October Movie Reviews

*****  Exceptional

****    Great

***      OK

**        So So

*          Blah

Absolutely Fabulous was absolutely the worst! Incredibly stupid British comedy. I think British stupid comedy is worse than American. I could never tolerate all those Austin Powers movies either. I lasted about ten minutes. *

Allied is about a French Resistance woman (Marion Cotillard) and a Canadian Intelligence Officer (Brad Pitt) who meet in Casablanca during WWII to assassinate a German officer. They fall in love, have a baby, then his commanders inform him his wife might be a German spy. He doesn't know if it's for real or if they are testing him and his loyalty. Very good. Excellent performances. Outstanding costumes. Great photography. This was quality Brad Pitt which has been missing for a long time. ****

All Nighter is about an awkward banjo-playing boyfriend (Emile Hirsch) who has little ambition and a whole lot of love for his girlfriend. He meets her dad (J.K. Simmons) at dinner and fails miserably every time he opens his mouth. Six months later dad shows up at his apartment looking for his daughter only to find they broke up months before. He enlists the ex-boyfriend to help find her, searching Los Angeles while following leads from one place to another all night long. It was rather entertaining and sweet. Performances were great. ***

Amateur Night was about a clean-cut, straight-up, unemployed father-to-be architect (Jason Biggs) who needs a job to pay for the hospital bills. He answers an ad for a delivery man job and ends up delivering hookers to their jobs. It's a comedy.  ***

Annie 1981 with Carol Burnett who is outstanding and hilarious. Also with Bernadette Peters, Ann Reinking, Tim Curry and Albert Finney. Excellent version, exceptional music, outstanding performances by all. That cute little Aileen Quinn is a perfect Annie. I've seen this move a dozen times but it's been a long time. I love a classic that stands the test of time. *****

Beauty and the Beast The one with real people and lots of well-known actors and actresses like Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, Emma Watson, Josh Gad, Kevin Kline. I didn't realize I've never even seen the cartoon. This was typical Disney: beautiful sets, great music, classic plot. Loved it. ****

Black Beauty I thought Black Beauty was shipped to India, in a shipwreck, on an island, and rescued by a kid...or something. This was the life of a horse and the horse narrates (with Alan Cummings' voice). It was a sweet story. The horse was spectacular. Kids would love it. ***

Closure is about a young African-American woman who was adopted as a baby by a couple  who adopted eight (?) others. At the time doctors thought she would never walk and didn't know how extensive her disabilities would be. She ended up being a basketball player! She started asking questions about her birth family when she was about 12 and begins searching when she was about 25 years old. All she has to go on is a short summary given to her adopted parents when they adopted her with their last names obscured with white out. It was superb. Very moving. ****

The Comedian stars Robert DeNiro as an aging comedian who was once a popular sit-com star a character he can't shake no matter where he goes. After assaulting an audience member and spending time in prison, he does community service in a soup kitchen where he meets Harmony (Leslie Mann). It's a quirky non-love story. All-star cast with Danny DeVito, Edie Falco, Charles Grodin, Cloris Leachman, Patti Lupone and Harvey Keitel. Even Billy Crystal makes an appearance. Great scenes of rainy, snowy New York City with a jazz soundtrack. ***

Do You Take This Man is about a gay couple getting married and the 24 hours before the wedding as they find out things about each other they didn't know, question issues of trust,  feelings of stress and wondering  how to make it work. It's very sweet and romantic. ***

Equals was very interesting. It's a futuristic, sci-fi about a community devoid of emotion. There is some indication there was a big nuclear explosion or some catastrophe that changed civilization. There are now two areas, one with the Equals where no one feels anything and the other called the province (?) where hoodlums and those emotional people live. If you contract SOS and start feeling emotions, you are doomed. The "disease" has stages. Early stages and you are prescribed an inhibitor, later stages and you are carted off to the DEM to be exterminated. There are "hidders" people who are afflicted who pretend they are not, but if anyone sees signs of emotion in anyone they are to report them. Then there are "couplers"...no one is allowed to touch so sex is out of the question. Lots of people who become emotional don't understand their feelings and think they are doomed so they commit suicide. One man who has beautiful blue eyes (Nicholas Hoult) begins feeling emotions and starts noticing a woman (Kristen Stewart) who seems to react to things although secretly. Mesmerized, he starts following her around. They begin meeting in secret. It was rather interesting. Stewart is always really good at acting tormented so this was a perfect role for her. The photography was great with zoom-ins on emotional body language, especially eyes. The climax is edge-of-your-seat suspenseful. ****

Final Girl is a bizarre story about four teenage psychopaths who have been murdering women by hunting them through the woods. Veronica (Abigail Breslin) has been trained since a young girl to take them down. Not sure of the timeline here...if these boys have been murdering for the last twelve years and they are still in high school...hmmm... Anyway Breslin is kick ass and turns the tables on them by hunting them through the woods. It's gory...and strange. ***

Gremlins What a weird movie! It starts out feeling like a children's movie with kids and cute stuffed-animal looking creatures that coo and sing. Then it all goes wrong when they turn into these evil little beasts with fangs, red eyes and claws. Very violent. Then the girl tells why she hates Christmas - her father dressed in a Santa suit, thought he'd surprise them by crawling down the chimney with toys, and broke his neck...they found him a few days later when he began to smell. GOOD GOD! Definitely not a children's movie! And there was absolutely no reason for that story. So weird. Substandard performances by all. **

I'm Not Ashamed is the story of Rachel Joy Scott, the Christian girl who was killed at Columbine High School who professed her faith right to the last moment of life. Sweet story, all God-talk and cultish. I think kids who are in pain migrate toward something outside themselves that will give them strength and hope, and therefore, they are the most impressionable and easy conversion targets. I know I was as a teenager. Religion is all about how to survive suffering, or more importantly, how to make sense of and accept suffering. The lead actress was really outstanding. Some of the script was cliché and tired, but it was a good movie. Mass murders are senseless and it gets really tiring to hear how everyone should pray for the victims and their families as if that really does anything to promote change. The world sucks right now in so many ways with so much hate, disrespect, and apathy. ***

Into the Forest is a futuristic apocalyptic movie about a man and his two daughters (Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood) who are living up the woods somewhere, three days walk from town. The power grid goes out, no gas, no internet, no cell phone. They stock up on food and have chickens, but why they never fixed the roof which drips water constantly I can't figure out. Then the father has a chainsaw accident and dies. The girls are on their own but learn through books how to identify plants, herbs, etc and learn to store food. A sleazy man shows up for some drama. It was a nice movie about sisterly devotion and dedication. Yay, girl power! ****

Jack Reacher I've never been a Tom Cruise fan, but the sequel of this movie looked interesting so I ordered both. It's about an ex-military police officer highly trained who goes off the grid, but somehow knows when he is needed. I like a character with superpowers and this guy can take out a whole group of men in a matter of minutes. That was fun. And the character has moral conviction - another trait I admire - battling corruption and sleaziness. The story was OK although a little unbelievable, the dialogue was at times unrealistic with long dramatic speeches, the performances were adequate, the chase scenes with that Camaro were really good. Robert DeNiro has a small role and he was great. ***

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back This one had a slightly more interesting story centered on government and military corruption. And a kid to add some intrigue and emotion. They sure did run a lot in this movie, all the time. It was exhausting. I just don't care for Tom Cruise. ***

Keeping Up with the Joneses is about a middle class couple (Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher) living on the perfect cul-de-sac working their mundane jobs, living their mundane lives and then the new neighbors (Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot) move in. Can Hamm and Gadot be any more gorgeous?  The neighbors can't help but watch them and feel envious at their romance and supposedly exciting jobs until they start acting suspicious...like spies. It was cute and funny and I could look at Jon Hamm for hours without getting bored. ***

Patriot's Day was about the Boston Marathon bombing. All-star cast with Mark Walberg, John Goodman, Kevin Bacon and others. Excellent story. Great music. Superb performances. During the bombing scenes it was like horror movie music. ****

Silence is about the last Christian missionaries in Japan during the 1600s and the persecution of Japanese Christians who converted. Adam Driver was rocking some serious cheekbones. Both he and Andrew McCarthy must have lost a lot of weight to play those parts. The story was very disturbing. The martyrdom of Christians was ruthless and exceedingly torturous. The Christian devotion shown right to the end is zealous and ignorant. Beautiful scenery, excellent performances, disturbing story. ***

The Space Between Us was about a kid born on a space station on Mars and because his fetal development took place in zero gravity, he is incompatible with Earth. So he's stuck. At age 16 he meets a girl online who is on Earth, and with a photo of his mother and father decides he wants to risk his life, go the Earth to meet the girl and find his dad. It was a sweet story and fun to see him amazed by Earth since we all take it for granted. Some of the lines of teenage love were a little corny, but I think kids are corny anyway. ***

Split was about this guy (James McAvoy) who has 23 split personalities and he kidnaps three teenage girls. Two are debutante types and the third is strangely anti-social and odd. She gives us flashbacks of past trauma incited by present trauma, but her story is unclear to the end.  Psycho-thriller. McAvoy was outstanding. Betty Buckley played his therapist. ***

Whiskey Tango Fox Trot is about a reporter (Tina Fey) stuck in a rut in NYC and opts to take an assignment in Afghanistan. It was an interesting drama with humor thrown in for fun. There are scary people in the world. ***

The Wiz Live! is a live television production of the Broadway musical The Wiz from 2015. All-star cast: Mary J. Blige, Queen Latifah, Amber Riley, David Alan Grier, Ne-Yo, Uzo Aduba, and Stephanie Mills came back as Auntie Em. The sweet thing who played Dorothy had an outstanding voice and spirit. I had no idea that Uzo Aduba could sing that well. I loved the 1978 movie with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson and I used to have the soundtrack.  One of my favorite songs, if not my favorite song of all time is "Home." Excellent. Loved the "Making of the Wiz Live" bonus. And then I watched it all again...*****

The Zookeeper's Wife is about how the Zabinska family, owners of the Warsaw Zoo after the zoo was destroyed and the animals shipped off or killed by the Germans, started a pig farm as a cover to smuggle Jews out of the Warsaw Ghetto. Excellent story, great performances. I hated Jessica Chastain's fake accent...it just seemed wrong, but other than that it was excellent. All and anything could be forgiven with one glimpse of those snuggly white lion cubs. ****

The Laundry Goddess

I have never in my life loved to do laundry. Until now! I am the proud owner of a new washer and dryer! I have done at least ten loads in the last 24 hours. It gives me great pleasure.

I've had one, cheap, used washing machine for the last 12 years. I've never really liked it. It was incredibly small, didn't clean the clothes very well, and lacked in choices. I've never had a dryer. They are energy suckers for sure, but more importantly they will damage clothes forcing the owner to shop too often. However, going to the laundromat to dry comforters, blankets or pillows that won't air dry fast enough is a health hazard. To survive the laundromat experience, I have to take a little plastic bag with a towel soaked in vinegar and wipe down the dryers in hopes of removing any fabric sheet or fabric softener residue. It usually worked...a little. I vowed if my washer went out while I'm still in this house and there is no hope to move in the near future, I'll buy myself a dryer along with the new washer.

Tiny Lone Washer
Perfect for Tiny Laundry Room

A month ago the washer died. It was 12 years old which is a good life for a washer and shows how incredibly patient I am (or cheap) to wait so long with a substandard appliance.

I started going to a laundromat that always had few customers and was rather clean, but I had a problem with a faulty machine which gave me pause. And then a friend was telling me her friend is very susceptible to athlete's foot and every time she uses a laundromat she gets it. Eeeeewww! Unless you are running the machines on hot water or filling them with bleach, you can get any kind of bacteria...or bed bugs. So I collected piles and piles of dirty clothes in the kitchen for a month. I was more than excited to get a new washer and dryer set, and the piles of dirty clothes motivated me. However, shopping always poses challenges for anyone who is chemically sensitive.

Living beyond civilization is the first challenge. No one wants to deliver. They won't even take bribes to deliver. They just don't want to deliver to the edge of civilization. I finally did find one store willing to venture out of their area for a price, but dealing with Home Depot is never a good experience. When I ordered from the stinky salesperson I was told it would take 7-10 days for it to be delivered to the store. Don't count on it. None of their customer service emails were managed, the "track delivery" didn't work, and most of their phone lines wouldn't let me push a department number. What a hassle!

After too much stress, the washer/dryer set was delivered. The delivery guys stunk. They hooked everything up, push the buttons and the dryer refused to work. They look. They check. Oh well! It must be the electricity! Not our problem. And left. Before they left they said, "If it's the dryer, MAYBE Home Depot will exchange it?" Remember the days when delivery was free and they actually made sure everything worked before they left? I was in a panic since contacting Home Depot and expecting to get a response is the hope of fools. I called my electrician instead and it was the electricity. My electricians are incredible, adorable, friendly, and totally fragrance-free, just expensive.

So I get everything working. The dryer stinks to high heaven. Modern appliances are made with a lot of plastic parts. It stinks like the new Cadet heaters, but I have run out of vinegar. I run it on high, open the window, and put the fan on high. We'll see. I have hope. And a headache.

So awesome to get new appliances! I've not had fluffy towels for 12 years! And these appliances are HUGE! I can fit two sets of sheets in the washer at a time! But it also has a sensor so I can also wash one pair of socks and the water only reaches to the socks. Technology is so incredibly. I feel like I've come out of the dark ages!

HOORAY FOR SPENDING MONEY!

HAPPINESS!

I CAN'T WAIT TO HAVE MORE DIRTY CLOTHES!

50 Handmaids in 50 States

I participated in the 50 Handmaids in 50 States demonstration. This event was to protest gender inequality, gender identity, defunding of Planned Parenthood, along with Black Lives Matter, indigenous rights, healthcare and well, anything you wanted to protest with a women's rights theme. There would be an hour of silence, speakers, and a protest march down to Planned Parenthood.

They suggested we sew our own capes and caps although I didn't find out about it until late. OR one could rent the capes and caps. OR just dress in all black which is what we did. We were the chorus. Background performers. Unfortunately, they ran out of "handmaids" and asked if any of us black-clad participants would like to don a red cape and white cap. SURE! They waived the rental fee. My friend kept saying, "Hooray! We have a walk-on part!" LOL! "I'm ready for my close up!" Unfortunately, due to our roles of just standing in silence, I couldn't take photos of the actual silent protest, but you can find them online.

I didn't realize the hour of silence was more than just silent protest - it was a photo op. There were professional photographers and filmmakers snapping photos and filming us walking in twos and standing on the steps of the capitol in silence. One of the photographers was from the New York Times. Oddly enough, I've never seen this television show so I was at a loss for what it was about or what one was supposed to do to be in character. I acted shameful and submissive. After about five minutes of standing still I found out later most of us were thinking, "Has it been an hour yet??" LOL.

After we listened to speakers, we marched through town to Plan Parenthood to overtake the Pro-Life demonstrators. It must have been frightening for them. There were two of them and about 80 of us. LOL! More photos were taken and then it was over. So fun.

Protest season has finally returned. So glad.

Canary Singles

For years I asked various MCS groups to create and promote a relationship-seeking site for those of us who are single and would like to connect with others, but most rejected my idea telling me it would dilute the socio-political message and public education is the priority. So many of us are isolated without a support system, without family, and sometimes without friends with suicide the number one cause of death for the MCS community. To me connecting with others is a priority. Most of us can't even fathom an actual romantic relationship as just surviving daily can be so stressful. For those ready and willing to take the plunge, where would one find a single, safe, fragrance-free person? We can't even find MCS friends!

So here it is!  Canary Singles There is a free 30-day trial then after that you pay to flirt. One month costs $9.99, three months $19.99, six months $29.99 and one year is $49.99. Payment is made through Paypal.

No, I have not yet joined.

I did look at the menu. If I'm reading the locations correctly there are actual some men close to me (which is odd thing to discover), but I think I'll wait until more members join to make it cost effective. I'm not sure if I'm a dating site kind of girl. And just the thought of a man in my life exhausts me. Just the thought. So much work. So much effort. I like my singlehood. My autonomy. My independence. Why would I want a man to mess it up? Hmmmmm...I'll ponder that.

September Movie Reviews

*****  Exceptional

****    Great

***      OK

**        So So

*          Blah

The Book of Love is about a girl who's dad died at sea and a man who's wife recently died and how they come together. Great potential. Jason Sudeikis is a great actor, but some of the other performances weren't so good. Or maybe it was the script, or the direction. The music was composed by Justin Timberlake and although it was nice, it was a little too epic for the simplicity of the story. **

Deepwater Horizon is based on the true story of an oil rig in the middle of the ocean, corporate greed (BP has got to be the worst company in the universe, maybe even worse than Monsanto), and the disaster that follows as it blows to smithereens killing too many people. Great cast: Kurt Russell, Kate Hudson (Oh, I'm just now realizing these two were in a movie together! Funny.), Mark Walberg,  Gina Rodriguez, and John Malkovitch. Sometimes the Louisiana accents were hard to understand. Typical disaster plot - they spend the first half hour introducing the characters so you feel emotional about them, then the next half hour showing the camaraderie between them, next fifteen minutes to showcase how sleazy BP is, and then the big bang and survivor rescue. Good story. ****

Hacksaw Ridge Incredibly violent war scenes. I'm not sure if they were the worst I've ever seen, but very graphic with guts all over, body parts, half faces, large black rats eating the bodies. Pretty gruesome and incredibly realistic. Great story. Andrew Garfield was superb. It's about a young man who is a conscientious objector, refuses to even touch a gun, but he enlists to be a medic so he can save lives not take them. Of course, he gets a lot of grief for being the odd man out. In the end a lot of his comrades were really glad he was there. I like a story about moral conviction. ****

Hello, My Name Is Frank...I Have Tourette's was a strange little movie with poorly written dialogue and substandard performances. Obviously it's about a man with Tourette's Syndrome, more about the girl who just graduated from high school. Her mother was Frank's caregiver for most of her life and she is torn between her future and caring for Frank herself as a promise to her mother. On top of that she has plans to visit the grave of her best friend on the best friend's birthday although their relationship was unclear. She and her two friends along with Frank travel across three states (!) to get to the cemetery, again, not sure why the best friend lived so far away. I didn't like the ending as it really made no sense along with the rest of the movie. Too many loose ends when what should have happened seemed clear to me. **

Jaws What a classic! It's now 40 (?) years old and it's still great. Of course, the first time I saw it I couldn't sleep for nights because of the nightmares and for years I never went into the water. Love Richard Dreyfuss. When so many movies from the 1970s seem intolerably dated, this movie can stand the test of time. Such a classic. *****

Lolo is a French movie about a sociopathic mama's boy who sabotages all of his mother's relationships. She meets a man in the country who is moving to Paris. He is sweet and naive, and way too trusting. It has some funny lines, especially when the women get together and talk about sex. **

Looking Both Ways is an Australian movie about people preoccupied with death: a woman who's father just died, a man who has been diagnosed with cancer, a reporter convinced most deaths are suicides, the girlfriend of a man who was hit by a train. This plot was supported by flashes of headlines, television news casts, and articles. The woman who's father just died is an artist but sees disaster around every corner anyway. As she walks down the street she imagines the subway above her going off its rails and crashing, or the man walking his dog as a rapist...and this plays out in her imagination as art. The art/cartooning is really spectacular. The man just diagnosed with cancer sees the disease eating away at bodies. He imagines the smoker next to him with skin cancer cells or he reads that masturbation and sex eat cancer cells so as he's kissing the woman, he sees his cancer cells disappearing. Loved the art and the death theme, but it seemed as if there was too much going on, too many non-death-related storylines diluting the plot. It needed more focus. Still, it was interesting. At times a little slow. Lots of scenes with birds flying in the sky. The DVD was slightly damaged so I had to suffer through skipping every now and then which didn't help. ***

Loving is about the interracial couple who defied the system and changed the law allowing interracial marriages. The racism is so disturbing and more disturbing that it persists in modern society. Will we never evolve? ***

Maximum Ride is about a science gone-wrong that created a bunch of hybrid humans as weapons. They were kept in cages and experimented on as children, transported to a mountain cabin to emotionally mature, recaptured. Not-so-good script, not-so-good acting, but it was an interesting story. **

Priceless is about human trafficking, stealing girls and making them prostitutes. It starts out with a man who needs a job and agrees to transport "cargo" for a night. Accidentally he finds out the cargo are two Mexican sisters who believe they are coming to the United States to work off their father's debt as maids or waitresses. It has a lot of God-talk, great looking lead actor, the dialogue is staged and mushy. But interesting. ***

The Take was about an American pick-pocket (Richard Madsen from Game of Thrones, I didn't recognize him...) in Paris who steals a bag that has a bomb and when it goes off he is blamed as the terrorist. CIA agent (Idris Elba from Star Trek) finds him and uncovers the plan. Great story, very intriguing. Lots of scenes of fancy fighting that went on too long at times. ****

Twentieth Century Women was about a single, divorced woman (Annette Bening) in 1979 trying to raise a teenage boy. She feels she can't do it alone and asks her two roommates to help guide him to be a better man. Annette Bening was great, but the story was strangely unappealing and her character oddly unlikeable. **

ONLY TWELVE  MOVIES??? ONLY!!! Lately my library sucks at courier service. It's taking way too long to get deliveries. Not sure why, but I'm going days without any movies. Very frustrating.