mention that I think the title of the film is perfection. 4

[Gideon58]

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BeGGNpqS4pc/movieposter.jpg
The HBO series Sex and the City that ran from 1998 to 2004 was brought to the big screen in a feature length film in 2008 with the original cast. This splashy, overlong, and overblown extension of the cable series attempts to give fans closure on the show and the characters fans had grown to love but takes way too long to do it.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/10/15/1413373788436_Image_galleryImage_No_Merchandising_Editoria.JPG
The primary focus of this film is on the relationship between writer Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Big (Chris Noth) and how their matter-of-fact decision to get married is the beginning of a very slippery slope. We also are subject to marital troubles for Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Steve (David Eigenberg), Charlotte (Kristen Davis) adjusting to motherhood and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) who is now residing in LA and trying to learn how to be the girl in her relationship with Smith Jerrod (Jason Lewis) while suppressing fantasies about a new neighbor (Gilles Marini).
http://blogs.dailynews.com/outinhollywood/files/import/1102-.aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasex.jpg
There is a lot of history behind these characters and Michael Patrick King, a creator of the series and director and co-writer of this film, attempts a brief overview of said history during the opening sequence but one has to wonder if it's enough for the uninitiated. As I watched this film, I couldn't help but think that moviegoers who did not watch the series would have no interest in seeing this movie. I thought the same thing about The Brady Bunch Movie, but I do know there are people who liked that movie who were not fans of the series so, it's really hard to say.
http://www.megaleecher.net/uploads/sex_&_the_city_movie.jpg
As someone who was a fan of the series, I have to say I found this cinematic journey a long but predictable one...it would have been nice to have been offered a few surprises along the way. The closest thing to new information we got here was the final reveal of Big's real name (John James Preston). I was also disturbed with what appeared to be an alteration in the relationship between Carrie and the other three girls...the movie implies that Carrie and Samantha are BFF's...Carrie even asks Samantha to be her maid of honor, but in the series, I always felt Miranda was Carrie's BFF and watching that relationship shifted behind Carrie and Samantha was kind of disturbing to me. I also had trouble with the forced relationship between Carrie's gay friend Stanford (Willie Garson) and Charlotte's gay friend Anthony (Mario Cantone)...shoving these two characters together just because they were both gay just didn't work, evidenced by the clear lack of chemistry between Garson and Cantone. And Jennifer Hudson's hastily-written supporting role meant to capitalize on her success in Dreamgirls was pointless.
http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/still/sex_and_the_city05.jpg
On the positive side, the film is beautiful to look at...the cinematography is stunning with effective use of Manhattan and Mexican locations and, as expected, the costumes are Oscar-worthy, but the film is definitely substance-challenged and if you weren't a fan of the series, you probably just won't care. 2.5

[Gideon58]

http://api.comingsoon.net//images//2015/poster_105337.jpg
A somewhat original story and a pair of engaging lead performances made the 2015 comedy The Wedding Ringer one of the more pleasant surprises I've had as a moviegoer.
http://www.technologytell.com/entertainment/files/2015/01/ringer-drinking.jpeg
The film stars Joshua Gad as Doug Harris, a socially inept geek who is scheduled to marry a girl way out of his league (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting) in less than two weeks. Unable to find someone to serve as his best man, Doug is led to one Jimmy Callahan (Kevin Hart), the president and CEO of a company called The Best Man Inc., where Jimmy, for a price, agrees to be a groom's best man and providing for the groom all that being a best man entails. Jimmy's business is so successful that he has a pamphlet outlining the different packages he provides in terms of service to the groom. Jimmy is also so good at what he does that the grooms begin to believe that he really is their best friend and Jimmy finds himself always having to remind the grooms that what he is doing is strictly business. Doug offers Jimmy $50,000 to pull off a package not on the pamphlet called "The Golden Tux", which includes a bachelor party and seven groomsmen.
http://news.doddleme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/WR-PK-11_DF-08221_rgb.jpg
Director and co-writer Jeremy Garelick has crafted a story that asks the viewer to accept a lot but it also delivers a lot, particularly in the area of lead characters that we instantly care about. We are put behind Doug from the opening scenes where he tries to get a best man on his own and we are behind Jimmy when it is clear that he has a lot of experience doing what he does, asks all the right questions, and provides all the correct answers in being a believable best man. The relationship between these characters is set up from the beginning but one line of dialogue changes everything and we find ourselves looking at a completely different story that shifts gears and delivers some surprises in storyline that we don't see coming at all, even if it takes just a little too long to get there.
http://prod.static.redskins.clubs.nfl.com/assets/images/imported/WAS/centerpieces/2014-centerpieces/General/john_riggins_wedding-ringer_660x350-caption.jpg
Gad makes Doug a completely lovable hero and he is a perfect straight man to Hart, whose slick Jimmy Callahan has the charisma of a young Eddie Murphy, providing laughs where he should and heart where he should. And most importantly, it is the surprising chemistry between these two characters that make this movie worth investing in. This is a film filled with silly situations, some outrageous characters, some viable comic action but it also has heart and a surprising integrity for a comedy that was quite refreshing. 3.5

[Gideon58]

http://media1.santabanta.com/full1/Hollywood%20Movies/Wild%20Hogs/wil0a.jpg
Star power drives the 2007 road trip/buddy comedy Wild Hogs, making the film seem a lot better than it really is.
http://static01.nyt.com/images/2007/03/01/movies/02hogs600.jpg
John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy play four middle-aged men who are weekend warriors on motorcycles who wear jackets with the name of their "gang" on it, but they never take their bikes any further than the parking lot of their local bar. Tired of their hum drum lives and playing bikers, the guys decide to take an actual road trip where they face several adventures, including a very dangerous encounter with a real biker gang led by a psycho (Ray Liotta) who resents weekend warriors and decides to take out his resentment on our heroes.
http://moviesharkdeblore.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/Wild_Hogs_6.jpg
I liked the way Brad Copeland's screenplay set up these guys' motivations for starting the Wild Hogs and how each guy needs the group as an outlet for their own individual reasons. It also makes clear that these guys know each other intimately and when the chips are down, would do anything for each other. And most importantly, the story allows for various forms of growth for the four principals...these are not the same guys we meet at the beginning of the movie.
http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/b55abc7ee7f84e42ae706e2abf77fe23/john-travolta-william-h-macy-tim-allen-martin-lawrence-wild-hogs-2007-bpt3dy.jpg
Director Walt Becker made the inspired decision of casting four middle-aged actors as four middle-aged characters and actually allowed them to play their age and all that implies. I think this might have a lot to do with why the four leads really seem to be enjoying themselves. As I've mentioned in other reviews, I love performances where the actors really seem to be enjoying what they are doing and the actors do seem to be enjoying themselves here.
http://i.imgur.com/3em7xCG.jpg
When you see their names listed together, the four leads seem like an odd combination but they work surprisingly well together and I have to give a shout out to Macy, not known for comedy, as the romantically challenged computer geek who falls for an attractive restaurant owner (Marisa Tomei). Liotta is solid, and there are some funny bits by Stephen Tobolowsky as a wimpy sheriff and John C. McGinley as a kinky highway patrolman. There's also a classy cameo by Peter Fonda, an obvious nod to Easy Rider. Some beautiful photography and some great music help, but when it all comes down to it, the whole thing has a kind of emptiness to it that the star power almost makes you look past it...almost. 3

[Citizen Rules]

Nice review, I agree with you...the star power makes it fun, but it's not an amazing film, but worth a watch.

[Gideon58]

How ya doing Citizen...thanks for all the reps and I also want to thank you for actually reading my reviews. I get a lot of reps for the "Rate the Last Movie you Saw" thread but it's very rare that those same people actually take the time to read and rep the actual reviews that I write and I know that you always read my reviews and I so appreciate that.

[gbgoodies]

How ya doing Citizen...thanks for all the reps and I also want to thank you for actually reading my reviews. I get a lot of reps for the "Rate the Last Movie you Saw" thread but it's very rare that those same people actually take the time to read and rep the actual reviews that I write and I know that you always read my reviews and I so appreciate that.


I read most of your reviews. (I sometimes skip the ones about movies that I haven't seen or I have no interest in seeing them.)

[Citizen Rules]

Gideon, I pop in and check out your review thread, but I often don't rep unless I've seen the movie you've reviewed. One of these days I'm going back to page 1 of your thread and make a Movies To Watch list, as there's a lot of interesting movies here that I have not seen, but would like to.

[Gideon58]

Gideon, I pop in and check out your review thread, but I often don't rep unless I've seen the movie you've reviewed. One of these days I'm going back to page 1 of your thread and make a Movies To Watch list, as there's a lot of interesting movies here that I have not seen, but would like to.
My point is, Citizen, that you are one of the few people who actually reads my reviews and I want you to know that I appreciate it.

[honeykid]

I was a fan of the S&TC series, but I thought the film was worse than pointless. It actually took something that had ended 'perfectly', undid it to create drama and then tied it back up again.

I don't know if I'd say Miranda was Carrie's BFF, either. I certainly felt that Charlotte didn't have that mantle, but I wouldn't have given it to Miranda alone.

[Gideon58]

http://www.teachwithmovies.org/guides/precious-files/poster.jpg
The bold and in-your-face direction of Lee Daniels and a pair of powerhouse lead performances make the gritty 2009 character study Precious worth your time, despite some inaccuracies in its portrayal of the welfare system and some of the characters' personal agendas and motivations.
http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/still/pbotnbs15.jpg
Set in 1987 Harlem and based on a novel called Push by Sapphire, the character at the center of this absorbing drama is a 16 year old girl named Precious Jones, a terribly introverted and overweight girl who is pregnant with her second child, facing educational challenges at a new school, and her relationship with her abusive mother.
https://interrogatingmedia.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/2009_precious_based_on_the_novel_push_by_sapphire_003.jpg
Director Daniels made sure that we understood from jump that this film takes place in 1987 in order for the viewer to understand that the welfare system has made advances since this time and it is not as easy as it is depicted here to sit on your ass and get a check every month like Precious' mother. Welfare workers don't do in house visits anymore and single mothers no longer get an increase in their benefits every time they have another child. Welfare workers also don't care about any kind of abuse going on in the home, there is a separate government department for that now and watching how it all gloms together here is kind of disconcerting.
http://screencrave.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/2009_precious_based_on_the_novel_push_by_sapphire_004.jpg
The presentation of the lead character was troubling for me as well. The character definitely evokes sympathy because of what she went through and we want things to improve in her life. Precious wants a better life too, evidenced in some sweet fantasy sequences, and she deserves it, but the character I saw in this movie wanted that better life handed to her and didn't really want to do any of the work involved in getting a better life. The conflict between this tragic character who deserves to overcome her troubling past but is unwilling to do what is necessary to do it was troubling for me. A sixteen year old, barely literate girl trying to raise two children by herself is a joke and we're supposed to feel hopeful as Precious makes steps to get away from her mother, but it's hard to believe that she's really going to make it, but we really, really want her to.

The reason we want her to make it is because Gabourey Sidibe gives a moving performance as the title character that makes her likable and earned the previously unknown actress an Oscar nomination. Mo'Nique won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her powerhouse turn as Precious' mother, one of the nastiest and most unsympathetic characters I've seen onscreen in years. The story attempts to imbue some sympathy into the character during her final moments onscreen, but it's too little too late.
http://www.cinemapolis.org/pics/pics2/precious.jpg
Paula Patton also scores as Precious' teacher and Mariah Carey is surprisingly effective in her first dramatic role as a sympathetic social worker, a convincing performance of a character who IRL just doesn't exist anymore. Daniels and screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher
have recreated a seedy atmosphere and a time when government assistance had republicans up in arms and deservedly so, but be assured, this film no longer tells it like it is, but it is a spot on look at a system that doesn't exist anymore, through the eyes of a character who will steal your heart. 4

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fc/Marvins_room_poster.jpg
An ambitious screenplay, sensitive direction, and some powerhouse performances make the 1996 melodrama Marvin's Room worth a look.
http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/17000000/Leonardo-DiCaprio-as-Hank-in-Marvin-s-Room-leonardo-dicaprio-17065566-1032-768.jpg
The primary story here is about Bessie (Diane Keaton), a Florida woman who has spent most of her adult life as the primary caregiver for her invalid father, Marvin (Hume Cronyn) who learns she has contracted leukemia and contacts her sister, Lee (Meryl Streep) who lives in Ohio and she hasn't seen in 20 years, who is the divorced mother of Hank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Charlie (Hal Scardino) in hopes that Lee will agree to be a bone marrow recipient.
http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/17000000/Leonardo-DiCaprio-as-Hank-in-Marvin-s-Room-leonardo-dicaprio-17066244-1032-768.jpg
This story is just the canvas for a much more multi-layered look at family dysfunction that is so much more than just a pair of sisters trying to reconnect. Hank's resentment of his father leaving moved him to burn down their house which had him institutionalized and put up a permanent barrier between himself and his mother. We watch as Hank and Charlie get to the know the aunt they never met and wonder if Hank's connection with Bessie is genuine or if he's just trying to stick it to his mother. We also watch Lee's resentment of the growing affection between Hank and Bessie and her terror at the thought of family responsibilities becoming a little too real for her.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YbNp99EnCjI/hqdefault.jpg
Scott McPherson adapted the screenplay from his own play and there are sections of the story that do come off a little like a photographed stage play but it's a really good one...these are flawed and believable characters and there is nothing false or affected in the emotions or actions of any of the characters, with the possible exception of Lee and Bessie's dotty stepmother (Gwen Verdon), that doesn't ring true and possibly ignite a tear duct. The screenplay might try to cover a bit too much ground, but what it does cover it covers effectively.
http://www.dvdizzy.com/images/m/marvinsroom-05.jpg
Keaton is bold and heartbreaking as Bessie, a powerhouse performance that earned her an Oscar nomination and she is matched scene for scene by Streep...no surprise here, making no bones about how self-absorbed and selfish her character, making it all the more believable. DiCaprio nails the angry teenager thing and there is a surprisingly sensitive turn from Robert De Niro (who was also one of the film's executive producers) as Bessie's doctor.

Director Jerry Zaks has mounted a sensitive and powerful story of a tattered family dynamic that has the potential to tie your stomach in knots. 4

[Gideon58]

http://images.moviepostershop.com/noises-off-movie-poster-1992-1020194413.jpg
Peter Bogdanovich was a respected director whose career reached its zenith with his 1971 masterpiece The Last Picture Show, but somewhere along the way his career was derailed and it might have something to do with too many films like the exhausting 1992 comedy Noises Off.
http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/5400000/Noises-Off-Screencaps-michael-caine-5433514-550-310.jpg
This slapstick comedy, adapted by Marty Kaplan from a smash hit stage play by Michael Frayn recounts the mounting of a Noel Coward drawing room sex comedy called "Nothing On", from the initial rehearsals to the various out of town tryouts to its long road to the Broadway stage.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/H7ZGyUwse2s/hqdefault.jpg
For those unfamiliar with how a Broadway show gets there, even though the shows are cast and rehearsed in New York, before they actually premiere on Broadway, shows are taken to small towns outside of New York for what is known as out of town tryouts, where the director can figure out what in the show is working and what is not and fix it before the show actually goes to Broadway. This movie is an over the top look at what happens during those out of town tryouts, revealing the problems that a play goes through on its road to Broadway blended with a look at the eccentric personalities and fragile egos of the actors involved and the complications that can ensue when personal and professional boundaries begin to blur.
http://media.baselineresearch.com/images/288813/288813_full.jpg
Bogdanovich had already proven a talent for bringing comic slapstick to the screen with his 1972 film What's Up, Doc?, so I'm not sure exactly what went wrong here, but this just doesn't work for me...the basic premise of the film is a solid one, but there's just so much going on here and the relationships between the various character are so tangled and seem to change from scene to scene it becomes very tiresome trying to keep up with what's going on. I also think this is another of those stage vehicles that should have stayed there...the fourth eye of the movie camera just gets distracting here as the camera itself seems to have trouble keeping up with everything that's going on.

What Bogdanovich did do right here is put together a first rate cast of actors to pull off this farce, even if they are fighting the screenplay all the way. Michael Caine effectively underplays as Lloyd Fellowes, the director of the play and there is standout work from the late John Ritter as the young star of the play having an affair with the older leading lady (Carol Burnett) and by the late Christopher Reeve as an empty-headed actor who has to have everything he does onstage explained to him in detail. Denholm Elliott also registers as an alcoholic actor who everyone spends the running time trying to keep distance between him and a bottle of JB.
http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/5400000/Noises-Off-Screencaps-michael-caine-5433886-550-310.jpg
Bogdanovich has definitely done better work, but it is worth a look for a strong cast that works very hard at keeping up with the lightening speed of what they're being asked to do. 2.5

[gbgoodies]

I respect your opinion, but I think Noises Off is much better than your review. It's a hysterical look at the behind the scenes problems of them making the play. Basically, everything that can go wrong, does go wrong. The entire cast does a terrific job, and I laughed throughout the movie.

[MovieMeditation]

Good reviews of Her and Precious. Gideon!

I love the former myself and find it equally brilliant and original, but Precious I never finished watching. It didn't really grab me much and I didn't like the feel of it. Don't know if I will ever return to it though.

[Citizen Rules]

...but Precious I never finished watching. It didn't really grab me much... That makes two of us. I think I made it to the 20 minute mark before shutting it off.

[Citizen Rules]

I respect your opinion, but I think Noises Off is much better than your review. It's a hysterical look at the behind the scenes problems of them making the play. Basically, everything that can go wrong, does go wrong. The entire cast does a terrific job, and I laughed throughout the movie. I never heard of Noises Off, but this picture makes the film look like it's worth my time;)
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/H7ZGyUwse2s/hqdefault.jpg

[gbgoodies]

I never heard of Noises Off, but this picture makes the film look like it's worth my time;)
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/H7ZGyUwse2s/hqdefault.jpg


I reviewed Noises Off in my logbook last year. My nice short review of it can be found here (http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?p=1376585#post1376585).

[Citizen Rules]

I think that pic alone sells me on it.:)

[Gideon58]

I respect your opinion, but I think Noises Off is much better than your review. It's a hysterical look at the behind the scenes problems of them making the play. Basically, everything that can go wrong, does go wrong. The entire cast does a terrific job, and I laughed throughout the movie.
As I always say, you are certainly entitled to your opinion, please allow me mine.

[Gideon58]

http://www.impawards.com/2014/posters/top_five_ver2.jpg
The enigma that is the film career of Chris Rock continues with his recent return to the big screen in a 2014 film called Top Five, an insider look at celebrity and how most who are experiencing it are never really happy with it and can't deal with the fact that celebrity is not always on their terms.

Andre Allen (Rock) is a former stand up comedian who has become a movie star thanks to three movie comedies he made in a bear suit and has now decided that he is tired of making people laugh. He has now made a serious film that apparently no one is interested in seeing, simultaneously being shadowed by a writer (Rosario Dawson) and preparing for his cable TV wedding to a snotty reality star (Gabrielle Union).
http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/11/30/arts/30CHRISROCK3/30CHRISROCK3-articleLarge-v2.jpg
As director and writer of this film, it is obvious that there is an autobiographical quality to what is going on here and I'm guessing that this is supposed to have us sympathize with this lead character but the effect for me was exactly the opposite...there are so many millions of people out there in dingy comedy clubs and tiny community theaters who would kill for the career that Andre Allen (or Chris Rock for that matter) has and watching his dissatisfaction with what is going on with his career is neither entertaining nor interesting. The fact that Allen went to rehab and is now four years sober I guess was supposed to imbue some likability into the character and the way this part of the story is presented, it's clear that Rock has spent some time in rehab and understands what the program is about, but it doesn't give this character a free pass for some of the idiotic behavior displayed here.
http://www.tampabay.com/resources/images/dti/rendered/2014/12/wek_topfive121114a_14349605_8col.jpg
The one part of this film that did ring true for me was Allen's visit to his old neighborhood and to his family, where we some members celebrate Allen's success, some wanting to get something out of him, some being jealous of his success, and most importantly, wanting to remind Andre of where he came from. The rest of this story is a pretty unappealing journey until the final fifteen minutes where the answer to Andre's career unhappiness is revealed, but by this time it is way too late for us to care.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2M2bXdaUhEE/maxresdefault.jpg
Rock works hard at keeping Allen likable and does create chemistry with Rosario Dawson and I also liked Tracy Morgan and Sherri Shepherd as Allen family members and there are cameos by Jerry Seinfield (who is given the funniest line in the movie), Whoopi Goldberg, Adam Sandler, and DMX, but the finale of his movie made me realize two things about the enigma that is Chris Rock's career...Chris gave solid performances in New Jack City and Nurse Betty where he didn't have creative control. Maybe he needs to go back to being directed and take a step from Andre Allen's final page. 3

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/Young_doctors_in_love.jpg
After establishing himself as a creative force in television with shows like Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley, Garry Marshall was given a shot at the big screen and gave us Young Doctors in Love, a 1982 comedy that was intended to be a lampoon, in the style of Airplane or Blazing Saddles, of a television genre that is certainly rich for lampooning...the daytime soap opera; however, Marshall really misses the mark here.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/auteurs_production/images/film/young-doctors-in-love/w448/young-doctors-in-love.jpg
The story we are given is like a soap opera, with multiple storylines and characters that float between the different stories. The primary story here is the star-crossed romance between an insensitive but brilliant intern with childhood issues named Simon August (Michael McKean) and an intern named Stephanie Brody (Sean Young) who has health issues of her own. We are also introduced to a drug addicted intern (Taylor Negron) who romances a prickly head nurse (Pamela Reed) in order to get the key to the hospital medication cabinet that she wears around her neck and a deranged hitman (a pre-Seinfeld Michael Richards) who has been sent to the hospital to kill an ailing mob boss (Tito Vandis) who is under the watchful eye of his son (Hector Elizondo) who visits him in the hospital dressed in drag.

Marshall's idea is golden but it is clear from the direction and writing that Marshall really doesn't understand the genre. There is a lot of over-the-top physical comedy going on but the stories are played too-straight faced. Marshall's approach to the story shows little understanding of daytime soap operas and unfortunately, this becomes even more obvious when Marshall gave actual soap opera actors cameos who do understand the genre and actually provided some of the funniest moments in the film.
http://cdn5.movieclips.com/mgm/y/young-doctors-in-love-1982/0597882_9738_MC_Tx304.jpg
The screenplay by Michael Elias and Rich Eustis attempts some knowledge of the genre but it is above most of the actors, especially McKean and Young, who clearly don't have a clue what they're doing here. On the other hand, Negron and Reed are very funny and Elizondo steals every scene he's in, providing evidence as to why he has become Marshall's good luck charm and has appeared in every film Marshall has directed.
http://s1.dmcdn.net/Gkwyn/x360-AYO.jpg
The film does provide a laugh here and there, but I never got the feeling that I was watching an actual Airplane-like satire...it just came off as an over the top slapstick comedy that takes place in a hospital and not a very funny one. The best thing about the film is its economy, clocking in at about ninety minutes and even that ninety minutes is a very long ninety minutes. 2

[gbgoodies]

I saw Young Doctors in Love many years ago, but the only things that I remember about it are that Michael McKean was in it, and the movie was terrible.

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/29/Cake_poster.jpg
An eye-opening performance from Jennifer Aniston in the starring role is the primary reason to check out the 2014 drama Cake, a riveting and voyeuristic drama that takes on some prickly subject matter via a meaty screenplay that takes a couple of misguided detours.
http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/cake/images/thumbnail_20504.jpg
Claire (Aniston) is part of a grief support group and is more affected by the suicide of a group member named Nina (Anna Kendrick) than she originally lets on. She gets kicked out of the group, but finds herself obsessed with what Nina did and why, eventually leading her to the doorstep of Nina's husband (Sam Worthington), still in the middle of his own grieving process and trying to help his young son deal with what has happened.
http://www.trbimg.com/img-54a3626c/turbine/la-et-mn-cake-jennifer-aniston-movie-review-20141231
What I do like in Patrick Tobin's somewhat meandering screenplay is the way it addresses the subject of suicide, or more specifically, how the act doesn't solve anything and how it completely destroys the people the victim loved. We see Nina's husband putting up a brave front for his son's sake, but we see his anger too and I'm glad that this wasn't glossed over here. The screenplay also reveals in pieces that Claire has her own grief to deal with and that she is doing whatever she can not to do that, including disrupting the grieving process of Nina's family, which is the basis for this unconventional and unsettling story.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/04/24/article-0-1D526DE400000578-453_634x345.jpg
Aniston has been given an Oscar-bait role here and she runs with it. She nails the physicality of the character and has built it from there...it is revealed that Claire was in some kind of accident and that she has had pins in her legs for at least six months and Aniston clearly conveys the physical pain the character is in, which turns out to really be a mask for emotional pain that she has been sidestepping all this time. Aniston deserts the hair and makeup crews for this role and her performance did earn her a Golden Globe nomination. Worthington is quietly sexy as Nina's widower and there is a star-making turn from Adriana Barraza as Silvana, Claire's devoted housekeeper who knows exactly what Claire needs to do but allows her to discover it for herself.
http://media.utsandiego.com/img/photos/2015/01/21/b28101ed3896ba036b0f6a706700ecb2_r620x349.JPEG?75d51d0aea2efce5189afce216053cbc530c46a8
Daniel Barnz' direction is sensitive and detail-oriented and features some imaginative camerawork and also reveals the director's respect for his star, an actress who has relied on her physical assets for a large portion of her career and, for me, finally proves to be an actress of substance given the proper material. 3.5

[Citizen Rules]

I never paid attention to Jennifer Aniston until I watched Cake, she was amazing in it. You're spot on in your review. I felt the same way about Cake.

[gbgoodies]

A few people have recommended Cake so it's been on my watchlist for a while. I may have to bump it up a little bit, (after the 2016 Oscars and the 1950's countdown).

[Gideon58]

A few people have recommended Cake so it's been on my watchlist for a while. I may have to bump it up a little bit, (after the 2016 Oscars and the 1950's countdown).
I was surprised...much better than I thought it was going to be.

[Gideon58]

I never paid attention to Jennifer Aniston until I watched Cake, she was amazing in it. You're spot on in your review. I felt the same way about Cake.
You read my review before I added pictures, Citizen...had no idea you were watching so closely, lol!

[Citizen Rules]

I'm online today poking around MoFo:)....I'm always happy to see a film that I liked and reviewed, being reviewed by another respected reviewer. We had similar thoughts on the film too.

[Gideon58]

Needless to say, Citizen, that respect is mutual.

[Gideon58]

http://www.4thestate.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/bull-durham.jpg
An intelligent and witty screenplay and three charismatic lead characters are the primary assets of Bull Durham, a film that is part sports movie, part romantic comedy and part character study, the parts so equally crafted into one of the surprise hits of 1988.
https://dbuff82.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/bull-durham.jpg
The setting is Durham, North Carolina and their minor league baseball team, the Durham Bulls where we meet our leading triangle: Ebbie "Nuke" Laloosh (Tim Robbins) is a fledgling pitcher with the team, he has a bullet for an arm but not a clue what to do with it; Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) is a cocky know-it-all catcher who spent three weeks in the majors who has just joined the team and is assigned to be Nuke's mentor; Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon) is a sexy Bulls groupie who every season picks a member of the team to be a spiritual and sexual companion with for the season. It is the tangled relationship between these three characters on this sleepy cinematic canvas that make this movie work.
https://fogsmoviereviews.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/annie_and_crash_having_breakfast_bull_durham.png
Director and screenwriter Ron Shelton mounts a story that provides surprises at every turn. First of all, Annie, who initially appears to just be sex on legs, is a woman with brains and is knowledgeable about baseball and shares her passion for the game with the players she adopts each season. I loved that during her first bedroom encounter with Nuke, she ties him to the bed and just reads poetry to him all night. But what really makes this story unique is that Nuke's relationship with Crash becomes just as important as the one with Annie. It is a little unsettling watching everything Crash says be correct which makes you wonder why he's not in the majors, a question not really addressed but we don't really care. Shelton's rich screenplay earned him an Oscar nomination for original screenplay and his direction is atmospheric and evocative.
https://joegarrett1.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/bull-durham.jpg
The three lead performances are nothing short of superb...Costner has never been so charismatic onscreen and Sarandon creates a heroine who is equal parts sex appeal and intelligence. Tim Robbins officially became a movie star with his Nuke and even though the chemistry between Costner and Sarandon is off the charts, this film was the launching pad for an offscreen relationship between Sarandon and Robbins that lasted almost two decades. A rich and strikingly unconventional motion picture comedy that assumes the viewer is looking for something with a little substance and delivers. 4

[Gideon58]

https://movieevangelist.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/still-alice.jpg
Julianne Moore finally received the Oscar that has been alluding her for about 20 years with the 2014 drama Still Alice, an unsettling, yet three-dimensional examination of the effects of a disease which are, in many ways, a lot more devastating than the actual end of life and how the lead character attempts to control what is happening to her.
http://geeknewsnetwork.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/still-alice-movie-review.jpg
Alice Howland (Moore) is a brilliant, 50-year old linguistics professor at Columbia who is married to a fellow professor (Alec Baldwin) and mother of three grown children who learns that she has developed early onset Alzheimer's disease and once Alice works past the denial of what is happening to her, the film shows this strong woman try to control what is happening to her, use it to her advantage, and eventually lose control of what is happening to her.
http://bookfandoms.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/kristen-stewart-still-alice-600x399.jpg
Co-writers and co-directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland have crafted a compelling and squirm worthy story that reaches beyond the scope of the average disease of the week movie. We watch a believable progression here as Alice first tries self-diagnosis without telling anyone what is going on and after finally opening up to her family, attempts to be her own doctor and tries to fight what's happening to her in her own way and track the progression of the disease herself. It seems that Alice thinks that she is too smart for this disease and that with early diagnosis, she can control it, but the abnormality of what is happening to her is disturbing...there is a wonderfully effective moment in the film where Alice is visiting a facility for Alzheimer's patients and doesn't correct the woman giving her the tour who thinks she is visiting for the sake of a parent.

The film also provides a believable look at the effects of the disease on the victim's family...a husband whose denial pushes him further away while a distant younger daughter finds a relationship with her mother that she never had before.
https://loganbushey.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/download-1.jpg
Moore makes us love and care about Alice and her Oscar win wasn't really a surprise, though I personally think she's done better work, but Baldwin has rarely been better and Kristen Stewart is an eye-opener as Alice's youngest daughter, but this is Moore' show and has rarely commanded the screen the way she does here...a consummate actress providing moments of joy and pathos from one scene to the next. 4

[Citizen Rules]

Enjoyed your review of Still Alice. I had very similar thoughts on the film when I reviewed it some months ago.

[Gideon58]

https://joshmosey.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/royal_tenenbaums.jpg
The Royal Tenenbaums is the bizarre and unpredictable black comedy of family dysfunction that combines the loopy sensibility of Woody Allen with the absurdist theater stylings of Edward Albee and provides surprises and laughs from opening to closing credits.
https://resizer.glanacion.com/resizer/i3zuLoWE-J4os41rOu3oGqulR4g=/1200x800/smart/filters:format(webp):quality(80)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/lanacionar/SK4NR3DTANHBDKF3OKTSWOZLBQ.jpg
Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) and his estranged wife, Ethilene (Anjelica Huston) raised three children together who all turned out to be different kinds of child prodigies: Chas (Ben Stiller) was a child financial wiz who is now raising twin sons and has never really gotten over the death of their mother; adopted daughter, Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) was a professional playwright by the time she was 12, is now married to an older psychiatrist (Bill Murray) and lays around in the bathtub all day watching TV; Richie (Luke Wilson) was a teenage tennis champ who cracked up on the court one day, hasn't played since and now claims to be in love with Margot, as is his childhood friend, Eli (Owen Wilson). The fun begins when Royal announces that he's dying and that he wants to reconnect with his family, especially the grandsons he's never met.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTMwNjcxOTg3M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNTUyNjc3._V1_.jpg
This is a bizarre cinematic canvas but it works due the consistently entertaining central character. Royal Tenenbaum is a lousy husband, lousy father, you can practically see the grease sliding off of him and it's impossible to believe anything that comes out of his mouth, another great movie character who speaks without filter, but whether or not it's the truth is the question but you don't really care because the guy is so darned likable and that is due to Gene Hackman's sparkling performance that earned him a Golden Globe and his chemistry with Anjelica Huston is viable and you can still see the love between these two people even if they're not together anymore.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g0AlTJoTLcw/Uk3Sd4hbx3I/AAAAAAAAAEM/iO3IDhbYf9k/s1600/Capture.PNG
The screenplay by director Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson makes a couple of detours into facets of the prodigies' lives that just aren't that interesting. As long as the story stays focused on the rascally Royal, the movie is witty and vibrant and when it's not, you might find yourself looking at your watch. But Anderson and Wilson's screenplay and the acting genius of Gene Hackman make this journey a joy. 4

[Optimus]

Nice review mate.

[Gideon58]

Nice review mate.
Thank you Optimus.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTU0NDE5NTU0OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMzI1OTMzOQ@@._V1_.jpg
The pursuit of the "American Dream" has rarely been brought to the screen in such an outrageously over the top and uncompromisingly violent manner as it was in 2013's Pain & Gain, an absolutely incredible drama of crime and corruption that is all the more disturbing because it really happened.
https://static-secure.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2013/4/29/1367231378497/Pain--Gain-010.jpg
This is the unbelievable story of Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg), a bodybuilder and personal trainer who decides to kidnap a wealthy client named Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub) with the aid of a co-worker (Anthony Mackie) and a God fearing ex-con trying to stay sober (Dwayne Johnson), but Lugo gets greedy...he doesn't just ask for a ransom, he tortures his victim and blackmails him into signing over all his assets to Daniel so that everything that Kershaw owns will belong to Lugo, but Lugo and his pals don't realize that capturing such a massive piece of the pie requires detailed planning, something they don't have a clue about because these three guys are basically idiots whose brains are in their biceps.
http://abovethebuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Pain-Gain.jpg
Since this is a true story, it's kind of hard to gauge exactly how accurate Christopher Markus and Stephen McFreeley's very talky screenplay is, but we are asked to accept a whole lot here...the torturing of Kershaw is outrageous and it is hard to believe that he actually survives what happens to him. It's hard to accept that our three heroes get away with as much as they do for as long as they do. It's ridiculous that no one believes Kershaw when he escapes and tells his story. There is payoff to this story, but these three guys cause way too much carnage and make way too long a list of innocent victims before that payoff happens.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/screen_shot_2013-03-27_at_5.16.59_pm.png
Watching these guys get away with everything that they do is all the more aggravating because these guys are idiots and not very likable, though Johnson's character, Paul Doyle, does possess some very engaging qualities and caring about this character is initially very easy; unfortunately, the screenplay methodically destroys the character and takes away any sympathy you might have accrued for the three central characters and I can see how one might like these guys if the film is caught in the right mindset, but I didn't.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/e/ea/MV5BOTYwYjQyYmEtYjIwYy00MWQyLTgyYjktMmQzZjU1MmU5OWExXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjE2NTI1OTk%40._V1_.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20200216230449
Director Michael Bay has a cinematic eye for violence here that approaches Tarantino territory, giving us an up close and personal look at the relentless gore presented here. The performances are mostly over the top, though I absolutely loved Johnson who keeps a sad character likable and Shalhoub as the most durable kidnap victim I have ever seen. The film is overlong, stretches credibility and has plotholes you can drive a truck through, but if idiotic people doing consistent rotten and getting away with it for way too long is your idea of entertainment, have your fill here. 2.5

[cricket]

I liked Pain & Gain. If anything, I thought it was well cast.

[Derek Vinyard]

One of the most hilarious movie ever made hands down! I love Pain&Gain

[Gideon58]

One of the most hilarious movie ever made hands down! I love Pain&Gain
I don't know, there were moments in the movie that made me laugh, but I don't think they were supposed to.

[Beatle]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3e/Original_movie_poster_for_Cabaret.jpg

1973 was a very good year for legendary director/choreographer Bob Fosse. He won an Emmy for directing and choreographing the television special Liza with a Z, he won a Tony for directing the Broadway musical Pippin, and blindsided Francis Ford Coppola by winning an Oscar for Best Director for Cabaret, the dazzling 1972 film version, which is Fosse's re-thinking of the 1966 Broadway musical.
http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=14537&stc=1&d=1400023318
The stage and screen versions are quite different and as independent works, they stand on their own as outstanding achievements and it is not necessary to have seen the play to appreciate the movie. The main focal point of Fosse's re-thinking of the musical is that he wanted it to be a more "realistic" musical and therefore made sure that all of the musical numbers (with the exception of "Tomorrow Belongs to Me")all took place within the walls of the Kit Kat Club. He cut several numbers from the original score, but if you listen, some of them can be heard as background music in several scenes. Fosse's artistry as a director can be evidenced in the "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" scene...to this day, the scene gives me chills every time I watch it.

He also shifted the focus of the way the story is told...the play tells the story from the leading man's point of view, but Fosse switches the focus to the character of Sally Bowles, the brassy, sassy party girl who believes in "divine decadence' and wears bright green fingernail polish.
http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=13680&stc=1&d=1397739507
Fosse also takes two secondary characters from the play, who are older, and makes them young and attractive in order to make their story more youth-friendly, I imagine.

Liza Minnelli turns in a dazzling Oscar-winning performance as Sally, a gutsy, self-absorbed party girl who shows signs of vulnerability and a desperate need to be loved. Minnelli makes the most of her musical and non-musical moments in the film...her climactic confrontation with Brian (Michael York)is brilliantly performed. York is charming and sexy as Brian and Joel Grey's Oscar winning turn as the Master of Ceremonies is a delight.

http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=13681&stc=1&d=1397739946

This film ruled at the '73 Oscars, winning eight awards in all (it lost Best Picture to The Godfather and deserved every accolade it received. A sparkling, eye-popping, thought-provoking, haunting film experience that should be savored over and over again. 9/10

My mom's fave movie. :) I liked it, but was too young to even get what's going on. Dad told me it depicts very well Germany in the era. Except the numbers, i only remember the scene when Liza says to York "F* him!" and he says sarcasticaly "I do." Is that the climatic confrontation?

[Gideon58]

My mom's fave movie. :) I liked it, but was too young to even get what's going on. Dad told me it depicts very well Germany in the era. Except the numbers, i only remember the scene when Liza says to York "F* him!" and he says sarcasticaly "I do." Is that the climatic confrontation?
Yeah, pretty much, because Fosse focused a good deal of the story in the movie on this romantic triangle (Sally, Brian, Max) which was invented purely for the movie and was not a part of the Broadway show. Once Sally learns about Brian and Max, we know that it is pretty much the end of the triangle and more importantly, the end of Brian and Sally.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjU0MTI1MDg5Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNzc2MTMzMDE@._V1_.jpg
The Best Man Holiday is the soapy and melodramatic sequel to the 1999 film about a group of African American college friends who reunite for a wedding and are rocked by the contents of a book that one of them has written. This film reunites the same characters 15 years later for Christmas and old resentments and passions are reignited but the connections to the first film seem to be essential to caring about what's going on here.
http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/The-Best-Man-Holiday-Image-03.jpg
This 2013 comedy drama finds the primary action centering around author Harper Stewart (Taye Diggs) trying to calm pregnant wife Robin (Sanaa Lathan) and save his failing career by using best friend New York Giant Lance Sullivan (Morris Chestnut). The other main storyline involves Julian (Harold Perrineau) finding his business being seriously threatened because of his marriage to a stripper (Regina Hall) he met in the first film. We also find a health crisis for one of the characters that ends up bringing everyone together.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTY4MDQzNTcyMl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNzI3MTE2MDE@._V1_.jpg
On the positive side, the film does meet one of my requirements for a good sequel: it begins almost exactly where the first film left off; however, it also assumes that you've seen the first film and if you haven't, a lot of what is going on here is going to be rather confusing and difficult to invest in, despite the fact that a lot of the resentments and emotions presented here are universal. the first film is the springboard that makes the viewer care about what is going on here. This is my opinion though...I thought The Brady Bunch Movie would only be entertaining to people who watched the television show, but I've learned I was wrong about that and I have to go out on the same limb here...I seriously doubt that if you never saw the first film, that you will give a damn about what's going on here and the fact that it goes on forever doesn't help.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDc5NDAwMzE1OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMzM3MTE2MDE@._V1_.jpg
The cast looks amazing....most of the them haven't aged a bit in the 14 years since the first movie and I've always been a sucker for a movie that features African American characters who are wealthy, successful, and intelligent, but the soap opera elements of the story really bog things down here and right around the time the third act commences, I found myself looking at my watch wondering if this movie was ever going to end. The last 25 minutes of this movie gives new meaning to words like "corny" and "predictable", but if you saw and enjoyed the first film, you might be able to get through it. 2.5

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/Spider-Man2002Poster.jpg
2002's Spiderman is Sam Raimi's ambitious and expensive big screen realization of the Marvel comic book hero that does provide some entertainment value, despite a screenplay that tries to encompass WAY too much.
http://www.joblo.com/newsimages1/spidey-vill2.jpg
Unlike Superman, who we learn is actually from another planet, this story introduces us to Peter Parker, a nerdy high school earthling who happens to get bitten by just the right spider that provides him with super powers that poor Peter can't explain and isn't sure what do with initially.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-stSUVHEjRVg/T9zVan5B5fI/AAAAAAAAE20/-wXYQLrTrvQ/s1600/2002-Rami-Maguire-Spider-man-movie-cute-cop.png
And that's where a lot of the problems with this film lie...though I love the moment where Peter wakes up and discovers the changes in his body, the film wastes too much time making us watch Peter play around with his powers and figuring out exactly what he can do...the jumping over rooftops and disposing of lunch room bullies is just so contrived and "been there done that" and the wrestling match with Macho Man Randy Savage just seems like so much filler. There's even five to ten minutes of screen time devoted to Peter designing his Spiderman costume...seriously? The romantic triangle with Peter, Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst), and Harry (James Franco) just seems like part of another movie, as does Harry's messed up relationship with his father.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/b6VnViTW7Hc/hqdefault.jpg
There are things that work here, especially the casting of Tobey Maguire as Peter/Spiderman...I liked the fact that Raimi chose to cast an ordinary looking guy and not a body builder or professional wrestler in the role...Maguire makes Peter instantly likable. Also loved Willem Dafoe in the extremely complex villain role, a man whose personal and business failures have completely shredded his mental faculties. I think if screenwriters Stan Lee and Stan Ditka had concentrated a little more on the Peter/Green Goblin conflict and a little less on romance and exposition, this film could have been something really special. 3.5

[honeykid]

I've not seen it since release, but I remember the script being the thing I liked most about Spider Man and the whole thing was better than the sequel which, naturally, everyone else things is brilliant.

[Gideon58]

http://on-camera-audiences.com/shows/Grease_Live/img
On the heels of NBC's live presentation of The Wiz, comes Fox television's live presentation of Grease an overblown, over the top re-thinking of the 1971 Broadway musical that in 1978 became the top grossing movie musical of all time and therein lies the problem. This production is pretty much an attempt to reproduce the movie on a television screen, not to mention expanding a 90 minute musical to fill a three hour television slot.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mXiroOmgv_w/maxresdefault.jpg
For those who've been living under a rock for the past 30 years, this musical takes place at fictional Rydell High school and recounts the star-crossed romance between a slick stud named Danny Zuko and a virginal good girl named Sandy. In the original stage production, Sandy's last name was Dumbrowski. To accommodate Olivia Newton-John's casting, she became Sandy Olsson for the movie, and for this production, she becomes Sandy Young (Julianne Hough).
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQVBy8kKqtWBGySgx1lxw06hHxcSMNhEZk2fg&usqp=CAU
My greatest fears were realized when I heard about this production. Ever since the release of the 1978 movie, every time any song or scene has been reproduced in any form, it has been in an attempt to duplicate the same scene from the movie and this production is no exception. Instead of returning to the 1971 source material, this production has returned to the movie, lifting large chucks of dialogue, music, choreography, costuming and attempts at replicating scenes that just don't work on a stage (the staging of the race at Thunder Road is just laughable on a stage), not to mention an on camera studio audience who are utilized as extras in some scenes, motivating some unsettling breaking of the 4th wall that take the viewer out of the story. And just like the 1978 movie, most of the actors playing these roles appear to be way too old for their characters.
https://cdn.justjaredjr.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/grease-cast2/grease-live-full-cast-songs-list-112.jpg
The score is pretty much lifted from the movie verbatim, though one song that wasn't used in the movie, "Freddy My Love" was restored here, turned into a gargantuan musical fantasy over sung by KeKe Palmer (whose entire performance gives new meaning to the word overacting) and Frenchy (Carly Rae Jepsen) was actually given a brand new song to sing before "Beauty School Dropout" that just dragged out what was already an eternally long scene. Running time was also padded with expanding minor roles like Eugene Felznick, Patty Simcox, and Miss Lynch and lengthening any scenes that showcased Julianne Hough's dancing skills, which are so NOT what the character of Sandy is about.
https://cdn.justjared.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/grease-every/grease-live-watch-every-performance-video-102.jpg
Aaron Tveit was an acceptable Danny Zuko though his over singing seemed to be designed to disguise his lack of dance skills didn't work and I never really bought Vanessa Hudgens as bad girl Rizzo and she really didn't seem to understand Rizzo's solo, "There are Worse Things I Could Do". The one musical number that worked for me was "Greased Lightening" which despite the cleaned up for TV lyrics, was the first time I have seen the number performed and actually understood the words to the song. The saddest thing though were cameo appearances from two cast members of the 1978 movie and I bet most of the audience didn't even realize it.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDNhZWFhZjgtOThkZC00M2UyLWIzYzktNGVhMTRlYjhlNmMwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDE5MTU2MDE@._V1_.jpg
I guess if you've never seen the piece in any form, this production can provide entertainment, but you know there's a problem with any musical production where the best performance in the production comes from Mario Lopez. 1.5

[Optimus]

I hate the Spiderman triolgy with Toby Maguire. Hes such an annoying pr***.

[gbgoodies]

I DVRed Grease Live!, but I haven't watched it yet. The few reviews I peeked at online made it sound like it was the best production ever, and I knew that couldn't be right, so I'm glad to see you wrote an honest review and admitted that there were problems with it.

I saw a couple of short clips of it while flipping channels last night, but I wasn't impressed with what I saw. I'm more familiar with the movie than the Broadway show, (which I only saw once, and it was a very long time ago), At a glance, Julianne Hough certainly looked the part of Sandy, but Aaron Tveit just didn't work for me as Danny. He didn't look like a tough guy/greaser. He looked like a nerdy kid playing dress-up. Also, the little I heard of him sounded like he's not the best singer for the part either, but it was only about a minute or two of his performance, so it could have just been a minor issue that won't be noticeable in his full performance. But I'm hoping when I actually watch this, their performances will work, and maybe I'll enjoy this more than I'm expecting to like it.

BTW, I knew about the two cameos, and I'm looking forward to seeing them, but I expect them to be very short, and practically unnoticeable.

[Gideon58]

The cameos are very noticeable to anyone who knows the 1978 film inside out.

[Gideon58]

http://escapepod.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ea_anotherearth.jpg
Another Earth is an unsettling and disturbing 2011 sleeper that, in the tradition of films like 21 Grams, tells a compelling story about the power of guilt and making amends but is perhaps more powerful here due to the lack of star power, cinematic trappings and other things that keep the story from being the primary focus as it should be.

The story opens with the alleged discovery of a second planet earth, which is supposed to be a mirror image of our planet and on the night of its discovery, a beautiful and intelligent girl named Rhoda (Brit Marling) is driving in her car and looking in the sky for the planet when she crashes into a car, putting a college music professor (William Mapother) in a coma and killing his wife and son. After four years in jail, Rhoda's guilt forces her to track down the man and, without revealing who she is, pulls the man out of the physical and emotional squalor he has been existing in.
http://www2.sundance.org/images/film-forward/stills/another-earth-film-still-2.jpg
Director Mike Cahill, who also co-wrote the quietly uncompromising screenplay with the leading lady has created a story that pretty much kept my stomach in knots for the most of the running time. The story initially sets up Rhoda as a sympathetic character, a woman being eaten up by the guilt of what she's done, but that sympathy went out the window the second that professor opens up his door and we see what the accident has done to him and how he's living. Her pulling the man out of his shell is such an empty gesture without the clear payoff that the story establishes and has us in total suspense as to whether or not it's going to happen.

There is different level of power to this story than with 21 Grams partly because in this story we actually see the accident that is the catalyst for the story and the fact that the film is shot on a budget of about $2000. The lack of expensive production values somehow seems to intensify the story that is being told and put said story center stage.
http://www.fmvmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Another-Earth2.jpg
Marling's Rhoda is unapologetic but always watchable and Mapother offers a surprisingly meaty turn as Rhoda's manipulated victim in this twisted story that takes some really squirm-worthy turns but the cinematic journey provided here is worth investing in, climaxing in a supreme payoff that you will never see coming. 4

[Citizen Rules]

Yes! someone finally liked a movie that I care about. Your review makes me want to watch it again!...It's been a long time since I seen it too. I'm so glad to see you enjoyed it.

[Gideon58]

Yes! someone finally liked a movie that I care about. Your review makes me want to watch it again!...It's been a long time since I seen it too. I'm so glad to see you enjoyed it.
Thank you so much for recommending it, Citizen, I really did enjoy it. I'm going to have to go through your review thread and Latitudes a little more carefully to see what other gems you've been hiding from me.

[gbgoodies]

Gideon, why did you lower your rating for Grease Live! from 5/10 to 4/10?

[Gideon58]

Gideon, why did you lower your rating for Grease Live! from 5/10 to 4/10?
I was thinking about it all night and I kept thinking about a lot of stuff in it that I really HATED and decided that 5 was being way too generous.

[gbgoodies]

I was thinking about it all night and I kept thinking about a lot of stuff in it that I really HATED and decided that 5 was being way too generous.


I was curious because I watched the first hour or so of it last night, and I was surprised at how bad it was. (I got up to the song "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and ran out of time. I'll watch the rest of it tonight.)

I kind of liked the actresses who played Sandy and Frenchy, and I liked Boyz II Men as the Teen Angel(s) singing "Beauty School Dropout", but I didn't care for much else in it so far. Most of the acting is pretty bad. They seem to be just going through the motions, with little or no emotion in most of the performances. It feels like they're trying to copy the movie in most of the show, but they don't seem to understand (or care) about what they're performing. They sound like they're just reading lines.

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a9/Quick_change.jpg/220px-Quick_change.jpg
Bill Murray knocks it out of the park as the star and co-director of Quick Change a goofy and outrageous comic adventure that strains credibility at every turn and takes a couple of superfluous detours, but provides consistent chuckles for most of its running time.
http://www.clownsrbad.com/wp-content/uploads/quickchange.500x375.jpg
Murray plays Grimm, a former New York city employee who robs a bank dressed like a clown with the help of his partners (Geena Davis, Randy Quaid). They somehow manage to get out of the bank undetected but getting to the airport to catch their flight out of the country doesn't exactly go as planned.
http://i519.photobucket.com/albums/u357/notmoore/QUICKCHANGE-MurrayandDavis.jpg
Murray and co-director and co-writer Howard Franklin have created a loopy comic adventure that needless to say, makes the star look great, in the most entertaining character he had played after Ghostbusters and takes an even broader look at New Yorkers' obsession with crime and their general hostility toward the New York police force, who aren't exactly made to look like rocket scientists here either. I love the opening moments of the film where no one even glances twice at Grimm walking down a crowded New York street dressed like a clown and upon entering the bank, no one actually believes his announcement that he is there to rob it, yet, once he's taken seriously, it just takes moments for every single New Yorker on the street to forget about whatever they're doing and watch the police try to save hostages and it's not always clear whose side the mob outside is on.
https://49.media.tumblr.com/683c1ca7d2e768c15d391dd15a88249e/tumblr_n49f5sK7XW1qedb29o1_500.gif
Murray's flip but likable persona puts you behind the character completely once they get out of the bank, despite his sometimes harsh treatment of Davis and the high annoyance factor of Quaid's character. Jason Robards' straight-faced performance as the police chief behind the pursuit is a big asset as are some funny comic pits contributed along the way by Tony Shaloub, Stanley Tucci, Philip Bosco, Kurtwood Smith, and Phil Hartman. The film also features effective use of New York locations and a hard to believe but satisfying denoument. 3.5

[honeykid]

I remember almost nothing about Quick Change apart from the feeling that I enjoyed it.

[Gideon58]

https://knightleyemma.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/allthatheavenallows_poster1.jpg
Producer Ross Hunter and director Douglas Sirk pretty much had a monopoly on 1950's melodrama and one of their most entertaining collaborations was a 1955 gem called All That Heaven Allows, the story of a star-crossed romance torn asunder by societal and family pressure.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NqJkCHMWw40/hqdefault.jpg
The film stars Jane Wyman as Cary Scott, a wealthy widow and mother of two grown children, who finds herself drawn to her gardener, Ron (Rock Hudson) and how small town gossip and manipulative children keep Cary from being honest about her feelings for Ron.
https://movieclassics.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/all-that-heaven-allows-4.png
The protagonists are effectively developed through Peg Fenwick's surprisingly meaty screenplay...Cary has been dating a man (Conrad Nagel) who is safe but boring and has another guy (Donald Curtis) who has probably been sniffing after her since she became a widow and only wants one thing from her. Cary has finally found something real with Ron, but her worries about what the country club set and her children will think has her fighting her feelings. If this story were being told today, tongues would have been silenced if Ron had simply signed a pre-nup proving he had no interest in Cary's money, but then we'd have no story right? But the story took one ugly turn that made this irrelevant. I also liked the fact that the screenplay gave Ron a brain and let him be aware of exactly what was going on with Cary, making the story all the more compelling.
http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx61/pvitari/ATHA-1835.jpg
The other surprising element of this film was the chemistry between Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson. Cary is the kind of role that Lana Turner had a patent on in the 50's and 60's but I'm so glad Wyman played this role...she brings an intelligence to the character that Turner never could. Hudson is a little stiff as Ron, but the camera sure loves him and mention should also be made of Agnes Moorhead as Cary's best friend, Jacqueline deWit as the town gossip, and Gloria Talbott as Cary's daughter.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/r6FQ62ka-w0/maxresdefault.jpg
The film has the accustomed Ross Hunter gloss...it is expensively mounted with lovely photography and the costumes are stunning. If old fashioned melodrama is your thing,you will be in heaven here and anyone who saw the 2002 drama Far From Heaven with Julianne Moore will have a head start. 3.5

[Citizen Rules]

Glad you liked it, have you seen Magnificent Obsession (1954) also by Douglas Sirk and with Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman

[cricket]

That sounds good; I'll add it to my 50's watchlist.

[Gideon58]

Glad you liked it, have you seen Magnificent Obsession (1954) also by Douglas Sirk and with Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman
The first thing I thought of after finishing this film is that I MUST see Magnificent Obsession.

[Gideon58]

Lol
Raging Bull is Martin Scorcese's thundering and bloody valentine to middleweight boxing champion Jake La Motta, a small-time palooka whose boxing career and personal life were destroyed by the man's inner demons. This film was # 2 on my favorite biopics list and #1 on my favorite sports films list, but after a recent re-watch, I'm wondering if those should be reversed.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-S5lCnsD9XXY/TYCUQDZgCDI/AAAAAAAAAXM/Qv1ps4hQhR0/s1600/Raging.Bull.04.PNG
In terms of a sports film, there is nothing new here that we haven't seen before in films about the sport of boxing, nothing that has never been revealed onscreen before, but Scorsese's docudrama form of highlighting La Motta's career is magnificent to watch due to Scorsese's always uncompromising depiction of onscreen violence, highlighted by the Oscar-winning work of longtime Scorsese editor Thelma Schoonmaker and this is an Oscar the Academy got right...the fight scenes are unerringly bloody and might find the wrong viewer actually turning their head away from the screen.
http://livingincinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/im-better-than-them.jpg
What the film does a little more effectively is provide a somewhat original, if not really complete, look at the demons that were destroying this gifted athlete from the inside. I think a lot of his resentment came from knowing he was never going to be what he wanted to be: he was a middleweight champion who really wanted to be a heavyweight. According to this film, La Motta pretty much spent most of his time outside the ring obsessing about the fidelity of his young bride, Vicky and it is that obsession that destroys Jake's relationship with his brother Joey and is the eventual downfall of his marriage, though it is never really made clear whether or not Vicky was faithful, which I guess in the grand scheme, wasn't really important. I do love the way Scorsese actually utilizes the camera to zoom in on the characters' emotions.

Robert De Niro won a richly deserved Oscar for Outstanding Lead for an electrifying performance in an physically and emotionally demanding role that demanded the actor go through a physical transformation that was not flattering but frighteningly realistic. He is matched scene for scene by Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty, who were both Oscar-nominated for their star-making roles as Joey and Vicky. Pesci is particularly strong, a character whose inner resentment of Jake is effectively masked by his always having his brother's back outside the home, evidenced in his vicious attack on someone he suspects his sleeping with Vicki.
https://generationfilm.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/ragingbull2.jpg
There is an explosive confrontation between Jake, Joey, and Vicky that should have ended Jake and Vicky's marriage but did end his relationship with Joey and I've never been able to get past why Vicky stays with Jake as long as she does, but it is a minor plot point in a consistently riveting story about a tragic figure whose emotions have him doomed from the start. As for the authenticity of what is presented here, La Motta was a consultant on the film and was present on the set which to me says what is presented here is pretty close to the truth, which makes it all the more impressive because it is also riveting entertainment. 4.5

[Optimus]

I loved Raging Bull. I haven't seen it in a while tho.

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/29/Movie_poster_for_%22Scary_Movie%22.jpg
The Wayans Brothers were the creative force behind Scary Movie, a 2000 satire of teen slasher movies that despite its blatant mediocrity has managed to inspire three sequels (so far).

The plot of this film is a perfect blend of Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. A group of kids accidentally murder someone and a year later, a killer starts wiping out the kids in on the secret.
https://oracleoffilm.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/scary-movie-1.jpg
The script by Shawn and Marlon Wayans is not exactly brimming with originality, borrowing liberally from the above mentioned films, not to mention knowing winks at Carrie, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street. Shawn and Marlon's older brother, Keenen Ivory Wayans, also seems to borrow a lot of inspiration from Mel Brooks and David Zucker in his mounting of this kind of movie with a manic in your face direction that spells everything out for the viewer.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/q9QJ_S62yVo/maxresdefault.jpg
The performances are over the top for the most part...Anna Faris is properly straight-faced as our heroine, Cindy and other than that, most of the laughs came from Shawn Wayans as a closeted gay student and Cheri Oteri, lampooning Courtney Cox's role in Scream and there is a perfect send-up of the opening of Scream with Carmen Electra subbing for Drew Barrymore. The laughs are sporadic but they're cheap and not a lot of work has been put in producing them. Can't believe this inspired three sequels. 2

[Gideon58]

Atmospheric direction and a couple of sterling star performances make Atlantic City, a unique and satisfying experience for the patient and discriminating film goer.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a4/Atlantic_City_(1980_film).jpg
The film takes place during a time of renaissance for the New Jersey gambling capital...a crumbling empire trying to scratch its way back to the forefront of tourism, populated with has-beens and wannabes trying to stay on the surface anyway they can. The film is a quiet character study of a has-been and a wanna be whose lives becomes intertwined.
http://www.imcdb.org/i336109.jpg
Lou (Burt Lancaster) is a former mob enforcer who is now a small time numbers runner, a dead-end existence made worse by being trapped into a position as caretaker and part-time lover of a loudmouthed, alcoholic invalid named Grace (Kate Reid), resigned to his life and what it has become, despite his watching our heroine through his window on a regular basis.
https://thebestpictureproject.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/atlantic_city1.jpg
Sally (Susan Sarandon) likes to slather her body in lemon juice in front of her kitchen window while listening to opera. Sally works at the buffet of a casino but is going to croupier school to become a dealer. A shady past with her husband (Robert Joy) had her unwillingly leaving Vegas to start a new life in Atlantic City and, oddly, it is Sally's husband, who brings these two sad and lonely people together.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/7UZpRynpUac/maxresdefault.jpg
Director Louis Malle really struck gold here, creating a somber and deliberate atmosphere as a canvas for these two richly complex characters, both crafted in serious shades of gray, to connect, even though there really is no earthly reason why they should. Despite the fact that the first time we meet the characters, Lou is peeping at Sally lemoning her body, for some reason it doesn't feel dirty and we are intrigued as to exactly how these two people are going to connect.
http://www.trbimg.com/img-53c46546/turbine/la-fi-mh-atlantic-citys-implosion-20140714-001/650/650x366
Lancaster received his final Oscar nomination for his rich performance as Lou and has a surprising chemistry with Sarandon, also Oscar-nominated for her vivid and flawed Sally, a woman who has been constantly dealt rotten deals in her life and keeps getting back up. It is the work of these two superb actors, some wonderful use of Atlantic City locations, and the stark cinematic eye of Louis Malle that make this film work. 4

[Gideon58]

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/e8/07/65/e80765c43ede842866b8b07302156f45.jpg
Producer Ross Hunter and director Douglas Sirk pretty much became the kings of 1950's melodrama with their 1954 film Magnificent Obsession, a remake of a 1935 drama that starred Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor, but with the accustomed Hunter gloss and Sirk's uncanny talent with melodrama, this film stands proudly on its own and this review is from someone who never saw the original.

The film stars Rock Hudson as Bob Merrick, a wealthy and selfish playboy and medical school dropout who has a boating accident and is saved due to a piece of medical equipment that belongs to a local doctor who dies because his equipment was being used to save Merrick. After attempting amends by throwing money at the doctor's widow (Jane Wyman), Merrick causes further tragedy for the widow, sending the two protagonists through a star-crossed romance with constant peaks and valleys.
http://livingincinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/write-a-check.jpg
This movie sucked me in right from the beginning and found me taking sides immediately. Robert Blees intricate screenplay is not squeamish at all about setting up Bob Merrick as a scumbag and the story doesn't rush to redeem the character either and it almost takes too long to do so, but there are a couple of points in the story where I'm just about to give up on what is happening and the story drew me right back in, not to mention the fact that the leading lady is so likable and we want to see her happy.
https://classicmovienight.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/magnificent-obsession_2.png
Six years after winning an Oscar for Johnny Belinda, Wyman was again nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress for her compelling performance here and Hudson seems to be having a ball playing this layered character who doesn't always do what he should but has the best intentions. Agnes Moorhead and Barbara Rush also deserve mention as Wyman's friend and stepdaughter and, of course, the accustomed Ross Hunter gloss is a big help. Hunter, Sirk, Wyman, Hudson, and Moorhead reunited the following year for All that Heaven Allows, but this is the one that stirred all the emotions in me a classic melodrama should...this is the kind of film that Carol Burnett should have lampooned on her show. 4

[Gideon58]

http://www.dvd-covers.org/d/77263-3/211waitingforguffman_hires.jpg
The Christopher Guest rep company provide some major laughs in Waiting for Guffman, an at-times, roll-on-the-floor funny look at community theater and the delicate egos and ridiculous situations that arise when show business amateurs attempt to do what show business professionals do.

Set in the fictional town of Blaine, Missouri, an original musical called "Red, White, & Blaine" has been written as part of the town's 150th anniversary of its founding and how local theater director Corky St.Clair, who last directed a stage version of the movie Backdraft, has been set to direct and the added excitement for the cast when they learn an important theater critic from New York has agreed to attend the show, making the cast think the show is going to Broadway.
http://derekwinnert.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/21.jpg
Written by Guest and Eugene Levy in the form of a documentary, the story follows the whole process of mounting a piece from auditions to rehearsals, casting and budget issues, and the final production which does provide the expected laughs, there are a lot of laughs before that as we meet the goofy characters involved. Corky St. Clair (Guest) the director claims to be a big shot ex-director from New York who is probably lying about most of his alleged career as well as Ron and Sheila Albertson (Fred Willard and Catherine O'Hara), a couple who are community theater veterans and think they are better than everyone involved. Dr. Allan Pearl (Levy) is a dentist who likes to imitate Johnny Carson and Libby (Parker Posey) is a dairy queen employee doing her first show.
http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/29400000/Parker-Posey-as-Libby-Mae-Brown-in-Waiting-For-Guffman-parker-posey-29402025-1360-768.jpg
The movie takes a little while to get going and it slows down when the story leaves the actual mounting of the show, but the putting together of the show works completely, especially some fun backstage stuff like the bitter music director (Bob Balaban) who is trying to cover his resentment that he has been replaced as the director by Corky or Corky's casting of a young man in the show that he just wants to sleep with.

Guest is hysterical as the flamboyantly gay Corky but never takes the character out of the realm of reality, as are Willard, O'Hara, Levy, and Balaban. Guest and Levy's direction and story perfectly capture small town sensibilities and the sometimes absurd stupidity that can abound during the planning of such festivities. 3.5

[Gideon58]

Joel and Ethan Cohen have provided one of their most stylish and surprising cinematic journeys in their 2001 homage to Hitchcock and film noir called The Man Who Wasn't There, a film that scores because it doesn't do anything or go anywhere that it's supposed to.
http://www.nordicposters.com/p2/man_who_wasnt_there_02.jpg
The setting is 1949 California where we are introduced to Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton), a chain-smoking barber who suspects that his wife, Doris (Frances McDormand) is having an affair with her boss, Big Dave (James Gandolfini) and decides to use this information to make some fast cash but his plan goes horribly horribly wrong.
http://www.haro-online.com/stuff/manwhow1.jpg
The Cohens have constructed one of their trickiest and complex screenplays that requires complete attention because we are presented with characters of questionable morals who should face the consequences of their actions and though we want to see this happen, the Cohens' story requires patience of the viewer, the kind of patience that makes the viewer squirm, yet never allows you to take your eyes off the screen.
https://station79.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/the-man-who-wasn-t-there-original.jpg
The film is a stunning technical achievement...it features exquisite black and white photography that perfectly frames the story and director Joel Cohen pulls terrific performances from his three leads as well as Tony Shalhoub as a slick talking attorney and Scarlett Johanssen as a teenage neighbor. The Cohens have given us a slick story with an almost tongue in cheek screenplay that provides solid entertainment and constant surprises for its entire running time. 4

[Citizen Rules]

I have to see that one. It looks like a film noir style is it?

[Tugg]

"The Man Who Wasn't There" is really good and rather underrated flick.

[Gideon58]

I have to see that one. It looks like a film noir style is it?
You would love The Man Who Wasn't There, Citizen, I'm sure of it.

[Gideon58]

http://www.flickeringmyth.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/The-Gambler-2014.png
Addiction is a disease that tells its sufferer that it doesn't have a disease. It doesn't discriminate, it doesn't care who you are or what you have, and the disease has consequences, the number one being your death. Some of these issues are effectively addressed in The Gambler, a 2014 remake of a 1974 film about a compulsive gambler who is in such denial about his disease that he ignores the gravity of the consequences he suffers. This review is coming from someone who did not see the 1974 film.
http://cdn5.thr.com/sites/default/files/2014/10/gambler_a.jpg
The film stars Mark Wahlberg as Jim Bennett, a brilliant college literature professor and novelist whose gambling debts are so immense that he is borrowing from one gangster to pay another, but every time he finds some help, he continues to re-invest in his disease, ignoring the chance to get out of the bottomless pit of debt, preferring to feed his addiction.
http://static.srcdn.com/slir/w620-h319-q90-c620:319/wp-content/uploads/Michael-K-Williams-in-The-Gambler-2014.jpg
William Monahan's screenplay has its merits, giving us a central character who, outside of his disease, is a very smart person who is fascinating to watch and listen to...it's a little unsettling when Jim's double life is revealed, first as a gambler and then as a brilliant college professor who has all of his students' ears, but the bad guys talk like they're out of some Cagney crime drama from the 30's, which makes the Jim Bennett character look smarter than he really is, I guess in an attempt to garner sympathy for the character, but it doesn't work.
https://themoviemylife.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/screen-shot-2015-03-19-at-22-47-38.png
It's hard to sympathize with Jim Bennett's plight because he has enablers in his life who give him opportunities to get out of the dangerous debt he is in and he symbolically spits in their faces, continuing to do what he does and severely underestimating the danger of the people who he is toying with, and that's exactly what he's doing...he's toying with people who really aren't the type of people to be toyed with and I think he only gets away with what he gets away in this story because it is a story. He is also endangering the lives of innocent people around him with little regard. A real life Jim Bennett would not have come out of this story alive. Coupled with the fact that there is no indication that Jim is aware of his sickness and has no plans to do anything about it as the credits roll, the payoff that should come with a story like this that never comes.
http://saltypopcorn.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/The-Gambler-2014.jpg
On the positive side, Wahlberg has rarely been better, giving us a brilliant man being intellectually crippled by his disease and he gets solid support from John Goodman and Michael Kenneth Williams as the guys he owes money to and mention must also be made of Oscar winner Jessica Lange in a flashy turn as Jim's number one enabler, his wealthy mother. An important story is attempted to be told here regarding the dangers of addiction, but the ending is pat, convenient, and underestimates this deadly disease.
3

[Optimus]

I enjoyed The Gambler. Mark Wahlberg is great.

[cricket]

I hated that movie, but really enjoyed the original.

[Gideon58]

I hated that movie, but really enjoyed the original.
Yeah, this movie really made me want to watch the original.

[cricket]

James Caan suite the role so well.

[Gideon58]

http://resizing.flixster.com/nxhDEUtlke5O0vswzZzNEZntggA=/800x1200/dkpu1ddg7pbsk.cloudfront.net/movie/11/19/04/11190435_ori.png
Sports drama, docudrama, and character study blend to startling effect in 2014's Foxcatcher, an unapologetic and gut-wrenching recounting of a story that takes so many ugly twists and turns that there's no way it could be anything but a true story.
http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/foxcatcher-channing-tatum-steve-carell.jpg
This is the story of a billionaire with mommy issues named John E. du Pont (Steve Carell) who wants a pair of 1984 Olympic gold medal winning wrestlers named Mark and David Schultz (Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo) to move onto his estate and train a wrestling team for the 1988 games in Seoul. Mark hesitantly agrees to the offer but David doesn't want to uproot his family. Not being the brightest bulb in the row, Mark doesn't really see that David is really the one du Pont wanted, but he decides to use this opportunity to step out of his brother's shadow and a lovely relationship develops between du Pont and Mark up to a point...du Pont then makes a fatalistic and logic-defying move that not only destroys his relationship with Mark but destroys the relationship between the brothers as well and the carnage goes even further.
http://drop.ndtv.com/Movies/images/reviews/big/foxcatcher.jpg
I can't recall the last time a movie stirred up a specific emotion in me the way this movie did and that emotion was pure anger. I was angered that the story allowed me to initially mistake the du Pont character for a compassionate philanthropist with a passion for the sport of wrestling who really cared about Mark and the other wrestlers, but the character, whose layers are carefully peeled away in E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman's screenplay like an onion, has a lot of personal issues and private agendas and some of them are a little unsettling. Even as we watch his relationship with Mark develop, we're never really sure what's going on there...I initially suspected that there was a sexual element to du Pont's interest, but if that had been it, Mark would not have become as disposable as he did become to du Pont eventually.

The screenplay is unapologetic as it presents three-dimensional characters who all have flaws and all do things that defy explanation or the explanation makes the viewer want to punch them in the face. Even Mark's seemingly hayseed quality begins to drain away at some point, with the help of Bennett Miller's direction, which is clearly a major asset in conveying Mark's emotional decay as a human being.
http://www.bocamag.com/site_media/uploads/December%202014/foxcatcher.jpg
Miller has also pulled three surprisingly solid performances from his leads. Steve Carell received a richly deserved Oscar nomination for his du Pont, a character who becomes less and less sympathetic as the story progresses with less and less explanation. This character progresses from a vain millionaire accustomed to throwing money at problems to something way more disturbing but Carell keeps the character properly reined in and believable. Channing Tatum proves that he is more than pecs and biceps in the performance of his career as Mark Schultz, the compassionate athlete who finds his head turned and eventually deceived by du Pont and Mark Ruffalo also scores as Mark's brother David, who initially appears not to have a price, but it turns out he does and closing a blind eye to what is going on turns out to be his downfall. There is also a brief but effective cameo by Oscar winner Vanessa Redgrave as du Pont's mother, which reveals quite a bit about what makes du Pont tick.
http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/sony/foxcatcher/images/thumbnail_19245.jpg
This film is exquisitely mounted with Oscar-worthy art-direction, set direction, cinematography, and a lush musical score. I guarantee if attention is paid, emotions will be stirred here, right up to a shocking climax that provides some sense of payoff, but it sure isn't pretty. 4

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/77/Thanks_for_Sharing_Poster.jpg
Stuart Blumberg, director and co-writer of the 2012 comedy-drama Thanks for Sharing, clearly has some personal experience with the disease of addiction as the story he gives us one of the most on-target looks at addiction that I have seen in awhile, providing believable scenarios and not always providing easy answers, a rarity for a Hollywood film on this subject.
http://assets.flicks.co.nz/images/movies/landscape/68/68331ff0427b551b68e911eebe35233b_567x210.jpg
The film introduces us to a group of characters dealing with their addiction, but this one focuses on an addiction that I haven't seen addressed before: the principal characters here are all sex addicts. Mike (Tim Robbins) has been sober forever and has a son (Patrick Fugit) who is a drug addict; Adam (Mark Ruffalo) has been sober five years and has begun a relationship with a woman (Gwyneth Paltrow) who has sworn off relationships with addicts; Neil (Joshua Gad) and Dede (Pink) are both new to recovery and hanging onto sobriety by a thread.
http://lemoviesnob.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/thanks-for-sharing-photo-01-630-thumb-630xauto-41990.jpg
Blumberg's story touches on a lot of realities about addiction primarily the fact that years of sobriety are no guarantee of continued sobriety without doing the work required, that nothing guarantees sobriety better than working with another addict and that the program requires gut-wrenching and sometimes painful honesty, not to mention that recovery only works if you're doing it for yourself and nobody else.
http://cdn.highdefdigest.com/uploads/2014/01/09/tfs1.png
Blumberg's message execution is a little-heavy-handed but extremely effective and he pulls some terrific performances from his cast, with standout work from Ruffalo, Gad, Fugit, who I haven't seen since his star-making performance in Almost Famous, and Pink, who is billed with her given name, Alecia Moore. I think the Hollywood gloss applied to the story might make consumption of what's going on a little easier, but if something that occurs in this movie helps someone out there stay sober one more day, then this movie is definitely worth checking out. 3

[Citizen Rules]

I have to ask Gideon, what did you think of Gwyneth Paltrow in Thanks for Sharing? I know you are not usually a fan of hers.

[Gideon58]

I have to ask Gideon, what did you think of Gwyneth Paltrow in Thanks for Sharing? I know you are not usually a fan of hers.
She was OK, but I think I let her character color my opinion of her performance, if the truth be told, the performance was nothing special, but I just can't be objective about her, I can't stand her. I will say that I did not allow her presence in the film to deter my enjoyment of the film.

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/82/Rush_(1991_film)_cover.jpg
Rush is a moody and confusing crime drama that attempts to tell multiple stories with varying degrees of success, but remains watchable thanks to a pair of compelling lead performances.

The 1991 film stars Jason Patric and Jennifer Jason Leigh as a pair of undercover narcotic officers assigned to bring down a Texas drug dealer (Gregg Allman) who find themselves so deep undercover that their sobriety becomes a casualty in this war that takes an eternity to reach an uncertain conclusion.
http://cdn.highdefdigest.com/uploads/2015/07/05/High-Def-Digest-Bluray-Review-Rush-Jason-Patric-Jennifer-Jason-Leigh-Sam-Elliot-3.jpg
There are elements of this story that I really didn't understand. The story has an interesting start as Patric is showing Leigh the ins and out of faking drug use but surely trained police officers have to know that at some point, in order to purchase drugs from drug dealers, that you must use the drug in front of them in order to gain a semblance of trust and drugs are still addictive, even to undercover cops. I also couldn't understand the shock registered by our heroes superior officers when they would confront the officers and find them under the influence. Are we supposed to believe that police officers think they can purchase drugs without actually using them at some point? And are we supposed to believe that these officers do not become addicted during a long term assignment? I also didn't understand how our protagonists would appear completely strung out in one scene and perfectly sober the next. Personal and professional lines continue to blur here as the two police officers actually fall in love with each other, complicating what their doing even more.
http://cineplex.media.baselineresearch.com/images/166170/166170_full.jpg
Director Lili Fini Zanuck's lack of knowledge on police procedure is made up by her understanding of the effects of drugs and pulls a pair of extraordinary performances from Patric and the always watchable Jennifer Jason Leigh. Sam Elliott and Max Perlich offer solid support as Patric and Leigh's boss and a small time dealer caught in the middle of this ugly story, a story that offers no easy answers and a payoff that takes way too long to materialize. 3

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/71/Trainspotting_ver2.jpg
About a decade before winning an Oscar for directing Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle proved his directorial chops with 1996's Trainspotting, a brassy, unapologetic, and richly imaginative look at substance abuse that treads some familiar territory but does so on foreign cinematic soul and a screenplay that takes some unsettling but realistic twists and turns.

Based on a novel by Irvine Welsh, the story begins in Edinburgh, Scotland where we meet a quintet of young men who are drowning in a sea of alcohol, sexual debauchery, and heroine abuse and how nothing else becomes important and the surprising developments when one of the guys named Renton (Ewen McGregor), attempts rehabilitation and moves to London.
https://tribzap2it.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/trainspotting-channel-4.jpg
Boyle employs some broad directorial brush strokes in bringing John Hodges' Oscar-nominated screenplay to the screen here. Few films in the last couple of decades have nailed the insanity of the disease of addiction the way this one does, almost to the point of glamorization, making heroine use seem like the only thing upon which to focus a lifestyle, but the story then reminds us that addiction has consequences and that rehabilitation is not always permanent.
https://philosophyinfilm.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/trainspotting-toilet-scene.jpg
If I had one small squabble about the screenplay, it would be small inaccuracies regarding the effects of heroine...heroine is a depressant, but in the film's most memorable scene, Renton is detoxing at home and has some hair-raising hallucinations that do sometimes occur with heroine detox but is not a primary effect of the drug. If there's anything in this movie that drives home the dangers of heroine abuse, it is this scene, which works thanks to some uncompromising directorial choices from Boyle and full investment by McGregor in what he is asked to do. It also would have been nice to see some of these guys missing a tooth here and there...heroine produces a serious craving for sweets which often rots the addicts' teeth, but all our guys appeared to have all their choppers intact.
https://uproxx.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/trainspotting_cast_.jpg?quality=80&w=650&h=365
The film requires complete attention as the characters speak with heavy Scottish brogues and employ a lot of Scottish and English slang, but the attention pays off in spades here, providing an absolutely riveting story that provides moments of whimsical and outrageous fantasy one scene and stark and stomach-churning realism the next. The movie is a traffic accident...sometimes you can't look but you can't look away either. This claustrophobic and disturbing film is not an easy watch, but I couldn't take my eye off the screen and couldn't stop talking back to it either. 4.5

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/24/DrugstoreCowboyposter.jpg/220px-DrugstoreCowboyposter.jpg
Director Gus Van Sant and his favorite leading man, Matt Dillon, attempted to tell an important story with the 1989 film Drugstore Cowboy, but what we have here is a promising story that falls apart due to a troublesome screenplay that provides too many easy fixes.

The film recounts a quartet of drug addicts (Dillon, Kelly Lynch, James LeGros, Heather Graham) who feed their drug habit by going right to the source...robbing drug stores and pharmacies, but a couple of close calls and an unexpected tragedy motivate Dillon's Bob to rehabilitate but finds the wreckage of his past catching up to him.
http://emanuellevy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/drugstore_cowboy_9_matt_dillon_kelly_lynch_gus_van_sant.jpg
Van Sant's cliche-ridden screenplay does give some insight into the dangers of drug addiction, but the messages it sends about recovery are way too simplistic to be believable. Bob is seen trying to get into a methadone program where it is revealed that he has no social security number and has felony convictions on his record, but in the next scene is observed beginning a new job as a machinist and moving into a rented room. There is no way anyone without a social security number and a record is going to be able to secure employment and a place to live that easily. On a less technical side, I just never really buy Bob's motivation to recover. It's almost as if the Bob we meet at the beginning of the movie and the Bob trying to recover are two different people. Yes, a lot of drug addicts do recover, but Bob's motivations just don't ring true. I also don't buy the cop (James Remar) trying to nail Bob at the beginning of the film is trying to help the guy at the end. And Van Sant couldn't come up with a better character name for his lead character than "Bob" ? Seriously?

Van Sant's direction is not much better than his screenplay...there are a lot of unnecessary closeups of the leading character that are unmotivated and attempts some moody symbalism keyed off Bob's superstitious nature which just slows the film down.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zJZiy6BuuLY/maxresdefault.jpg
The performances are nothing special, with the exception of a fabulous cameo from William S. Burroughs as an aging drug-addicted priest. The film does offer some effective use of New York locations, but other than that, this film is pretty much dashed hopes and good intentions. 2.5

[Gideon58]

Joseph Gordon Levitt made an eye-opening debut as a writer and director with a 2013 film called Don Jon, a straightforward but entertaining look at some prickly subject matter.
http://www.fatmovieguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Don-Jon-Movie-Poster.jpg
Levitt has cast himself as an Italian stud from Brooklyn named Jon who is very happy with every aspect of his life, his job, his weekend bar cruising with his posse, Sunday dinner with his family, going to church and being addicted to porn. His addiction ends up affecting his relationships with two very different women (Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore).
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1028083/original.jpg
I have to confess that as I was watching this film, I was not aware that Levitt wrote and directed the film but after finding that out, I have to wonder if this film has an autobiographical slant, but in the grand scheme of things, it really is irrelevant. Joseph Gordon Levitt has given us an in your face look at a delicate subject centered on a character who was really hard to dislike. Yes, the character likes to watch porn, but what is refreshing here in a film about addiction is that the character is perfectly honest about it and offers an acceptable reason for the addiction. We are even privy to the character having actual sex with a woman and then getting out of bed and going straight to his computer. It was also a little disturbing that Jon felt there was nothing wrong with what he was doing as long as he was honest about it in confession every Sunday. Levitt's screenplay smartly establishes the character's illness by having the character used the phrase most uttered by most addicts at some point: "I can stop anytime I want to."
http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/still/don-jon-image07.jpg
The screenplay does feature some objectifying of women that I haven't seen onscreen in a while in this PC age...one of Jon's buddies, played by Jeremy Luke, gets a girl's phone number at a club and enters her in his phone as "ponytail", but it's a minor quibble that did not affect my investment in the proceedings.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zSjokRqruZM/maxresdefault.jpg
Joseph Gordon Levitt, in addition to providing a surprisingly rich screenplay and imaginative direction, gives my favorite performance of his that I've seen and the time he spent in the gym preparing to get in front of the camera paid off, he has never looked better. Johansson invests in what is a pretty unlikable character and Moore is deliciously human and riveting, as always. There's also a fun supporting turn from Tony Danza as Jon's foul-mouthed father...I have to admit that it was fun watching Danza, primarily known as a warm TV dad, dropping F bombs all over the place. The film manages to entertain as well as send the right message about addiction and recovery. 3.5

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/74/Kids_are_all_right_poster.jpg/220px-Kids_are_all_right_poster.jpg
The Kids are All Right is an offbeat yet consistently entertaining comedy-drama regarding family dysfunction featuring a very different kind of family.
http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/still/the_kids_are_all_right06.jpg
This 2010 film recounts the story of half siblings Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutcherson) who are being raised by their lesbian moms, Nic and Jules (Annette Bening, Julianne Moore) who decide they want to meet the sperm donor named Paul (Mark Ruffalo) who made their birth possible and how this decision turns the hanging-on-by-a- string to normalcy family completely upside down.
https://lizzbryce.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/the_kids_are_all_right04.jpg
This film definitely scores points in terms of originality...we've seen lesbians onscreen before but they've rarely been soccer mom types raising children, something I found refreshing and attracted me to the story from jump and it was the obvious love these women had for each other that put me in this family's corner and made me hope that bringing Paul into their lives would only make their family richer, but a couple of surprising storyline moves derailed that hope.
http://focusfeaturesmedia.com/uploads/image/mediafile/1273086629-76884b53398186766c89a396f7c5a39c/x950.jpg
The screenplay by director Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg (Thanks for Sharing ) is a little talky, but the talk is all smart and the characters are all three dimensional and deliciously human...every character in this movie makes a wrong move at some point but at no point do any of these characters become unlikable and, as a viewer, all we want is for the mess their lives have become to be cleaned up so they can ride off into the sunset together.
http://www.nycfilmcritic.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/the-kids-are-all-right-trailer.jpg
The performances are terrific...Annette Bening received an Oscar nomination for her controlled and captivating Nic and Moore matches her note for note as the hot mess love of her life. Mark Ruffalo brings a goofy and sexy charm to Paul that is absolutely irresistible and earned him a nomination as well. Wasikowska and Hutcherson make all their screen time count as the ones who put this whole story in motion. Throw in an offbeat song score and some lovely cinematography and you have an endearing family comedy-drama that, despite some slow spots here and there, didn't provide a lot of belly laughs but had me consistently smiling. 3.5

[Gideon58]

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81W3r5NfBvL._SY445_.jpg
Director and writer Richard Linklater's 2014 drama Boyhood is one of the most ambitious and unique cinematic undertakings I have seen in a long time...this time capsule of one family over a 12 year period is unique because Linklater chose to film the movie over an actual 12-year period, allowing us to see the boy of the title literally grow up before our eyes, at the center of snapshots from significant points in his life; unfortunately, this unique idea does not sustain interest for a film of this size and length.
http://www.joblo.com/big-movie-images/boyhood-ellar-coltrane.jpg
The film starts off interestingly enough: We meet Mason (Ellar Coltrane) a six year old kid who, along with elder sister Samantha (Lorelai Linklater) watch his mom (Patricia Arquette) and dad (Ethan Hawke) split up, watch his mother return to school and fall for one of her professors (Marco Perella), who turns out to be an abusive alcoholic and eventually carves out a life for herself as a college professor and continuing to smother her children. We watch Mason and Samantha bewildered by some of their mother's choices but still trying to survive the constant moving from place to place as the mistakes the mother cause the children's lives to be uprooted more than once and we get to see Mason's teen angst in direct contrast with the unconditional love he has for his mother, which is in direct conflict with the independent life Mason tries to establish for himself as he graduates from high school and begins college.
http://static.tumblr.com/j5j3t5u/Vxina65x1/boyhood_still06.jpg
Linklater had a really wonderful idea here, but it gets away from him. I initially didn't understand the title of the film because the film starts off focusing on the mother and her poor taste in men but eventually it does come into focus as Mason's story, but I like that the mother and father remain pertinent parts of the story. Usually in stories like this, the biological father's role in the story fades as the story progresses, but bio dad remains a vital part of the story and is even allowed to become a better person as the story progresses and the love of his children is never in question. I also loved the flawed but vividly realistic characters that the mom and dad are, parents who do the best they can, admit when they are wrong, and most importantly, admit when they just don't know.
http://www.themovieguys.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Boyhood_3.jpg
Sadly, Linklater's screenplay is long and rambling and takes some odd and unmotivated snapshots of Mason's life...there's a scene of Mason being bullied in a high school bathroom that comes from nowhere and has nothing to do with the rest of the story and watching the boy receive a shotgun as a 15th birthday present was just disturbing, but it all went on too long.

Linklater's direction is better than his screenplay and he pulls some first rate performances from his cast, especially Patricia Arquette who won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her mom, Hawke as the well intentioned dad, and a bone-chilling turn by Perella as mom's second husband. This was a terrific idea but I have to admit that about 90 minutes in, I was checking my watch and I was barely halfway through the movie. 3.5

[gbgoodies]

I agree with your review of Boyhood, but your words don't seem to match with your rating of 7/10. :confused:

[Gideon58]

I agree with your review of Boyhood, but your words don't seem to match with your rating of 7/10. :confused:
I think the words go with the rating OK...if this film had sustained interest the way it was intended, I would have given it a 9/10, but it did not. I think there's enough right here to earn it a 7.

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7d/Descendants_film_poster.jpg
The creative force behind Election, Sideways, and About Schmidt scores another bullseye with an imaginative and, at times, deeply moving comedy-drama called The Descendants, a riveting story with an attractive backdrop that takes some surprising twists and turns, which we've come to expect from the gifted director and writer Alexander Payne.
https://static-secure.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Film/Pix/pictures/2012/1/26/1327590830133/The-Descendants-007.jpg
Matt King (George Clooney) is a wealthy Hawaiian land baron who finds his life thrown into a tailspin when his wife slips into a coma after a boating accident. Matt is then forced to become the primary caregiver for his two daughters, virgin territory for him, as well as dealing with the revelation that his wife was unfaithful to him.
http://cloud.honolulupulse.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/the-descendants-movie.jpg
As always, Alexander Payne has found a way to take a subject that on the surface should be fairly painful and maudlin and find unexpected humor that catches the viewer by surprise. We find ourselves laughing during situations that we normally wouldn't associate with humor. We're OK with it though because the screenplay by Payne and Nat Faxon blends the smile and tear so effectively that it won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
http://static2.hypable.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/20111116-descendants.jpg
The film also works due to the offbeat casting of Clooney, also in virgin territory as an actor...Clooney instead of playing the womanizing stud is playing the bewildered husband and father who is often clueless about the choppy waters that being a father require him to negotiate, so clueless that at one point he even seeks the advice of his older daughter's dim-witted boyfriend (Nick Krause). Clooney makes a smooth transition into this kind of character, delivering a performance of warmth and depth that earned him an Oscar nomination as well. He gets solid support from Shailene Woodley as his eldest daughter, Beau Bridges as a well-intention relative and Robert Forster as his father-in-law. Some lovely island-influenced music and some beautiful location photography are the final touches on this warm and richly human comedy drama that documents Alexander Payne as a movie maker to be reckoned with. 4

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7b/Arlington_Road_film.jpg/220px-Arlington_Road_film.jpg
There is an old expression, "Let sleeping dogs lie", which seems to be the primary message being delivered in 1999's Arlington Road, an engrossing and disturbing psychological thriller/character study that delivers the goods for the most part; unfortunately, the story never delivers the payoff expected.
http://horrornews.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Arlington-road-1999-movie-8.jpg
The film stars Jeff Bridges as Michael Farraday, a widowed college professor who teaches a class in terrorism and whose wife was an FBI agent killed in the line of duty. A couple of minor coincidences lead Michael to suspect that a neighbor across the street named Oliver Lang (Tim Robbins) is not who he says he is. His background in terrorism and conspiracy theories motivates Michael into an investigation that puts himself and everyone he loves in terrible danger.
http://www.sonymoviechannel.com/sites/default/files/movies/images/arlingtonroad_980x350.jpg
Ehren Kruger's intricate, Oscar-worthy screenplay is a jigsaw puzzle of a mystery and the initial fascination of the story is watching the central character figure out who his neighbor really is. There is no unnecessary exposition provided...everything that appears on the screen becomes pertinent to the story at some point, even though it's never clear when certain story points are going to become important, every single one does. I love the scenes of Michael trying to figure out who Oliver really is, they're something akin to the scenes of Redford and Hoffman putting the Watergate scandal together in All the President's Men...our central character is smart and wonderfully human and the through line of his character is always clear and central in Bridges' interpretation of the character...this guy was deeply in love with his wife and continues to process how she died and that, along with the need to protect his family, discovers a conspiracy that goes even deeper than he ever imagined.
https://johnlinkmovies.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/mga-arlington_22.jpg
Director Mark Pellington has mounted a first rate action thriller here that had me literally jumping out of my chair one scene and wiping tears from my eyes the next. Pellington also pulls two superb performances from Bridges and Robbins...Robbins' baby face was a brilliant juxtaposition to the character he plays and the results are, at times, genuinely frightening. This film is completely engrossing until the denoument, where the payoff that we have been waiting for never comes and that pissed me off. Up until then, it's a helluva ride and first rate film entertainment. 3.5

[Gideon58]

Bigger isn't always better which Adam Sandler found out with his elaborate 2008 comedy called Bedtime Stories, a comedy that tries to substitute spectacle for a viable story.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/43/Bedtime_stories.jpg/220px-Bedtime_stories.jpg
Sandler plays a hotel handyman named Skeeter Bronson who agrees to babysit for his niece and nephew for a week and entertains the kids with outrageous bedtime stories that he makes up and allows the kids to contribute to and, oddly enough, the day after he tells the story, the story comes true in some form or another. At the same time, Skeeter has been put in competition with an ass-kisser (Guy Pearce) for management of the hotel, a hotel which was originally owned by Skeeter's dad, but now belongs to a wealthy germaphobe (Richard Griffiths).
http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/23841/21856787_5.jpg?v=8D2370A1492D8F0
Sandler and director Adam Shankman have poured a lot of money into this movie...the bedtime stories presented here are elaborately mounted with stunning period-appropriate sets and costumes and some state of the arts special effects, but the stories lavished on these glamorous canvases that are presented here just aren't as interesting as the story of this uncle trying to connect to his niece and nephew or a guy trying to regain his birthright. The spectacular bedtime stores, which are intended to be the hook that allegedly make this movie so special, are exactly the parts of the movie that just don't work, making their real life recreations come off as pat and contrived.
https://golodomorcmert.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/hfep7g1c.jpg?w=687
On the plus side, Sandler has always had a gift for some off-beat casting and he really scores here with Pearce and Griffiths, both showing some unforeseen comic timing here as well as Lucy Lawless playing a snooty concierge. Unfortunately, Sandler wasn't as lucky with his leading lady. He has no chemistry with Keri Russell who also possesses no gift for comedy...Sandler had more chemistry with Courtney Cox, who played his sister. This was an interesting idea that just got away from the creative team involved here...for hardcore Sandler films only. 2.5

[gbgoodies]

Bedtime Stories is my favorite Adam Sandler movie, but your rating is pretty much right on the money, which tells you what I think of his movies in general. This movie is basically just the best of the worst. :shrug:

[Gideon58]

I've always liked Adam Sandler, but his movies are always a gamble...I'll love one and hate the next, kind of like Spike Lee, but I never give up on him.

[Gideon58]

http://images.redbox.com/Images/EPC/Kiosk/8003.jpg
Ted 2 is the overblown 2015 sequel to Seth MacFarlane's 2012 surprise hit about the friendship between a guy named John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) and his Teddy Bear (voiced by MacFarlane) who John brought to life by a childhood wish. Like most comedy sequels, this movie is steeped in nothing resembling realism while simultaneously addressing issues that should have been addressed in the first film. And like most sequels, it goes on forever.
http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/news/ted-2-has-star-wars-the-force-awakens-like-opening.jpg
The film opens at Ted's wedding to a beautiful dumb blonde (Jessica Barth) and a year later, while planning to adopt a child, Ted learns that he is about to be stripped of all of his rights, his job, and his marriage because, in the eyes of the law, he is not a person, he is property so Ted and John hire a first year attorney (Amanda Seyfried) to prove that Ted is a person and not property.
http://blogs-images.forbes.com/scottmendelson/files/2015/06/ted-2-movie-photos.jpg
This whole premise for the sequel is beyond silly because all of this should have been addressed in the first film. In the first film, we learned that Ted's fame had elevated to the point that he actually made an appearance on The Tonight Show and in this film we watch Ted get married, move into an apartment, work at a grocery store for almost three years and NOW people are questioning whether or not he is a person or property? Why wasn't anyone questioning any of this when he was on The Tonight Show or when he was driving John to work under the influence of marijuana? More importantly, why should we care? A question that is effectively addressed when our heroes decide to bring their case to a high-powered New York attorney (Morgan Freeman in a classy cameo), who initially turns down the case and his reasoning also addresses the legitimacy of this sequel, or the lack thereof.
http://cdn3-www.comingsoon.net/assets/uploads/gallery/ted-2/04.jpg
The film opens with a stunning Busby Berkely-styled musical number during the opening credits, beautifully choreographed by Rob Ashford; however, it has little or nothing to do with the silliness that follows. There was one very funny scene with Ted and John watching a rerun of Law & Order while Ted put lyrics to the theme song and another scene where John and Ted go to an improv club and yell inappropriate suggestions to the players onstage. Both of these scenes had me on the floor but really had nothing to do with the rest of the movie and could have been inserted into just about any movie or, even more appropriately, any episode of Family Guy. The paper-thin premise of the first film is stretched even thinner here and a little over halfway through the film, I started looking at my watch and checking how much running time remained. 2

[Gideon58]

A pair of strong performances from two of the best actresses in the business make the 1995 drama Georgia worth checking out.
http://static.rogerebert.com/uploads/movie/movie_poster/georgia-1996/large_769jtCKrsCNEQc92ua0lPuPONcQ.jpg
Jennifer Jason Leigh plays Sadie Flood, a woman who wants more than anything to be a music star like her sister, Georgia (Mare Winningham). Sadie not only wants to be a music star but also wants her sister's approval more than anything, even if she might be in denial about it. Unfortunately, Sadie has a problem with drugs and alcohol that have been a barrier in pursuit of the career that she wants as well as the relationship with her sister that she so desperately craves. Sadly, the people who care the most about Sadie, including Georgia, enable her and do nothing to help her face her problem. There is also another kind of enabling going on here because there's something else that no one seems to be able to say to Sadie: she has no talent.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3RLPHNi_2-A/maxresdefault.jpg
I think this is where the basis of a lot of Sadie's pain lies. She continues to pursue a career that she will never be successful at but no one in her life has the guts to tell her this. While watching, I got the feeling that if someone would have just told Sadie she can't sing, dealing with the reality of that might also force her to deal with her addiction issues, but no one tells Sadie this until the final act and by that time, Sadie is in such denial that she doesn't believe it. Sadie does eventually face her addiction, but refuses to believe she has no talent and even though she gets clean, the character doesn't really change and the payoff this story should provide never comes.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/J0IXJNE0FXI/maxresdefault.jpg
It is sad watching the conflict between these two sisters and how there just seems to be no salvaging this relationship because neither of them seem to be able to be honest with each other. Georgia really seems to want what's best for her sister but is incapable of giving her sister what she really needs...honesty. And because of Georgia's inability to be honest with her sister, she finds herself constantly embarrassed by Sadie and suffering in silence.

The screenplay, which was written by Leigh's mother, Barbara Turner, seems to have been designed with one thing in mind: to win Jennifer Jason Leigh an Oscar...this is a showy, Oscar-bait kind of role and Leigh gives a brave and bold performance that rivets the viewer to the screen. Nobody plays doped up and burnt out better than Jennifer Jason Leigh. Ironically, it is Mare Winningham's beautifully controlled inner torment as Georgia that earned her an Oscar nomination. Mention should also be made of Ted Levine as Georgia's husband, Max Perlich as Sadie's husband, and John C. Reilly as the drugged out drummer.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EnGXNEEHPG8/maxresdefault.jpg
This movie is a powerful look at family bonding, the power of addiction, the danger of enabling, but I couldn't help but feel a little let down when after everything she goes through, we see Sadie get back in front of that microphone because you just know it's a mistake, but the performances of Leigh and Winningham make it worth your time. 3

[Optimus]

I hated Ted 2. I thought the first movie was pretty funny, but the sequel sucked.

[Gideon58]

http://shsroundtable.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/DaddysHome_UK-Quad-v2.jpg
Five years after the disastrous The Other Guys, Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg reunited for Daddy's Home, a somewhat entertaining family comedy that delivers sporadic laughs despite some troubling messages the story sends.

Ferrell plays Brad Whitaker, a radio station executive whose primary mission in life is to get his two stepchildren to stop treating him like dirt. Just when Brad begins to make headway with the kids, their biological father, Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) shows up on their doorstep, determined to win his kids and ex-wife (Linda Cardellini) back.
http://images.fandango.com/images/fandangoblog/daddys-holiday-home-900%20.jpg
The stepdad vs bio dad story is nothing new and the movie pretty much plays like an extended episode of a sitcom but the situation gets a little out of hand here, when Dusty actually gets a job at Brad's office making more money than Brad and becomes BFF's with Brad's boss (Thomas Haden Church). Meanwhile, at home, Brad and Dusty begin badmouthing each other to the kids, via bedtime stories they tell the kids and, for some reason, Mom just sits idly by and watches it all happen.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/arhMMJx7tCU/maxresdefault.jpg
The movie establishes its comic credentials by having Ferrell play straight man, allowing Wahlberg to play one of the most oily characters he has ever created, you can practically see the grease sliding off of this guy, but the story allows him to get away with way too much and the story sends some very disturbing messages, the primary one being that it is OK to try and buy your children's love. I also found it troubling that Mom wasn't more supportive of Brad...there is a scene where Brad comes home to find Dusty and the family snuggled on the sofa looking at home movies that was alternately heartbreaking and maddening because the Mom shouldn't have let it go this far.
http://cdn03.cdn.justjared.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/wahlberg-bares/mark-wahlberg-bares-his-buff-body-in-daddys-home-trailer-04.jpg
The film has its problems, but the screenplay by Sean Anders and Brian Burns has flashes of intelligence; I just wish it had been a little more behind the central character played by Ferrell, who is so likable and doesn't deserve anything that happens to him here. There is a payoff at the end that makes the rest of this worth sitting through, but it's a long wait to get there. 3

[Gideon58]

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/51b3dc8ee4b051b96ceb10de/t/51d8514ce4b01c133f361a67/1373131087250/the-way-way-back-poster.jpg
The Way Way Back is a new millenium variation on the teen angst comedies that John Hughes and Chris Columbus popularized during the 1980's but not nearly as effective due to some uneven writing and a really unappealing central character.
http://www.openlettersmonthly.com/hammerandthump/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/way_way_back.jpg
The 2013 film centers around a 14 year old boy named Duncan who travels to the Hamptons for the summer with his mother, her new boyfriend, and his daughter, where the only connection the kid seems to be able to make is with a funny and charming employee at a local water park.
https://calliegarp.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/the-way-way-back-film-film-reviews21.jpg
The movie is a nice idea; however, we are saddled with a really unappealing central character here...Duncan is moody and sullen and never smiles. A pretty young neighbor gives him all kinds of attention that he ignores and why this water park employee becomes enamored with him is a mystery as well. It doesn't help that , with the exception of the water park employee, all the adults in the film are written as evil monsters or complete morons, I guess in an attempt to elicit sympathy for Duncan, but it just doesn't work.
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1388338.1372789730!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_970/sumemr-movie-preview-2013.jpg
Director and co-writer Nax Faxon (who also has a small role in the film) does manage to populate the film with some good actors including Steve Carell as the boyfriend and the always watchable Toni Collette as Duncan's mother, but it is Sam Rockwell whose slick and charismatic turn as Owen, the water park employee that is actually the only thing in this movie that really works and is worth your time. 3

[Gideon58]

https://ronekysdc.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/h31.jpg
The Wolf Pack returns for a third and, hopefully, final installment of their ridiculous adventures in 2013's The Hangover Part III, a contrived and ridiculous adventure that reunites our gang in a story that defies logic and is centered around one of the most annoying characters in the franchise.
http://www.lassothemovies.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/The-Hangover-Part-III-20131.jpg
Phil, Doug, and Stu are taking Alan to a mental facility, who has flipped out since the death of his dad (Jeffrey Tambor) and are assaulted by a crime lord (John Goodman) who enlists their help in locating the bisexual, cocaine-sniffing moron from the second film, Mr. Chow, who has apparently stolen a large cache of gold from said crime lord, who has taken Doug as a hostage until he gets his gold back.
http://www.entertainmentordie.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ho34.jpg
Needless to say, this film is definitely a case of going to the well once too often and writer-director Todd Phillips has the sense to let this hot mess of a film be the death of this franchise because nothing here really worked for me. The primary problem with this story is that it is centered around Mr. Chow, one of the most annoying characters in the history of cinema, played by one of the worst actors in the business (Ken Jeong). A little of this guy goes a long way and we have to accept a lot here...the film opens with this guy actually escaping from a prison in Bangkok and being set-up as this criminal mastermind who not only somehow took this guy's gold, but tricked our heroes into helping him steal more gold from the guy. There's just no way that this ridiculous character could control and manipulate as many lives as he does in this movie.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/05/24/article-0-19F9D108000005DC-179_636x406.jpg
Even the actors look embarrassed to be involved in this debacle. Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifiankis, and Justin Bartha are basically phoning it in here, taking a backseat to the ridiculous Ken Jeong and justifiably pissed off about it. Goodman is wasted and so is a lot of expensive on-location filming, including a return to the scene of the original bachelor party, Las Vegas, which I guess was intended to bring the franchise full circle, but by the time we get there, we just don't care. 1.5

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/Better_Living_Through_Chemistry_poster.jpg
An effectively controlled but still deliciously entertaining performance from the always watchable Sam Rockwell is the centerpiece of a surprising little black comedy called Better Living Through Chemistry an on-target skewering of a lot of the insanity that is going on behind the white picket fences and manicured lawns of suburbia, that displays flashes of brilliance.
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/uploads/jb/Sam_Rockwell_and_extra_in_Better_Living_Through_Chemistry.jpg
Rockwell plays Doug Varney, a small town pharmacist married to an emasculating wife and father to a son who hates him, who discovers his inner happy and inner sexy when he begins an affair with a wealthy trophy wife (Olivia Wilde), whose reckless disregard about Doug's work, his marriage, and her marriage, find Doug putting his business at risk and contemplating murder.
http://www.asset1.net/tv/pictures/movie/better-living-through-chemistry-2014/Better-Living-Through-Chemistry-DI.jpg
Co-screenwriters and co-directors Geoff Moore and David Posamentier have a mounted a bizarre story on a rather standard canvas that takes a lot of delightful and unexpected twists and turns and characters who aren't what are expected at all. I've seen several films recently where I felt the central character(s) gets away with a lot more than he should before the credits roll. This film is no exception to that, except that with this film, we forgive because we fall in love with Doug Varney the second he appears onscreen and immediately sense how unhappy this guy is and we want to see him happy. We do see a positive change in the character in Doug that also manifests some ugly behavior that gets Doug in a lot of hot water, but the screenplay allows him to escape from close call to another.
https://cbscw69.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/bltc8.jpg
With the aid of solid screenplay and direction, Sam Rockwell creates a warm and vulnerable character who evokes immediate sympathy and keeps us smiling until the closing credits. Olivia Wilde is a scorching femme fatale and Michelle Monaghan also has her moments as Doug's wife. There's also a charming cameo from Ray Liotta as Wilde's husband, one of those characters I mentioned who turns out to be nothing like we expect.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Q_S4MQ_e2Cc/maxresdefault.jpg
I don't know why exactly, but I did find Oscar winner Jane Fonda a troubling choice as the offscreen narrator, maybe because I've never heard her narrate a film before. As she spoke, I kept hearing Robert Downey Jr.'s voice in my head instead, but it's a minor quibble in an offbeat black comedy that entertains, confuses, surprises, and manipulates the viewer from frame to frame. And I LOVE the title. 3.5

[Gideon58]

ELMER GANTRY
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/82/Elmer_Gantry_poster.jpg/220px-Elmer_Gantry_poster.jpg
An Oscar nominee for Best Picture of 1960, Elmer Gantry is a riveting character study wrapped inside a sprawling and dramatic epic that tackles some very prickly subject matter like the validity of organized religion, religion for profit and how the lines can so quickly blur, the concept of religion as circus side show, and watching crowd sensibility turn to mob sensibility and back again.
http://www.screeninsults.com/images/elmer-gantry2.jpg
Burt Lancaster plays the title role, a fast-talking, hard-drinking, womanizing traveling salesman whose skeletal acquaintance with the bible allows him to attract the attention of Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons) a traveling Evangelist whose outer conviction regarding spreading the word doesn't always have the pure intentions that she implies. Gantry uses his abilities as a salesman to hypnotize Sister Sharon and become part of her travelling sideshow, to the point where Gantry starts to believe his own press, constantly monitored by a cynical reporter (Arthur Kennedy). Gantry and Sharon find their profitable venture crashing down around them when his past catches up with them in the form of a prostitute from Gantry's past named Lulu Bains (Shirley Jones).
http://www.oscarchamps.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/1960-Elmer-Gantry-04.jpg
Director Richard Brooks adapted this sometimes uncompromising drama from a novel by Sinclair Lewis, producing a screenplay that asks a lot of uncomfortable question and provides no easy answers , especially regarding the often blurred lines between religion and finance and the validity of evangelism as opposed to true theology through ordination from an accredited university. I love the fact that this film addresses all of these questions, providing both sides without really taking sides. Though the story is a little on the melodramatic side, it features some three dimensional characters who are all revealed to be flawed and not what they appear on the surface.
https://entrepreneuryou.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/11939226_gal.jpg
Lancaster got the role of a lifetime here and won the Oscar for Outstanding Lead Actor (though, personally, I think he has done better work) and works well with Simmons, who is basically playing a non-musical version of the role she played five years earlier in Guys and Dolls. Shirley Jones surprised a lot of people with her eye-opening turn as prostitute Lulu Bains, a performance that won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. I'm not sure if the performance was Oscar worthy or that people were just so shocked to see Jones playing a prostitute that they gave her an Oscar for being cast against type and not being blown off the screen. Also loved Kennedy as the cynical reporter and Dean Jagger as Sister Sharon's guiding force. It's a bit on the melodramatic side but for 1960, this was some powerful stuff that still holds up surprisingly well. 4

[Gideon58]

http://www.thefashionisto.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/My-Own-Private-Idaho-Movie-Poster.jpg
The offbeat directorial style of Gus Van Sant is perfectly suited for My Own Private Idaho, a somber but riveting story centered around a not-so user friendly topic in movies: male prostitution.
http://www.larsenonfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/my-own-private-idaho-review.jpg
This 1991 indie drama focuses on the friendship between a pair of street hustlers. Mike (the late River Phoenix) is a quiet gay hustler who suffers from narcolepsy and is secretly in love with Scott (Keanu Reeves). Scott is the spoiled and pampered son of a millionaire convinced that he will get the keys to the kingdom when his father dies. Scott is allegedly heterosexual but makes money and pisses off his father by having sex with men. Mike and Scott's story is framed around an entire group of male prostitutes who inhabit a deserted hotel and are led by an aging and overweight Fagin-like character named Bob Pigeon, who is also looking forward to Scott's future windfall.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/tribeca_cms_production/uploads/image/gallery_image/5318e037b57ce9e315000003/Private_Idaho.jpg
Van Sant establishes his dramatic credentials here immediately by setting this story somewhere other than Manhattan, where one would assume the setting would be, making it a little more difficult to pretend that male prostitution is a "New York thing." Several myths regarding male prostitution are blown here, primarily the one that men who have sex with other men for money are not all gay and that male prostitution involves sex with both sexes, established in Scott's relationship with a wealthy lady (Grace Zabriskie). The film also features little vignettes where young men share tales of their paid sexual exploits almost in the form of a documentary that are frightening in their frankness and believabilty.
http://gay-themed-films.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/289981_full.jpg
The story is also made squirm worthy by making Mike narcoleptic...the thought of the kind of danger he could get in not being able to control sudden fits of deep sleep and waking up unable to remember when he passed out and what happened to him when he passed out was really unsettling to watch and his calm demeanor about it. Van Sant also makes his accustomed trips into offbeat fantasy and symbolism, beautifully realized by a scene in a gay bookstore where the models on the magazine covers come to life.
http://www.softrevolutionzine.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/phpbrKk20AM.jpg
River Phoenix is solid as Mike, but in my opinion, Keanu Reeves walks off with this movie as Scott, the spoiled neglected diva who is as confused about his sexuality as he is about the neglect of his father and the hero worship of Mike. It is the imaginative direction of Gus Van Sant, the two star-making performances by the stars, and the indie budget that make this work because I've always found that lower budget films allow the story to take center stage and it definitely works here. 3.5

[Gideon58]

CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND
http://sites.psu.edu/adc5370/wp-content/uploads/sites/8760/2014/04/confessions_of_a_dangerous_mind_xlg.jpg
Stylish direction by George Clooney and a charismatic lead performance are the primary selling points for 2002's Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, black comedy, disguised as biopic, wrapped around a docudrama that completely defies logic but never fails to entertain.
http://images3.cinema.de/imedia/7544/2307544,1ebr0NNurHg7pyGaqTGvKFi1mYu8tK50F3X2zZsiWwC5vlLma+InCuf+WGyZGONpFG54BcGDKzs2m9EcdXUIwQ==.jpg
This is the story of producer Chuck Barris, the producer responsible for the 60's game shows The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game, and actually stepped in front of the camera as host of The Gong Show, who, according to this, walked out of the TV studio one day and was approached by an operative from the CIA to be a trained assassin for them.
http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/movie/confessions_dangerous_mind/12.jpeg
Charlie Kaufman's screenplay, adapted from a book by Barris follows Barris from his days as a horny teenager who becomes a page at NBC through his approach by the CIA, his assassin training and the eventual double life that Barris was allegedly leading, but herein is where the problem lies...stories about people who lead double lives are nothing new, but the problem here is that there is always someone in the person's life who is aware of the double life...Jonathan and Martha Kent knew that their adopted son was Superman, Alfred Pennyworth knew that Bruce Wayne was Batman, but according to this film, absolutely NO one knew what Barris was doing.
http://i1.wp.com/bitcast-a-sm.bitgravity.com/slashfilm/wp/wp-content/images/confessions-700x300.jpg?resize=700%2C300
The film features interviews with people from Barris' TV life, including Dick Clark, Jaye P. Morgan, Dating Game host Jim Lange, and Gong Show regular The Unknown Comic that offer little insight into this so-called double life that Barris was leading. Lange reveals that they were told sometimes that he was out of town for a week or two, but were never offered any other information. Now if what this film is perpetrating is true, then these interviews are pretty much pointless and these people would not have agreed to appear onscreen. I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that there's no way Chuck Barris could have done what he is shown doing in this movie without anyone knowing about it. I also believe in order to sell this, we would have needed an interview from the other side of Barris' life...someone from the CIA, but of course, they aren't talking, which leads me to believe that everything presented in this film is a product of the demented mind of Barris and if this is true, then I seriously hope this man is seeking the mental health assistance that he clearly needs.
https://morganrlewis.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/coadm-435.jpg
With all this said, I also can't remember the last time I was so completely entertained by such an outrageous story that made no sense but was absolutely fascinating to watch. Clooney employs some imaginative camerawork and also plays the CIA operative who approached Barris. Sam Rockwell lights up the screen in an Oscar-worthy turn in the starring role, a performance that commands the screen and viewer attention. Julia Roberts also seems to be enjoying herself as a contemporary Mata Hari and there are cameos from by Clooney's pals Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. The film features solid attention to period detail and beautiful cinematography, but it loses points for trying to make us think that what is going on here actually happened without any solid documentation of such. There is a scene near the end of the movie where Barris confesses what he's doing to his dim-witted girlfriend played by Drew Barrymore and her reaction pretty much sums up my feelings about this movie. As fictional entertainment, it's a helluva ride. 3.5

[honeykid]

I love this film because it is just unadulterated fun. And Drew. Obviously. That's the reason I knew it was being made in the first place... And the reason I saw it.... And one of the reasons it's on my 100. But, mostly, it's just a damn good time.

[Citizen Rules]

Never heard of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and it wouldn't be on my radar either. But...the photos of the Gong Show set that you used caught my attention. So I just added this to my watch list. It looks kinda of fun:p

[honeykid]

The Gong Show was shown over here in the 80's when a new channel (Channel 4) started. I loved it. I knew Simon Cowell would **** it up with the ... Got Talent franchise. :mad:

[Gideon58]

THE HOURS
https://thesouloftheplot.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/poster_thehours.jpg
Suicide is one of my least favorite topics, whether it be as part of a conversation or a way of dealing with a problem or the subject of a movie. I have always been of the belief that suicide is a selfish act of cowardice that doesn't solve anything and destroys the people who loved the victim. The effects of suicide as a concept and a reality are thoughtfully approached in 2002's The Hours, a slightly pretentious but compelling melodrama that melds three separate stories in a lethargic fashion, perhaps a bit too lethargic, but is watchable despite a thready screenplay that leaves a lot unexplained but crisp direction and a first rate cast will hold your attention.
https://static-secure.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Admin/BkFill/Default_image_group/2011/6/2/1307027186479/Jack-Rovello-and-Julianne-007.jpg
The film begins with a look at the troubled author Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) and her journey to writing the novel Mrs. Dalloway. We are then introduced to a 1950's housewife (Julianne Moore), pregnant with her second child, who is fascinated by the novel and, in 2002, a gay writer dying of aids (Ed Harris) and his best friend (Meryl Streep) who he refers to as Mrs. Dalloway and though it takes a minute, a connection other than Woolf's book does come into focus.
http://www.tasteofcinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/The-Hours.jpg
This film makes no qualms about the unhappiness of the characters and how they view suicide as the only option to relieve them of their misery...the film opens with Woolf attempting suicide before she even completes the novel that triggers this entire tale, but I think what bothered me about this film is that it is never really made clear why Woolf and Moore's character are so desperately unhappy. It's especially confusing with Moore's character...this woman seems to have everything a loving husband, a beautiful home, a child who adores her and another on the way but somehow you can see it coming from miles away that the woman is planning to kill herself. Confusion about her sexuality is hinted at but not fully explored. I was also troubled by the fact that when Moore takes her son to a sitter before executing her plan, there is a sense that her son knows exactly what she's planning to do and I had a hard time buying that.
http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/movie/hours/08.jpeg
The writer's motivations for wanting to end it are obvious, but this story is made watchable due to Streep's complete investment in the role of a woman who is still in denial about possibly being in love with this man at one time, even though she is lesbian herself and how her feelings seem to flood back with the return of her friend's ex-lover (Jeff Daniels).
http://www.sbs.com.au/movies/sites/sbs.com.au.film/files/styles/full/public/the_hours_704_3.jpg?itok=Z-phf7x0&mtime=1419296499
Despite some unexplained character motivations, the film remains watchable due to Daldry's detailed direction and some first rate performances...Streep is marvelous, as always, and Nicole Kidman won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance, though I think she has done better work and Ed Harris amazes in a performance that earned him a nomination as did Moore's work as the unhappy 50's housewife. I wish some of the story holes had been filled better, but it's still worth watching for the performances alone. 3.5

[Gideon58]

THINK LIKE A MAN
Think Like a Man is a glossy, but empty look at the New Millenium Battle of the Sexes where the primary weapon in the battle is a self-help book.
https://dmoviereview.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/think-like-a-man.jpg
This 2012 romantic comedy looks at four very different relationships in four different stages: a commitment phobe (a newly slim Jerry Ferrera) is working hard to avoid proposing marriage to his girlfriend (Gabrielle Union); an unemployed prep cook (Michael Ealy) finds himself involved with a high-powered lady exec (Taraji P. Henson) who doesn't acknowledge men who make less than six figures and a guy (Terence Jenkins) a little too attached to his mother (Jenifer Lewis) wants a relationship with a woman (Regina Hall) who has a son; a player (Romany Malco) who is only into the chase finds himself attracted to a woman (Megan Good) who wants more.
http://screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/think-like-a-man-sequel.jpg
Things become complicated for the guys when the gals all read a best selling book by Steve Harvey called "Act like a Woman, Think Like a Man" that teaches women how to get what they want out of their men. Coupled with a lot of bad advice from the guys' spiritual leader (Kevin Hart), who is going through a divorce himself, the guys make things worse when they get hold of the book and try to turn the tables on the ladies.
http://www.geekfore.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/think-.jpg
Steve Harvey actually did write this book, which was the basis of the screenplay here, which offers some sporadic moments of humor and sexy, but this story is rich with rampant predictability. We know 20 minutes in how this movie is going to end and there's no reason the journey to said conclusion should be 2 hours long.
http://static01.nyt.com/images/2012/04/20/arts/20RDP_THINK_SPAN/20RDP_THINK_SPAN-articleLarge.jpg
The cast is pretty and Kevin Hart steals every scene he's in. I did have issues with some casting...Ferrera and Union had no chemistry at all and I never bought them as a couple and Jenifer Lewis was beyond annoying but the movie had its moments, it just goes on forever. The film features pointless cameos by Morris Chestnut, Chris Brown, Wendy Williams, and, of course, Harvey. In discovering this movie, I learned there is actually a sequel...can't imagine what else could be covered here. 2.5

[Gideon58]

Labor Day
Jason Reitman, the creative genius behind Thank You for Smoking, Juno, and Up in the Air, has a little less success with a 2013 drama called Labor Day, which features some meticulous and detailed direction, but suffers due to an overly padded and contrived screenplay.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/12/Labor_Day_Poster.jpg
One labor day weekend in 1987, single mother Adele and her son Henry are shopping at a discount store one day where Henry encounters a man named Frank whose stomach is bleeding and asks Henry to ask his mother for a ride. It is soon revealed that Frank has just escaped from prison but just needs a night to rest but instead makes himself appealing to Adele and Henry by temporarily becoming man of the house and convinces Adele that they can start a new life together in Canada.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/11/03/movies/20131103-LYALL-slide-7RAH/20131103-LYALL-slide-7RAH-articleLarge.jpg
Reitman's basic story idea is a good one, but the focus of the story gets spread a little too thin. The screenplay spends a little too much time showing us, through flashbacks, why the central characters are the way they are, including why Frank was in prison. We learn that some bizarre circumstances led to Frank being in prison but what we learn takes up too much screen time and though we understand what happened to Frank might have been a miscarriage of justice, the Frank we have been exposed to thus far would have felt that he deserved to be in prison and would do his time served and would never attempt escape.
http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2014/greatideas/blog/140203/labor-day/pie-2-600x450.jpg
The story is also overcrowded with unnecessary characters like a mentally and physically challenged little boy and his nosy mother (Brooke Smith), a cop (James Van Der Beek) whose curiosity about Henry walking down the street just seems unmotivated, and Adele's ex-husband, who shows just enough of a lack of interest in Adele to make him seem more like a jackass than he really is. Not to mention a know-it-all pre-teen who spends her screen time coming on to Henry and trying to convince him that Frank can't be trusted.
http://www.columbusalive.com/content/graphics/2014/01/29/ca-f-laborday-02.jpg?__scale=w:660,h:412,t:1,c:transparent,q:80,r:1
But when this movie works, it works really well, and that's mostly due to Reitman's talent as a director...there is a fabulous scene where Frank actually teaches Adele and Henry how to bake a peach pie, which is shot in loving and intimate detail and is the last thing you expect to see a prison escapee doing with his alleged hostages. I also loved the juxtaposing of Adele withdrawing her money for their escape while the nosy mom has conveniently just walked into her house and run into Frank.
http://www.filmequals.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/labor-day-movie-photo-11.jpg
Reitman also gets first rate performances from his cast. Josh Brolin, who is looking and sounding more like Nick Nolte with every performance, is the perfect combination of sensitivity and danger as Frank and even though her screen persona is a little too intelligent for this character, Kate Winslet is quite affecting as Adele and Gattlin Griffith makes all the right moves as young Henry. Smith is properly annoying as the mother and Clark Gregg, who has made a career out of playing scummy ex-husbands, shows why he's so good at it. It takes a little too long to get to the last of the three or four endings, but despite some slow spots, the actors and Reitman's direction make it worth seeing. 3.5

[Beatle]

http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=13693&stc=1&d=1397744565
Though he will probably always be remembered for 1981's Arthur, my favorite Dudley Moore performance is still from the 1979 Blake Edwards classic "10". Moore plays George Webber, a man who seemingly has it all: a flourishing career as a songwriter, money, a gorgeous home, an equally gorgeous girlfriend (Julie Andrews), but still feels like something is missing in his life.

Then one day, while stopped at a traffic signal, he glances at a girl (Bo Derek)in a limo, on her way to her wedding. George becomes obsessed with this vision, this perfect "10" and forsakes everything in his life, including Andrews, to find and be with this woman. After getting six fillings drilled by the girl's dentist/father (James Noble), in an attempt to learn where the girl went on her honeymoon, George flies to Mexico to find his "10" and eventually learns the lessons you would expect from such a venture.
http://derekwinnert.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/9a4.jpg
In addition to some great physical comedy offered by Moore, there are moments of great warmth here too. The scenes at the outdoor bar in Mexico where Dudley encounters a lonely woman (Dee Wallace) and plays the piano are lovely. Brian Dennehy is effectively cast against type as the bartender. Also cast against type is Robert Webber as George's gay songwriting partner who tries in vain to make George see what an idiot he is and appreciate the things he has.
http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=13694&stc=1&d=1397744625
This is not just a smarmy sex comedy, but a warm character study of a man chasing something he really doesn't want or need and features one of Dudley Moore's most charming performances. 7.5/10

I agree it's about middle age crisis. Remember at the begining

- I feel invalided.
- You mean invalid?
- Yes, that too. But I mean invalided.

And then there's the argument against "the broad" Julie.

- Accept your defeat like a man.
- I would, if you wouldn't so god deam hard trying to win like one.

And the physical stuff consists of the talk with her on the phone after visiting the dentist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_x1Zd4wyXg

[Gideon58]

Brothers
Despite some problematic casting and story structure, the 2009 drama Brothers is a sometimes explosive and vividly realistic look at mangled family relationships and the sometimes devastating effects of PTSD.
https://i.pinimg.com/474x/c7/b6/5e/c7b65e3406fcd0a81e500f92a4d48f16.jpg
This remake of a Danish film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Tommy Cahill, a man recently released from prison who steps up when his older brother, Sam (Tobey Maguire), a career marine, goes missing in Afghanistan and while Tommy is fighting long-buried feelings for his sister-in-law, Grace (Natalie Portman), Sam's battle to get home to his family has done irreparable damage.
http://static.rogerebert.com/uploads/review/primary_image/reviews/brothers-2009/hero_EB20091202REVIEWS912029998AR.jpg
I'm not sure where to start here...there's a whole lot going on here and I think screenwriter's David Benioff's work is a worthy attempt at trying to encompass too much. My first problem was with Sam going missing, there was just no suspense there. Grace and his daughters believe Sam is dead and it would have been nice if the viewer had been allowed to be curious a little longer about it. We know from jump that Sam is not dead because he's played by Toby Maguire, who receives top billing and the scenes of what he goes through are pretty non-watchable for several reasons. It would have served the story more effectively to have Sam played by a lesser known actor so that we might have actually wondered for more than 30 seconds if he was still alive.
http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/still/brothers06.jpg
Sam is severely damaged by what happened to him in Afghanistan and is a changed man when he returns home but he refuses to talk to anyone about what happened, making his behavior bizarre, shocking, and often unjustifiable, thereby making it hard to keep the character sympathetic, which is exactly what he should be. He does finally talk, but it takes way too long for it to happen.
http://40.media.tumblr.com/4ed50492c5b5eae22a3cbc42046d60a2/tumblr_nl4fn0WCRB1uq5cpoo3_1280.jpg
The other problem here was that even though Maguire works hard in the role of Sam, he's just miscast...I never really buy him in the role of this military hero who has gleaned hero worship from his dad (Sam Shepherd) and resentment from Tommy. Not to mention the fact that Maguire looks younger than Gyllenhaal. Gyllenhaal and Portman are solid though and everything their characters go through rings true...especially Tommy's trying to resume a normal life after prison and trying to win back the long lost respect of his father.

Jim Sheridan's direction is better than the screenplay...he provides some moments of genuine shock, tangled emotions, and creates a family dynamic here that sizzles with tension every time these characters gathered around a dinner table. I think with someone else playing Sam, this film could have been something really special. 3.5

[Gideon58]

SONG ONE
Fans of Anne Hathaway will definitely have a head start with 2014's Song One, a lethargic and voyeuristic drama made watchable primarily due to its star.
https://images.hungama.com/c/1/938/c23/38844865/38844865_1280x800.jpg
The Oscar winner plays a woman named Franny who has been studying abroad who returns to the states when she learns her estranged brother Henry (Ben Rosenfield) is in a coma after being hit by a car. Upon her return, Franny's effort to learn what was current in her brother's life led her to the discovery of his favorite musician, a new age folk singer named James Forrester, with whom Franny actually begins to have a relationship.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjA2MzcwMjI5OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNjc2NDI0MzE@._V1_CR0,60,640,360_AL_UX477_CR0,0,477,268_AL_.jpg
This indie project for director and screenwriter Kate Barker-Froyland shows definite promise, though I think her directing is slightly superior to her writing...the screenplay is slow and spotty and focuses a little too much on Franny's relationship with Forrester, which doesn't make a lot of sense since Franny doesn't know anything about him or his relationship and the fact that he is currently having writer's block should have motivated Franny to back off a little. On the other hand, despite his writer's block, Forrester seems to be in demand as a performer, even though the level of his fame is never really made clear. It seemed odd that Franny had never heard of the guy but her mother, beautifully played by Oscar winner Mary Steenburgen, had.
https://filmcentric.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/image-song-one-2014.jpg
Surprisingly, the portions of the story that concentrated on Franny's vigil at her brother's bedside, her conversations with him and other attempts to connect in some way to motivate his awakening, were absolutely riveting and I wish the story concentrated a little more on this part of the story than Franny's relationship with Forrester, which just came off as forced as convincing.
https://honeycuttshollywood.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/hathaway-flynn-song.jpg
Despite the problematic screenplay, Barker-Froyland pulls a charismatic performance from Anne Hathaway that kept me invested in what was going on and I also loved Steenburgen as the mother, still partially living in the past and trying to mend fences with her daughter. Johnny Flynn tries to keep the Forrester character viable but it's difficult. Maybe with someone a little more well known than Flynn might have made the screenplay, as presented, a little more viable; however, as it stand, the performances of two Oscar winning actresses make this a project worth checking out. 3

[Citizen Rules]

Glad you watched it Gideon, that makes two MoFos now that have seen it. Your review is pretty much spot on. I would add that people who make music and artist might find the inside look of a musical performer interesting.

[Gideon58]

Glad you watched it Gideon, that makes two MoFos now that have seen it. Your review is pretty much spot on. I would add that people who make music and artist might find the inside look of a musical performer interesting.
I just didn't find the James Forrester character or his music that interesting.

[Gideon58]

50/50
http://images2.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/31297_front.jpg
A challenging and humorous screenplay and some terrific performances highlight 50/50, a 2011 comedy-drama that takes a surprisingly light look at a rather dark subject, that provides realistic and appropriate laughs without ever overlooking the seriousness of the subject.
http://byt.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/50-50-Movie.jpg
This fact based drama stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Adam, a 27-year old writer who finds his life forever changed when he learns that he has contracted a rare form of spinal cancer. The film not only documents Adam's dealing with a life-threatening disease but also the various reactions of the people in Adam's orbit, not to mention the very real stigma attached to the word "cancer."
https://filmfodder.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/50-50_movie_screen_scene_06.jpg
The stigma attached to the word is beautifully illustrated in the scene where Adam first learns of the diagnosis and actually stops listening to the doctor talk after the word cancer comes out of his mouth. The reactions of friends and family are also various and realistically depicted...Adam's mother (Anjelica Huston) just wants to smother him and put him in a plastic bubble to protect him; his self-absorbed girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard) wants to stand by him but it is clear in the scene where Adam gives her an out and she doesn't take it, that she should have. Adam's BFF Kyle (Seth Rogen) is loyal to his friend, but is secretly in denial about the whole thing and hopes that it's a mistake. Throw into the mix a student therapist (Anna Kendrick) who has been assigned to Adam to help him sort through the feelings about what he's going through.
https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2011/09/23/090-_unc-day009_00057_rgb_wide-f9a4e70dd0f8697bea8765a699eab8aa08cdb793-s800-c85.jpg
They say that the grieving process is divided into five stages: Anger, denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance and Will Reiser's rich screenplay allows Adam to go through all five stages, sometimes in a single scene. The screenplay provides solid laughs throughout, laughs that aren't nervous or inappropriate, but it never forgets the seriousness of the subject matter either.
https://thefilmstage.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/5050-pic1_720-479x500.jpg
Director Jonathan Levine has pulled some terrific performances from his cast too...Gordon-Levitt gives a performance that makes the character likable and sympathetic no matter what he's doing. Huston is solid, as always, as Mom and Seth Rogen steals every scene he is in as Kyle. Bryce Dallas Howard is convincing in an unsympathetic role and Anna Kendrick has never been more likable onscreen...Kendrick usually plays such icy and tightly wound characters, but she is deliciously human here. Mention should also be made of Phillip Baker Hall and Matt Frewer as fellow chemotherapy patients of Adam's. A movie that on the surface should be kind of a downer, but is anything but. 3.5

[Gideon58]

SPY
Paul Feig and his muse Melissa McCarthy have proven they can deliver solid screen comedy with films like Bridesmaids and The Heat and have now shown what they can deliver with what appears to be an unlimited budget with the 2015 comic adventure Spy.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91fZkt0T8oL._SY445_.jpg
This expensive and ambitious James Bond spoof stars McCarthy as a CIA agent who works as a computer tech aiding a field agent (Jude Law) who gets the opportunity to go into the field herself to complete a mission that resulted in the death of her field partner.
https://static.rogerebert.com/uploads/review/primary_image/reviews/spy-2015/Spy-2015-1.jpg
Director and screenwriter Paul Feig has clearly seen his quota of James Bond films and knows the genre intimately, creating a dead on valentine to those films with just the right of tongue in cheek sensibility to the screenplay and complete confidence in his leading lady to sell a story that stretches credibility at every turn but we forgive and go with it because McCarthy has such a commanding screen presence. Her work in dominating a comic adventure rivals Murray in Ghostbusters and Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop, but there's no denying that the movie goes on forever.
https://s.abcnews.com/images/WNN/150605_wnn_insomniactheater_pic_16x9_992.jpg
There's money everywhere here...there some beautiful location filming in Paris, Rome, and Budapest and Feig has put proper attention into cinematography, film editing, not to mention some really offbeat casting choices, some work better than others...really didn't care for Rose Byrne as the evil femme fatale, but loved, loved, loved, loved Jason Statham in an on-target spoofing of his onscreen persona as a fellow agent of McCarthy's whose ego and insecurity about being passed over for this assignment don't stop him from staying right in the middle of it.
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/05/03/arts/03FEIG2/03FEIG2-articleLarge.jpg
With a little tightening of the screenplay and some re-thinking of the supporting cast, this film could have been something on the scale of the above mentioned classics, but as is, McCarthy almost makes you believe everything going on, though you will be checking your watch. 3.5

[Tugg]

"Spy" must be in my top 10 movies of 2015, so clearly I liked it. :)

[cricket]

I liked Bridesmaids and The Heat, so maybe I should check out Spy.

[nebbit]

Nice Reviews :yup:

[Gideon58]

Nice Reviews :yup:
Thank you Nebbit.

[Gideon58]

INFAMOUS
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjQ1NTAyODYxOF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwODE0MDczMjI@._V1_.jpg
The timing is a little suspect, but a year after the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman won an Oscar for Capote, we were treated another film on the exact same subject matter called Infamous.
http://static.rogerebert.com/uploads/review/primary_image/reviews/infamous-2006/hero_EB20061012REVIEWS610120301AR.jpg
The 2006 release, like Capote, is a period specific look at a portion of Capote's life and career...when he traveled to a small town in Kansas when he hears about a farm family that was brutally murdered, a horrific crime that would eventually be the inspiration for his novel "In Cold Blood".
http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/infamous_several-actors.jpg
This film is actually based on a novel by George Plimpton that attempts to take an inside look at the flamboyant author whose motivations for wanting to document this crime are unclear and to do it through the eyes of the convicted killers, who, upon Capote's arrival in Kansas, had not been apprehended yet. What we see is Capote trying to get as much information out of the citizens as he can, whose initially homophobic reactions turn dramatically when Capote starts dropping famous names to ingratiate himself to the people in an attempt to get them to open up.
https://resizing.flixster.com/hGOPEoAKTR7o6KDyUnzAnu1eXf4=/740x380/v1.bjsyMjAwNzI1O2o7MTg3MDA7MTIwMDszMDAwOzE5Njk
Writer and director Douglas McGrath has constructed a spotty and slow-moving story that throws a lot of not very interesting focus on Capote's relationships with his snooty Manhattan friends, but the only relationships that really resonate here are the ones he has with writer Harper Lee and the one that he develops with Perry Smith, one of the killers who Capote cultivates a relationship with in jail. Why McGrath would want to invite comparisons to the 2005 film is a mystery, but the film has its own sets of problems that have nothing to do with the other film.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VJuL5uOnC6E/mqdefault.jpg
The opening exposition involving Capote and his Manhattan life is just not that interesting as is the homophobic treatment he gets upon arriving in Kansas, the running joke of everyone thinking Capote is a woman wears thin very quickly, but the relationship between Capote and Lee is somewhat interesting but it is the relationship that develops between Capote and Perry Smith that really kicks the film into high gear, but this doesn't happen until halfway through the film.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03222/INFAMOUS_starring__3222889a.jpg
Toby Jones fully commits to the role of Capote, giving a more flamboyant interpretation of the character but misses the sensitivity that Hoffman brought to the role, something which might not have been as noticeable if the films had been released more than a year apart. Sandra Bullock is surprisingly effective as Harper Lee and Daniel Craig turns in a powerhouse performance as Perry Smith and it is this trio of performances that make this film worth checking out. 3

[DalekbusterScreen5]

It's amazing how a film like Little Fockers with Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller as its leads can be such a bad movie. :p

[Gideon58]

FALLING DOWN
Even Joel Schumacher, a director with a real hit and miss resume, has a masterpiece and for me it was an absolutely riveting psychological cat and mouse thriller called Falling Down.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYjcxMzM3OWMtNmM3Yy00YzBkLTkxMmQtMDk4MmM3Y2Y4MDliL2ltYWdlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_UY1200_ CR84,0,630,1200_AL_.jpg
This 1993 film is a chilling and intimate look at the decay of American society through the eyes of one man. Bill (Michael Douglas) is a former defense plant employer and divorced father of a little girl who has spent his life being pampered as a child, bullied and manipulated as an adult, and moved back with his mother after the divorce, which he is still in denial about. He also seems to be in denial about some mental health issues that he has been asked to address but has ignored said requests.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b300/spacemonkey_fg/More%20Random%20Pics/Falling9-1.jpg
Bill's backstory reveals that he was laid off from his job about a month ago but he has still been leaving Mom's house every morning pretending that he's going to work. When we meet Bill, he is stuck in an LA traffic jam, en route to his daughter's birthday party, an event that he has not been invited to. Bill appears to snap while sitting in traffic, deserts his car and begins an incredible journey to see his daughter that finds Bill challenged at every turn and instead of accepting the complicated consequences of every day life, Bill decides to have things his way, resulting in a rampage of violence and destruction that includes murder.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q6xrz9gTfBo/UVnRaYWKsBI/AAAAAAAAEYc/v-5dcwGrmbA/s1600/Douglas+-+Falling+Down.jpg
We then meet Prendergast (Robert Duvall), a veteran LAPD desk jockey who was actually stuck in the same traffic jam with Bill, on his way to begin his final day of work as an LA cop, who keeps accidentally bumping into clues about what Bill is doing, which motivate him to get from behind his desk and catch this guy. Of course, Prendergast is given minimum support at first because of his lack of experience and the constant phone nagging of his mentally fragile wife (Tuesday Weld) also impedes his mission, but it is the meeting of these two characters, or the journey to it, that is the groundwork for this bone-chilling cinematic which I'm pretty sure had me holding my breath for about two thirds of the running time.

Ebbe Roe Smith's screenplay displays flashes of brilliance and does an amazing job of painting a portrait of the central character without actually telling us anything. Bill's backstory that I outlined above comes out in Schumacher's direction and the character's attitude instead of being outwardly stated. Bill's actions and reactions belie the kind of person he is and what he has been through and we understand his anger at the decay of American society and begin to like the way he actually fights back...we love when he pulls out his gun in a fast food restaurant and then complains because the hamburger he's been served doesn't look like the hamburger in the picture above the counter...it is from this moment on that we absolutely love this guy and we want him to get home to his daughter and anything else he wants, though we're pretty sure things won't be working out that way.
http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/images/newsite/Falling_Down_600.jpg
Michael Douglas should have received an Oscar nomination for this surprisingly controlled performance, rich with explosive unpredictability. We never know what this guy is going to do or say and no matter what he does, he evokes sympathy, thanks to Douglas and Schumacher and Duvall is solid, as always, as we watch him slowly piece together what is going on, Columbo-style. Mention should also be made of Rachel Ticotin as Prendergast's partner, Frederic Forrest in a flashy unforgettable cameo as a skinhead army nave store owner, and Barbara Hershey as Bill's paranoid ex, but it's Schumacher's shocking attention to detail and the bone-chilling performance of Michael Douglas that makes this film, which stretches credibility and plausibility at every turn, a story that will have you glued to the screen. 4

[Gideon58]

ENTOURAGE
The HBO series Entourage was given the full screen treatment in 2015 and if you liked the series, you will definitely find entertainment here.
http://cdn1-www.comingsoon.net/assets/uploads/gallery/entourage-movie/entpostnew.jpg
For those who never watched the series, this is the story of Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) a really pretty actor trying to be a movie star backed by his childhood friends, who now ride on Vincent's coat tails: Vincent's arrogant brother, Drama (Kevin Dillon), also an actor; his manager Eric (Kevin Connolly); his driver Turtle (Jerry Ferrara), and Vincent's slick talking agent, Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven).
https://img.cinemablend.com/filter:scale/cb/1/c/7/8/a/4/1c78a4fac927b64fc12a7b37f9a205be7805d783b4b70eaa92f68ecf8482ec92.jpg?fw=1200
Since the demise of the series, Vincent has starred in 15 movies and has only agreed to do his next film unless he is also allowed to direct. Ari Gold is now head of the studio and is in charge of handling the money men for the movie. When Vincent needs more money, the son (Haley Joel Osment) of a money man (Billy Bob Thornton) is sent to the studio to check the movie out and does his best to stop it. Other subplots include Eric's female troubles, which include a pregnant ex, and Ari's former assistant, the very gay Lloyd (Rex Lee), who is getting married and wants Ari to give him away.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SGSE_XPF4_g/maxresdefault.jpg
As already stated, if you liked the series, you will like the movie, but I have the same problems with this movie that I had with the series: none of it seems real, Vincent and his friends just come off like kids playing movie star in Hollywood, it's never made clear exactly how famous Vincent really is, but he seems to have a bottomless pit of money, yet doesn't really seem to have any real power in Hollywood. It seemed odd that the star of 15 major motion pictures had to beg studio heads for more money to finish his movie.
http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/entourage-movie-image.jpg
There's money everywhere and just like the series, there are a plethora of cameo appearances including Ed O'Neill, Bob Saget, Jon Favreau, Gary Busey, Kelsey Grammer, Andrew Dice Clay, David Faustino, and the show's executive producer Mark Wahlberg, but really the movie is just so much about nothing. 2.5

[Tugg]

I'm gonna watch "Falling Down". I suspect, me and Bill might have a lot in common.

[Gideon58]

STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7a/Straight_Outta_Compton_poster.jpg
Though the screenplay could have used a little economy, the 2015 epic Straight Outta Compton is an unflinching and multi-layered look at the advent of "gangsta" rap through the rise and eventual ugly destruction of NWA (Niggaz with Attitude) that touches on the genesis of rap, life on the streets in the fiery neighborhood of Compton, California where the five original members of the group, tired of dodging police, channel their anger into a different kind of music, comprised of angry rhymes and angry beats, but where this film really hits a bullseye is as an accurate look at something that I like to refer as "the business of show business."
https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/fredericksburg.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/7b/c7b7f3c7-feb5-5fbe-9c03-d0ef9f33c574/55d4fa3ba8127.image.jpg?crop=799%2C799%2C200%2C0&resize=1200%2C1200&order=crop%2Cresize
The film begins by showing us the lifestyle that the five original members of NWA are simultaneously trying to escape and utilizing as the motivation for the angry music that immediately speaks to the urban youth of the late 1980's. The music is angry, in your face, and promotes violence, particularly against the police who are the primary motivation for the hate in the music. This all comes to head in a powerhouse scene where the group is performing in Detroit and are warned prior to being allowed onstage that they are not to perform one of their songs called "F*** the Police", but they perform it anyway.
https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/ab9/a3b/afa1803649646e38dd2aeaabf95130e744-14-straight-outta-compton.rsquare.w700.jpg
The group begins to find some mainstream acceptance thanks to the guidance of a 2nd rate music producer named Jerry Heller (well played by Paul Giamatti) who is able to rein in the group when they need to be but is not all he appears to be either. Things get even stickier when Jerry seems to be protecting the interests of Easy E, but not so much with Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, which eventually has Cube and Dre pursuing solo careers and Jerry and Easy suffering some form of consequences for their actions.
http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/straight-outta-compton-movie-jason-mitchell.jpg
The pleasant surprise in a film like this is the balance the story provides. We understand these artists' desire to get away from their life on the streets, but we also understand the police who get nothing but defiance and disrespect when they are just doing their jobs. There are exceptions to the rule, of course, like a scene where the group is harrassed by the police as they are leaving the studio for absolutely no reason. but are bailed out by Jerry when he arrives on the scene. I found myself getting very angry about the thought of what would have happened to these guys if Jerry hadn't shown up. One because they were innocent of any wrongdoing, yet they were nasty and disrespectful to the police officers who might have cut them some slack if they had been quiet and cooperative.
https://consequenceofsound.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/compton1.jpg?quality=80
Director F. Gray Gary's directorial technique has a real Spike Lee influence to it minus the pretension and preachiness that comes with a lot of Lee's work. The film is a little on the long side, but there isn't a lot of wasted screen time either. Gary also gets powerhouse performances from Giamatti, a kind of role the actor can play in his sleep, Jason Mitchell as Easy E, and especially O'Shea Jackson Jr. as Ice Cube. An important look at a show business phenomenon that doesn't pull punches and doesn't take sides. 4

[Gideon58]

TRAINWRECK
http://media1.santabanta.com/full6/Hollywood%20Movies/Trainwreck/trainwreck-0a.jpg
Flavor of the month standup comedienne Amy Shumer got her chance at movie stardom with Trainwreck, a 2015 comedy, written by Shumer and directed by Judd Apatow, that contains the seeds for at least four different really good movies; unfortunately, Shumer and Apatow attempt to combine them all into one movie and what you get is an unfocused mess that provides sporadic laughs and is about 45 minutes too long.
http://static.seattletimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/c80021b6-2b48-11e5-bef9-f00a1a6eacb91-1020x642.jpg
Shumer plays Amy (a lot of work apparently went into picking out a character name), a magazine writer who is trying to find the right article that will get her the associate editor job at her magazine. Shumer also plays Amy, a woman struggling with issues regarding her neglectful aging father (Colin Quinn), who is now in a nursing home and her opposing views with her sister (Oscar winner Brie Larson) about his care. Amy is also a commitment-shy single gal caught in a semi-serious relationship with a hunky but boring guy (John Cena) who is looking for something more in a relationship. Shumer also plays Amy, a commitment-shy career woman who finds possible romance with a cute sports doctor (Bill Hader) but gets scared when the guy starts developing real feelings for her.
http://www.bang2write.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/trainwreck-movie-2015.jpg
The film gets an "A" for effort because all the stories that make up this cinematic canvas have the potential to be a really good movie on their own, but trying to wrap them all up in one movie was absolutely a case of newcomer Shumer biting off more that she could chew. You would think that a proven commodity like Apatow would have Shumer's ear a little more and helped her streamline the screenplay, rich with possibilities but far beyond the scope of an inexperienced screen actress, who has mistaken the ability to handle a standup microphone with the ability to carry a major motion picture, but I don't blame Shumer entirely because apparently the woman was given free reign to do whatever she wanted here, otherwise we wouldn't be saddled with a comedy that runs over two hours long and feels like four.
http://i0.wp.com/secretcitygeeklab.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Trainwreck-03.jpg
Shumer clearly has a lot of fans in the business and apparently most of them agreed to appear in this film. In addition to Hader and Quinn, a host of past and present SNL cast members appear throughout, but if the truth be told, the biggest laughs in the movie are provided by WWE superstar John Cena and NBA legend Lebron James, who we are supposed to believe is Hader's BFF in this scenario. I checked Shumer's IMDB page after watching this movie and noticed that she has no other films on the horizon at this time and after watching this, I wasn't terribly shocked. 2

[mark f]

You didn't check too closely.

[Gideon58]

Wow, you're right..."Untitled Mother/Daughter/Action Comedy Project"...won't be holding my breath for that one.

[Gideon58]

WELCOME TO ME
http://www.joblo.com/newsimages1/welcome-me-wiig.jpg
Kristen Wiig's viability as a movie star continues to be in question with a disturbing and uncomfortable 2014 indie called Welcome to Me that began promisingly but eventually bogs down into a squirm-worthy story that should have evoked sympathy for its central character.
http://moviehole.net/img/welcome-to-me.jpg
Wiig plays Alice Klieg, a woman with mental health issues who wins $86,000,000 in the lottery, moves to Las Vegas and invades a television station where she uses her new found wealth to finance her dream: her own television talk show. Problem is, Alice just wants to use the show to talk about herself and deal with issues from her past through re-enactments. When the show isn't exactly what Alice wants, she begins to pour more money into it and it actually starts garnering a selected audience, but as Alice deals with her problems on the air, she does a lot of damage to people in her life, including her best friend Gina (Linda Cardellini).
http://cdn.highdefdigest.com/uploads/2015/06/10/welcome_to_me_5.jpg
We are behind Alice when she wins the money because this is clearly an unhappy woman and we're hope the money will make her happy but it is not long into her new life that it is clear that money in this woman's hands is a dangerous thing. If the truth be told, it was kind of predictable that her show gets popular; however, I think a much more interesting story could have been told here if Alice kept pouring more and more money into the show and nobody was watching...the message presented here that you can buy ANYTHING with money is not a positive one and makes a character who should be sympathetic anything but.
http://i.imgur.com/3xGeAKs.jpg
Wiig does prove that she has what it takes to carry a movie, I just wish she would find a vehicle worthy of talent. She gets help from director Shira Piven and has a solid supporting cast behind her including James Marsden, Joan Cusack, Wes Bentley, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, but the whole thing just made me squirm. 2.5

[Optimus]

Not really a fan of those last 3 movies.

[Citizen Rules]

Wow, only 5/10 for Welcome to Me...I loved that film, it was fresh and not the typical Hollywood cliche movie of the week that gets churned out like butter.

[Gideon58]

Wow, only 5/10 for Welcome to Me...I loved that film, it was fresh and not the typical Hollywood cliche movie of the week that gets churned out like butter.
I'm sorry Citizen, I know you liked it and because of that I wanted to like it, but it made me uncomfortable and sent some disturbing messages.

[Citizen Rules]

That's cool Gideon:) we're all individuals and so we will never all like the same movies. So no worries.

I got the feeling from your review that your objections to the film were much more than just feeling it wasn't a well made film. And I see that you just wrote this: but it made me uncomfortable and sent some disturbing messages.
I understand, I've watched films that I objected to how the subject matter was handled and so disliked them for that reason.

Can I ask you what in the film made you uncomfortable? You mentioned disturbing messages, I didn't perceive any, but can I ask what you noticed?

[Gideon58]

I think the movie sent a disturbing message about the power of money...I was bothered by the fact that this clearly unbalanced woman was given carte blanche with an entire television studio because she was able to write them a check for 15 million dollars. When the camera focused on her for the first time and she said absolutely nothing for about 10 seconds, that just pissed me off, it was like all that money was pissed away. I found her yelling at the reenactments really annoying and I don't like that the staff (James Marsden, Joan Cusack, Wes Bentley) just pandered to Alice just because she kept writing checks and as I mentioned before, the fact that people actually started liking the show was kind of predictable. I think a much more interesting story would have been to have Alice continue to piss her money away on the show and still have no one watch so that the message of the almighty dollar might have been softened a bit. I also hated that she made Gina fat in the reenactments, that was just unnecessarily cruel and Alice was a lot of things but cruel was not one of them.

[Citizen Rules]

Thanks Gideon, for writing that and explaining.