Monday, May 30, 2016

Fiesta!

More Party Series polka-dots...


With blue pillow...

With purple pillow...

Actually the pillow is double-sided. I wanted purple because I like purple with this orange-peach color, but this chair is in the blue room so I needed something blue.


FIESTA!

My house is getting very colorful...

Sunday, May 29, 2016

May Movie Reviews

*****   Outstanding
****     Great
***       OK
**         So-so
*           Blah

Abandoned was Brittany Murphy's last movie. She died way too young from pneumonia, but I've read articles that claim her home had a dangerous mold infestation that brought about the pneumonia.  The movie is about a woman who takes her new boyfriend to the hospital for outpatient orthopedic surgery and he disappears. The hospital staff think she's crazy and hallucinating. Oh look, she has a history of depression and is possibly mentally ill, or is it loneliness and desperation? Although they had been together for four months, she never introduced him to friends or family. There is no boyfriend and no record of any boyfriend to be found anywhere so she must have made him up.  It was a low-quality copy of the movie Flightplan but with too much unrealistic staging and dialogue. "Oh, look, I just happened to find your clothes."  LOL! How convenient.  I wish they hadn't started the movie with a scene from the end which gave away the whole plot. (Idiots.) I would have preferred the suspense. I also HATED her make-up. She had lipstick smeared all over her mouth, crazy black smudged eyes with metallic eye shadow, and messy hair that looked like a wig -  probably to make her look crazy, but it only made her look like a hooker. Since she was some kind of bank official or accounts manager, it was an unrealistic contradiction that only served to confuse. And if they wanted her to look and act crazy at the beginning of the plot, they should not have opened with a scene from the ending. (Idiots.)  I hate it when movies time travel back and forth as if the director didn't have confidence the story would be interesting. Still, it definitely wasn't boring, just irritating. ***

Begin Again  Where did this movie come from and how did I miss it? It stars Mark Ruffalo (I love him!)  as a alcoholic has-been music producer, Keira Knightley as a jilted song writer/girlfriend, and Adam Levine as her cheating song writer new rock star ex-boyfriend. Mark hears Keira sing a song in a bar and wants to record an album. Great human relationship themes, outstanding music, and wonderful performances. ****

Burning Bodhi was promoted as the modern remake of The Big Chill. Well, it shares the basic theme: guy dies and all his friends meet for his funeral. That's where the similarities end. It fails so miserably with content, dialogue, plot, performance and a total lack of any music let alone really good music, I'm not sure why there was ever a connection to the classic. Lots of overacting and underacting and a poorly written script with too much push/pull drama featuring a bunch of screwed up characters who are having a difficult time trying to relate to each other. I made it half way through before I turned it off. It gets one star for featuring the very cool multi-colored fence in Albuquerque. I want one of those! *

The Danish Girl was one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen. The scenery and the photography were outstanding. The performances were exceptional and Alicia Vikander certainly earned the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Not sure why she's considered "supporting" as the movie was as much about her. I also loved the art history aspect. ****

D Train is about a cool guy (James Marsden) and a socially inept guy (Jack Black) and their impending 20th high school reunion. Now, with Jack Black in the starring role, was I wrong to assume it was a comedy?? It's not a comedy. I didn't even smile once. I don't know if it's a drama either. It wasn't really anything. **

The Education of Charlie Banks is about a kid (Jesse Eisenberg) growing up in New York City in awe of the neighborhood bully (Jason Ritter). Later in high school he watches the bully nearly beat to death two boys at a party and reports him to the police only to change his mind for fear of not being liked. Then in college the bully shows up in his dorm room unexpectedly. The tension and the anticipation of this guy losing his temper was a bit nerve wracking especially with Jesse Eisenberg in the lead role who always plays social inept insecure geeks and acts like he's expecting to be punched. ***

Grandma with Lily Tomlin. Her teenage granddaughter needs an abortion so she runs all over town trying to find people from her past who will loan her money. She's kind of cranky, not shy about expressing herself, and during the movie she's accused of being "misanthropic". I liked the character. The story was mediocre, but it made me question life. I like movies that make me think about one's existence in society and how the situation all came to be. ***

The Intern was about a retired widower (Robert DeNiro) who needs something to do. At the very beginning of the movie he summarizes what it's like to be a retired: "a relentless effort in creativity". LOL. The character is awesome, totally old-school, with really values and manners. He gets a position in a e-commerce business as a "senior intern", a program that hires the elderly and is assigned as the intern/assistant to the company's owner (Anne Hathaway) who isn't comfortable with "old people". It's a very sweet movie about the generation gap and the eventual relationship between DeNiro and Hathaway is adorable. ****

The Martian  I think I was number 250 on the library hold list! Matt Damon is absolutely ripped in this movie, either that or he used a body double which is what he must have done at the end. It's about a Mars mission that loses a man during a storm. They think he's dead and to avoid sacrificing their own lives and the mission, they are forced to abandon him/his body. He's not dead. He's the mission's botanist so he figures out how to grow food on Mars in order to survive. It was exhausting just watching him come up with brilliant ideas and I kept thinking he's very lucky he doesn't have Hashimoto's or any number of diseases that might seriously affect his energy! LOL! He's supported by an all-star cast of people. Science movies usually overload my brain as they try unsuccessfully to make the movie seem realistic while sacrificing the humanity. The Martian was all about the human experience and thankfully they kept the science stuff low key and tolerable. It was very good. ****

Miss You Already is a best friend story about two women, one (Toni Collette) with breast cancer the other (Drew Barrymore) pregnant. It wasn't horrible and I didn't turn it off, but for a movie with a death theme which should have rocked my world, it didn't. I'm not sure why. I didn't like the music, Drew's character grew up in England and she didn't even have an English accent, I didn't care for the characters, and the story was just barely adequate. I thought it was going to be a great girl-bonding theme, but it somehow fell short. **

Mistress America was about a college freshman in New York feeling like a fish out of water until she contacts the daughter of her mother's fiancé who inspires her creative writing by giving her a social life. It was written like a short story or play. Some of the dialogue was contrived and the staging...it was like watching a high school play of amateur actors trying too hard. **

My Other Mother is about a spoiled, self-centered, mean-spirited, demanding celebrity anchor woman who decides it's time to find her biological mother. It was very contrived and staged with excessively unrealistic dialogue and emotion. I found the random excerpts of praying and God talk out of place, but this is a film produced by a company that focuses on black culture and Christianity so perhaps the inserts were obligatory in order to get funding? A nasty, despicable, entitled woman praying. The hypocrisy is classic Christianity. I loved the "He was such an honorable man...even if he cheated on his wife." Very, very Christian. Any sin can be forgiven, ignored and  twisted to look like honor if you pray hard enough. **

Nanny McPhee is promoted as "The New Mary Poppins" except of course the incredibly evil children are yelling "FART" and "BOSOM" and "BUM" and are rude and belligerent as often as possible. Times have changed. This nanny (Emma Thompson) is a little scary, ugly with warts and a bulbous nose. She grunts all the time which is delightful. The father (Colin Firth) is adorably sweet although clueless. The sets are outstanding. The Victorian mansion reminds me of Katwise's house with lime green and bright blue walls edged in electric red. Can I live in that little village? Kids would love this movie. ***

Regression is about group hysteria and "satanic ritual abuse" imaginings brought about by regression therapy. It was creepy.  I kept wondering if everyone was part of the cult and like a typical classic horror movie plot, Ethan Hawke would realize he's the last man standing and has to submit . Nope. It was based on true events. ***

The Revenant takes place during a very violent period of American history. Soldiers slaughtering whole villages, tribes massacring white men, French trappers kidnapping and raping Native American women, wildlife maulings with death and dying around every corner. This movie isn't for those with a weak constitution. I just read a book on Native Americans and the horror they faced while watching their families murdered by the US government/army and information that Custer took Indian women as captives to be used as sex slaves by his whole troop. It makes one embarrassed to be American. This movie was disturbingly brutal, heart-wrenching, and emotional. And cold! Good lord it was a cold movie with all that snow and ice water. I do question the realism. Leonardo di Caprio could not have lived through all that. Fifteen minutes in winterized ice water should have killed him then he crawls out of the water and lays in the snow for a couple hours. Really? Besides the bear and the cliff. Outstanding performances. Tom Hardy should have won the Oscar for Actor in a Supporting Role. Amazing music. So strange yet haunting. Beautiful photography, but I was chilled to the bone the whole time. Loved the tree theme. And then I watched it again. And I thought about it for days. That qualifies as exceptional - a rating I rarely give. *****

Run Boy Run is a Polish film with English subtitles based on a true story about a young boy who at the urging of his father runs away from the Warsaw Ghetto during Nazi occupation and lives until the end of WWII going from farm to farm to work for food or by hiding in the forests. So heart-breaking. Another horrible period of history. Great story with lots of adventure. Adorable boy. ****

Secret in Their Eyes Am I the only one who hates the jumping around? God, it was confusing. If it wasn't for the different lengths of Nicole Kidman's hair, I would have had no idea what year it was. Even then, I couldn't keep it straight. I WANT A LINEAR PLOT! DAMN IT!  Why make it difficult to follow the story? The performances from Julia Roberts and Chiwetel Ejiofor were outstanding. Julia is always really awesome at raw emotion and there is one scene where someone says she looks like she's aged one hundred years - yep, she had that down. I like an actress that doesn't have to be beautiful all the time.  Anyway, it's about the murder of a counter-terrorism agent's daughter and because the murderer is a department informant they brush the whole investigation under the rug in hopes of the more important goal of catching terrorists. So this guy goes free and disappears. For 13 years everyone is tormented by the injustice until one of them finds the murderer and attempts to capture him. It definitely reinforces how dishonest and agenda-driven law enforcement is. As if incompetence isn't enough. It has a great twist at the end even though they made sure to support it with a whole lot of high-speed, incredibly-irritating, scene-flashing, year-jumping time travel just in case you don't have a brain and couldn't remember the other parts of the movie you JUST SAW.  I still have no idea how the film got its title. ***

Suffragette was about the militant suffrage movement in England with Meryl Streep and Helena Bonham-Carter. It's so amazing what we women take for granted now, although there are still countries that don't allow women basic human rights including voting. It's hard to believe men had so much power in the past even though they still more privilege today. The photography was excellent. Be sure to catch the very, very beginning when they are showing scenes in the laundry with the water on the floor. Very nice photographic effects. I don't think I've ever seen that before. Outstanding performances and awesome sets. ****

Yentl with Barbra Streisand. I've seen this movie multiple times although it's been decades since the last viewing. I have worn out the CD as well. The music is outstanding, the theme excellent, the photography and scenery beautiful, and performances superb. Great movie. I always thought the story a little weird when Yentl marries a woman and no one seems to notice. Hmmm. ****

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Cheers!

Here is my latest from the "Party Series" of polka-dotted furniture:






Cheers!

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Little Zippy (or, The IQ Review)

I've now had Little Zippy for seven months just long enough to figure out the weird controls and quirks, and long enough to give a qualified opinion on what it is like to own a sub-compact car. For those of you who missed my post on Zippy's purchase, she is a 2012 Toyota/Scion IQ. I have driven her about 6,000 miles to date.


Updates:

The toxic cleaning products they used to detail Zippy stunk for about two months during which time I wore a mask to avoid having a bad reaction. I wore very warm layers and kept the windows down alternating with hot heat to expedite the offgassing through the winter. At night I placed bowls of fresh grounded coffee and baking soda on the floors. Six months later I can sometimes still smell it very slightly if Zippy is closed up for a long period of time, but it isn't strong enough to bother me anymore. Most people probably wouldn't even notice the smell.


The Toyota dealership didn't clean the rugs at my request. They were dirty. I considered renting a carpet cleaner and using my non-toxic carpet shampoo, but the manual says not to use water. I checked with the local auto supply shop and the sales associated suggested a foam product he used with much success called Tuff Stuff. I asked if it had a smell and he said he'd never noticed one. He asked a few other guys at the counter and they agreed. I wasn't convinced. One guy took the can and offered to test it. Whew! Yeah, it stunk strong of fake lemon. They assured me it goes away fast. Yeah, right. It only costs $4,99 which is much cheaper than renting a carpet cleaner so I figured I'd test it on the removable carpets first and if it was too toxic then I'd use a carpet cleaner or store the carpets as long as needed until the smell wore off. Well, they were right. I used a mask to clean the carpets then let them dry. Then I took a damp rag and tried to wipe any excess off. Once dried, it didn't smell at all! So now I have clean carpets. Hooray!

The Scion IQ was discontinued in 2015. I was told by the Toyota sales people they weren't selling. I've had numerous people stop and ask me what kind of car I'm driving, exclaim how cute it is (of course!) and question why they've never seen such a car. When I tell them Scion IQs are no longer made, they invariably ponder, "I wonder why?" I tell them because Toyota didn't market them effectively. No one has ever heard of them! I'd never heard of them. I have only seen two other IQs in my whole corner of the USA and never any advertisements. I'm pretty sure I am the only person who owns an IQ in my town or county.

The Scion division of Toyota has been discontinued as well. I don't know why. Does that make Little Zippy a collector car?

Reasons to Buy a Cute Car Like Little Zippy:

Outstanding gas mileage. The first time I did the mileage test I got 38 miles per gallon. The second time 42 miles per gallon. At first I thought I did the math wrong so I asked. My mechanic guy said they are equipped with a "smart engine" and it will register your driving style and make adjustments for the best gas mileage. Love it!

It takes five minutes to wash the whole thing.


Incredibly fun to drive. I love the handling. Very touchy steering and brakes. I love the tight turning radius, however, since I'm constantly tempted to make a U-turn in the middle of a two lane street, this makes me a law-breaker and could end up a negative. I haven't been caught yet.

Really easy to park, especially parallel park, because it fits anywhere.

Negatives:

I will admit here this is less of a review on the car itself and more of a comparison to my van. That's probably not fair, but oh well!

It doesn't have a butt. No back end. Why is this a problem? Because when you drive in rain the tires kick up mud and the whole back is caked with dirt. This doesn't happen with a regular sized car, or it never did with any other car I've owned. It is equipped with a window washer for the back window, but I hesitate to use it with all that mud in case it scratches.

This is from one drive on a semi-dry day.

Needless to say, I wash Zippy nearly every time I drive her. I've never in my life washed a car so much! I even dry her off with towels and use toxic tire cleaner to shine up the rubber. I have become a fanatic.

Little Zippy lives in the garage which is another reason why I wash and dry her before parking her in the garage. If I don't, the garage gets dirty really fast. This has made the garage fairly useless because I'm afraid of getting dust on Zippy if I use the circular saw to cut wood or sweep. I'm afraid of getting paint on her if I paint. I'm afraid I'll drop nails or tire-puncturing sharp things if I construct or repair anything. If I do need to do any projects, I back her out onto the driveway and after finishing the project, I sweep the garage, air it out, and then drive her back in. I've also spent the last six months getting rid of garage-stored items so Little Zippy will have lots of room. It's a lot of work babying a baby car.

No cruise control. Going from a van to a mini-car judging speed was a difficult adjustment. I've only been pulled over by the police once. Although it was more like a declaration he asked me, "Do you know the speed limit is 55 and you were going 65?" I confessed, I knew the speed limit, "But isn't this car the cutest thing you've ever seen? I just bought it and it doesn't have cruise control like my other vehicle, the speedometer readings are in the wrong place unlike my other vehicle, and it's totally different than my gas-guzzling other vehicle. I am getting better at getting used to it, but isn't it the cutest car you've ever seen?" After asking me about the gas mileage and agreeing it was the cutest car he'd ever seen, he just told me to work on getting used to it. No ticket! I think he just wanted me to stop talking. I still creep over the speed limit, but I haven't been pulled over again. I don't think I'll be able to talk my way out of my next felony.

The sound system is foreign and very elaborate. I have to constantly use the manual to figure out basics. I have no idea how to work the fancy technology either, but since I don't use any, it doesn't matter.

I drive with the lights on. Why? Because I'm afraid Zippy is so small other cars won't see her. She makes me a little paranoid.

Visibility is difficult. This was the same for the Mini-Cooper so I think it's a problem for any small car. I'm used to my big van with the panoramic windows.

For some bizarre reason it takes a "special" oil that costs more. Of course. Damn Toyota.

Insurance costs four times more than the van. The van is OLD.

I won't eat in it and I only drink water. A little inconvenient, but I don't want to drop food all over her and mess up the clean carpets.


The heating and air conditioning are not comfortable. Everything is working, it just gets too hot too fast and the air conditioning doesn't seem effective. It takes forever to get going. Roll down the windows and it's too noisy. Again, my van has a huge interior and I think air space is just different.

I finally figured out how to use the locking system, but I hate if I were to lose the fancy key it would cost me nearly $250 to replace. Something wrong with that.

No interior lights. I'm spoiled. My van's interior lights come on if I open the door, automatically turn off when I start the van, have various light controls when needed, headlights that automatically come on if it gets dark or even cloudy with automatic dashboard lights, and if I get out of the van when the headlights are still on the obnoxious ding, ding, ding warning wouldn't ever let me forget to turn them off. Nothing like that in the Little Zippy. There is an overhead light that is so faint it's useless.

In my van if I leave the turn signal on, it starts beeping obnoxiously. If I leave Zippy's turn signal on, it just stays on.

No sleeping in Zippy so I'm less likely to go camping with her, besides...

Potholes, bumps or uneven roads are a nightmare. It feels like the whole car is banging apart. It's because of those tiny tires. Initially I thought those tiny tires would be cheap. Nope. They cost about four times more than new tires for my van.

I made the mistake of driving down a driveway that was overgrown with tall weeds. Little Zippy is NOT a country car. The next day something started clanging loudly. I thought the engine was falling out. I panicked and drove it to the nearest Toyota service center. They showed me the piece that had come loose. It was thin two feet by one foot rectangular piece of metal that looked like a piece of tin foil that I was told keeps the exhaust from overheating the bottom of the car. OK. He said I must have hit a rock or something. I hadn't connected the tall weed driving to the situation yet. He told me I shouldn't drive on gravel with this car. WHAT??? I asked him why it doesn't say that in the manual and why didn't the Toyota salesman tell me this? No comment. He directed me to parts and there I was told I could not replace just the 2 x 1 piece of tin foil, but I would need to buy the WHOLE BOTTOM OF THE CAR!! Whoa! The mechanic said he couldn't get me in for the repair for six weeks (!) so instead they will do what they can to re-attach the piece of tin foil so it wouldn't clang until then. Great. I went back to the parts guy to ask more questions about this expensive part. He looked at me quizzically and said on the sly, "Didn't they just fix it? So you don't need a brand new part." I think he is the only honest car dealership employee I have ever encountered. It's been four months and no need to replace anything. I also had my own mechanic look at it and they say it was repaired and stable. Still, Little Zippy is a tender, touchy thing unlike the van that can be used for back roads driving and remote camping with no problem.

Conclusion:

Now, to look at my list of pros and cons you'd think I didn't like Little Zippy. Heck no! I love this car! No, it's not a high-quality car, and yes, it is definitely cheap, but I love driving it, I love looking at it. I wanted a fun, impractical car with good gas mileage and after years of shopping I found one. It's great. For now.


Sunday, May 8, 2016

Cherry Explosion!

OMG. My cherry tree is loaded with fruit! Every branch is covered! I guess pruning the tree did the trick.



The Italian Prune is showing fruit, too. This is the first big year for both trees. It's going to be a very fruitful year!


Sunday, May 1, 2016

April Movie Reviews

*****   Spectacular
****     Good
***       OK
**         Blah
*           Ghastly

Black Sea  I kept seeing previews for this movie and I have to admit, death by submarine seems like the worst way to die.  I figured just the feeling of claustrophobia would give me nightmares, but I ran out of movies while waiting for my library holds to come in and there the DVD was on the shelf waiting for me. Jude Law plays a submarine captain who works for a fancy, corporate salvage company. They fire him after 15 years. He's bitter. He is hired by some anonymous rich guy to rescue Nazi gold off a WWII sunken submarine. His crew is half English and half Russian which makes for very bad cultural relations. Then there is the greed and the stupidity. What were those crew members thinking hundreds of feet underwater? Jude Law was great. I don't think he's Irish but that was one awesome Irish accent. A little too tense and testosterone-ish for me, but it was good. ***

The Cake Eaters was about small-town strange people. It was painfully slow and lacking in interest. I lasted about 20 minutes before the pain was too intolerable. *

Front of the Class is a story about a boy with Tourette Syndrome and how he learns to live with it later becoming an award winning teacher. It's got to be a horrible way to grow up with kids bullying him constantly, or laughing at his outbursts, being told to leave movie theaters or performances because he's too disruptive. I do find the boy's constant positive attitude difficult to believe in light of all the negativity he faced daily. I think it was some kind of Hallmark after school film where even in bad situations everyone keeps smiling. James Wolk (who is absolutely adorable!) played the adult Brad Cohen on who's story the film is based. It was good. Perhaps a little unrealistic when he leaves a classroom of second graders unattended or stays alone with a student during recess. I think even a first year teacher would know better. At the same time, I remember the joy of getting my first classroom and walking into it for the first time. They captured that wonderfully. ****

The Ghost Writer features Ewan McGregor as a ghost writer hired to finish the memoirs of a British Prime Minister. Lots of conspiracy, political confusion and a plot that made me constantly question, "What the hell is going on?" I didn't have a clue and in the end I wasn't sure I cared. I do like Ewan McGregor. **

I Smile Back is a film about mental illness and addiction. A housewife (Sarah Silverman) is a mess. Cocaine, alcohol, extramarital affairs and in one scene she masturbates with her daughter's teddy bear in case there was any doubt of how low she can go or how degenerate she is. She goes to rehab and as soon as she's out, starts it all over again.  I have never seen Sarah Silverman in anything but loud-mouth comedy so I was pleasantly surprised at her performance, but the whole time I kept looking at this woman and her perfect husband (Will Gardner from The Good Wife), perfect kids, perfect house and wondering why she couldn't pull it together. And that's the whole theme of the movie: mental illness is a bitch. ***

Last Chance Harvey is about a jingle composer (Dustin Hoffman) who travels to England for his daughter's wedding. Nothing goes right for him. He's being pushed out of his job by younger employees, he feels out of place and unwelcomed at the rehearsal dinner, his daughter tells him she wants her step-father to walk her down the aisle, and then in hopes of getting home in time for an important meeting so he can save his career, he misses his flight and loses the job. There is something very discombobulating about him, like a dark cloud hanging over every aspect of his life. Throughout the story he continuously almost encounters an airport employee (Emma Thompson) who's life is very much the same. She seems very lonely and isolated going through the motions of life one mundane minute at a time. Again, very depressing and discombobulating as well, but the anticipation of them finally meeting is wonderful.  It was a charming love story that confirmed love is not just for the young and it will appear when it's least expected, sans the clichĂ© predictability of a Hollywood plot. It left me thinking about missed opportunities and how to live life to the fullest. I like that feeling. ****

Labyrinth of Lies is a German movie with English subtitles about the attempt to bring the everyday Nazi war criminals to trial in the 1960s. After WWII, the Nuremburg Trials convicted a handful of Nazi generals and higher ranking officers, but what about the lower-ranking guards who worked at the concentration camps who were responsible for so many deaths? Those who carried out the orders and perpetuated the torture and violence without any thought or remorse? In the 1950s they became teachers, bakers, or anyone allowed to walk the streets living normal lives pretending nothing they did was wrong.  It's also a story about how after the war Germany tried to sweep the Holocaust experience under the rug in order to forget. Citizens ignored what went on or conveniently remained ignorant. But the issue and legal conflict is in the 1940s nearly everyone belonged to the "Party".  Some were passionate supporters and others were forced to join, but the government can't arrest a whole country. And are soldiers who obey orders during war time liable for their own crimes against humanity? If that's the case, there is a whole world of people walking the streets who should be on trial for murder but instead they are called heroes fighting for their patriotic cause. It was very thought provoking. When I've seen Holocaust movies and at the end the Jewish protagonist is still living amongst his Nazi tormentors, I wonder how could that have been? I found the movie personally interesting because we do have a former WWII Nazi living in my little town. I've heard he worked at a concentration camp and he still professes Nazi beliefs to his neighbors.  I've always thought it was weird he's allowed to just live his life after that. He spends most of his time now as a Jehovah's Witness religious nut walking from door to door which is how I met him. You'd think maybe he found God and has paid some kind of personal retribution, but I was told he had an affair with a young girl at his church so he is still morally questionable to the bone. The public prosecutor in this movie was after the notorious Dr. Mengele who performed all kinds of sadistic experiments on Jews. He fled Germany in 1945, lived rather comfortably in Buenos Aires, and freely came back to Germany to visit family constantly knowing no one would do anything. He was never brought to justice and died in 1979. In our "modern" society, how does this happen? Crimes against humanity should not go unpunished. The performances were outstanding, the costumes and sets were superb, and the story was fascinating.  The subtitles were obnoxious since I can never read fast enough to keep up with them so I'm pretty sure I get only half the dialogue most of the time. ***

Life is about photographer Dennis Stock's time with James Dean and the photo spread he did for Life magazine just before Dean's death. You know, that classic photo of Dean walking down NYC in the long black coat? I don't know if I liked the casting. The guy who plays Dean is very strange bordering on retarded. Was Dean that strange and quirky? I've heard he was, but to that extreme? Robert Pattison of Twilight fame plays the photographer. He's always moody bordering on brain dead. Together they created a very slow, moody, brain dead film. **

May I Be Frank is about the transformation of Frank Ferrante an Italian New Yorker and former drug addict who was diagnosed with Hepatitis C a few years back and has been on chemotherapy-type drugs that create joint pain, depression, and a number other chemically-induced side effects of misery. To counteract these symptoms he must take five more prescriptions which cause more misery. What a mess. He's overweight, suicidal, and hates himself, but hides most of his misery with his outstanding sense of humor. He walks into Cafe Gratitude in San Francisco and answers their question of the day, "What do you want to do before you die?" They adopt him, have him sign a program/coaching agreement, clean out his refrigerator, put him on a vegan, raw food diet with daily doses of wheat grass, pump out his intestines with regular colonics, and film the 42 day transformation. It's pretty amazing. Not only does he drop the weight, but he ends up going off all his prescription medications, reconnects with alienated family members, apologizes to those he's wronged, gives his expensive clothes to the homeless, and discovers energy he hasn't had for years. Very inspiring. ****

Me, and Earl, and the Dying Girl is about a high school boy who makes bizarre, yet hilarious re-made films of movie classics with his "co-worker" sidekick, Earl. His mother forces him to spend time with her friend's daughter,  a girl he barely knows from his high school, who was recently diagnosed with cancer. Excellent writing that is often LOL. Superb performances. ****

Odd Thomas is a movie based on the novel of the same name by Dean Koontz about a clairvoyant who can see dead people and dreams of things to come.  He also sees these weird evil demonic things called "bodachs" that hang around to sniff the blood of a person destined to die soon. Those things are really creepy and the special effects are outstanding. In all the creepy, evil, bloody impending violence, there is this strange humor thorough out the movie that is ODD to say the least. Some of the dialogue is like a 1950s B-rated horror movie which is kind of fun. The movie was definitely entertaining and although I had my doubts at first, I actually really liked it. ****

Max is about a military dog who's owner is killed in combat. He has PTSD which renders him combat useless so they give him to the soldier's family. He's a mess, crazy and as evil as a big dog can be, but he still has super powers from all that good training. He's fond of the soldier's little brother. Now, I hate dog movies. They are right up there with religious football movies, tugging at your heart strings and manipulating your emotions to the point of nausea, but this one was surprisingly good. It helped it had a death theme. If I didn't know for a fact dogs are stinky, noisy, high-maintenance and expensive, this movie would make me want to get one. Especially one that would chew up bad guys on command or just growl on instinct. In addition, I do have a weakness for German Shepherds since my first dog was a German Shepherd. I confess, I liked the movie, dog and all. ****

Paradise: Hope is the third movie in a German trilogy. This one is about an overweight teenage girl going to a diet camp where she falls in love with the camp doctor. The camp doctor is weird. He's old enough to be her grandfather and spends his spare moments in his office smoking and drinking (and probably masturbating but they don't show that!). He's a bit creepy and pedophile-ish. At one point when they are on a hiking field trip, he follows her into the dark woods and another scene after she sneaks out, gets drunk and passes out, he picks her up drives her into the woods, lays her passed-out body under some trees and he LICKS her from head to toe. OH MY!!! I think that's what he was doing. So strange although the forest photography was beautiful. The story never really goes anywhere and the acting is bad. Lots of overweight children marching back and forth. I didn't turn it off although I was tempted several times. I really thought it would take a turn or something would progress to the point where I would think there was a point or even a plot. It had no point or maybe there was a secret artsy meaning that went right over my head. No, I'm not going to see the other movies in the trilogy. *

Prime is about a 37 year old woman (Uma Thurman) falling for a 23 year old boychild. Her therapist (Meryl Streep) is his Jewish mother who disapproves of her son's non-Jewish girlfriend not knowing how much older she is. When she figures out her patient's new love is her son during a counseling session, she doesn't want to lose her long-standing patient who she believes needs support and help so she doesn't say anything about the conflict of interest. Uma, who is happy for the first time in a long time, constantly confesses very private details about their sex life and Meryl has to figure out how to negotiate the discomfort of knowing what she knows. His immaturity was a bit irritating, but his utter devotion was sweet and enviable. Having had a similar relationship many, many years ago, it brought back a whole deluge of not-so-good memories. It was interesting on a personal level, but nothing special.  Nice New York City story with excellent city life scenes and sets. ***

The Railway Man is about an English veteran/engineer (Colin Firth) with a fetish for trains who was tortured during WWII in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. He's haunted by memories and unable to forget the cruelty forty years later. He meets and marries Nicole Kidman who wants to help and understand him. One of his POW comrades finds a newspaper article that features the representative of their torture. They will finally get their revenge. The Japanese soldier, a former wartime English interpreter, is giving tours of the prisoner-of-war camp. Our POW veteran travels back to the scene of the crime to kill him. It's about suffering, guilt, redemption, revenge, reconciliation and forgiveness. ****

Spotlight received the Oscar for Best Picture in 2016. It's about the Boston Globe's investigation and subsequent article on the child sexual molestation in the Catholic Church that was ignored and covered up by Church officials. Priests were being transferred from one church to the next enabling them to continue their abuse. So frightening and such a horrible abuse of power. Even after the article was published the bishop who ignored the problem for years was transferred to a foreign country and allowed to maintain his position. Sound more like a reward than justice. Excellent performances. I love Mark Ruffalo and come to find out he's a supporter of Bernie Sanders. He's my idol...****

That's What I Am is a coming-of-age movie set in the 1960s about bullying and intolerance. I loved that it kept me wondering how it was going to play out. The anticipation was delicious. There was only one aspect of the ending I didn't like and I felt it defeated the theme's purpose, but it's a minor point. The narration is hilarious and extremely well-written. Many LOL moments. ****

Tomorrowland is a Disney movie about the future. The first part featuring the 1964 World's Fair in New York was really fascinating and I had high hopes for the rest of it, but then it got a little too sci-fi with too much conspiracy theory that was way over my head. Lots of violence for a kid's movie, even if they were just killing robots and vaporizing humans. I came really close to turning it off near the end as I thought going to bed and sleeping might be more entertaining. The message was good: we are killing the planet and no one really gives a shit. It stars George Clooney who has aged quickly in the last year. That was a little discombobulating and unacceptable. I think marriage does that to a man.... A lot of people are seeing this DVD as it had over 200 holds on it in my library. Blah. **

Upside Down is a fantasy about two worlds somewhere in the galaxy that exist next to each other with opposite gravities. The bottom world is dark, poverty-stricken, and cold because the other world that exists above steals their resources through a corporation called Trans World . Trans World has a huge tower that connects the two worlds but it's against the law for people from the worlds to intermingle. Two kids meet at the peak of mountains in their respective worlds, learn how to balance and work with the opposing gravities to be together. They are soon discovered and separated when the police shoot him and she falls to her world with blood gushing from her head. Ten years later (after prison?) the boy is an inventor and he finds out she is alive and working at Trans World. He gets a job in "the tower" so he can see her, but finds out the accident caused her to lose all memory.  Yeah, I know that sounds confusing, but actually it wasn't. The plot is very creative and the sets, especially for the dark world, are awesome although depressing. It's profoundly memorable - I thought about it for days. I think they could have come up with a better title for the movie. It stars Kirsten Dunst. *****