***** Exceptional
**** Great
*** OK
** So
So
* Blah
Alex and the List is
about a man in love with a woman ready to ask her to marry him, then she
presents him with a list of "improvements" he must make for them to
be the perfect couple who will last an eternity. The staging was really, really bad. The
actors all seemed too old to be playing their characters. Lots of talk about
being immature, or not having to work, living at home, or not having to be
responsible until they are forty. They all looked like they were about 39 years
old! The performances were substandard,
the plot was pretentious, but I do like the premise that all women have these lists
but few ever speak them aloud. I think this is true, although a mistake. Only
young, silly girls think they can change a man. (Been there, tried that.) If
you don't like him the way he is, he's not the one. *
Alive and Kicking is
about the resurgence of swing dancing: the Lindy Hop and all the dances that
were developed off it. It shows the various conventions and competitions,
focusing on specific dancers or dance couples. Lots of history and historical
film footage. Many of these dancers from history are in their 80s and 90s and
still dancing. It also stresses community and connection, happiness, and
camaraderie and that just made me depressed. Totally off limits for someone who
is chemically sensitive, but fun movie. ***
American History X is
about neo-Nazis and all the hate that comes with that. Derek (Edward Norton)
goes to prison for killing two black men who were jacking his car leaving his
little brother who idolized him to follow in his footsteps. In prison he
realizes all that hate has done nothing to help his life. Excellent
performances and story. ***
The Bridge This
was the first German anti-war movie produced after World War II. It's about a
village of boys near the end of the war. The Germans were running out of
soldiers and started recruiting kids. They join up, idealistic, ready to defend
the fatherland and bring honor to themselves. With only one day of training,
their officer decides to keep them away from the battle front as the Americans
approach and assigns them to guard their own village's bridge until daybreak
when the American troops are expected and the Germans plan to blow the bridge.
Their commanding officer is killed by the village police and the boys are left
on their own not understanding they aren't supposed to really be guarding the
bridge. The American tank show and the boys stand their ground. Great black and
white film. War sucks. ***
Finding Your Feet is
a British movie about a woman (Imelda Staunton) who's been living in the lap of
luxury with a philandering husband who leaves her for his mistress. She moves
in with her older free-spirited sister who she fell out of touch many years ago
and learns how to live again. It was cute. ***
Flower was
a complex, brilliant, disturbing, delightful movie about a fast-talking,
smart-ass, seventeen year old girl, Erika (Zoey Deutch), who with her two friends,
blackmail child molesters for money after entrapping them into accepting blow
jobs. Her mother's new boyfriend's son
is just out of rehab and moves in with them. He is anxiety-prone, overweight, and
not anything like she expected. He's very disturbed and after running into the
teacher who molested him who was released from custody due to lack of evidence,
he attempts to hang himself in their garage. Erika finds out this is guy is the
"hot old guy" she has been oogling at the bowling alley. She devises
an elaborate scheme to entrap him and make him pay for what he did to her new step-brother.
Did he really do it or did her new, disturbed step-brother lie? Zoey Deutch is
an incredibly actress. All outstanding performances. It gets very entangled and
frightening when things go very wrong, but ends rather well. Excellent,
intriguing movie. ****
The Hero was
about an aging, unemployed cowboy-actor (Sam Elliott) known for his one good
movie The Hero forty years prior.
He's long-time divorced, estranged from his adult daughter, smokes too much,
drinks too much and does way too many drugs. He is diagnosed with pancreatic
cancer and questions what achievement really is when he is offered a lifetime
achievement award from a Western historical preservation guild. This was very
much like the Burt Reynolds movie I saw a few months ago with the same theme,
except it was more melancholy regarding age especially when he hooks up with a
young, vibrant woman (Laura Prepon). The Reynolds movie also had a young woman
in it, but their relationship was paternal not sexual in any way. The romance
tended to put a glaring spotlight on his age especially since he keeps
questioning her intentions. The Reynolds movie had more of an uplifting message
about life appreciation. The Sam Elliott character was far more pathetic in his
self-pity, but the plot was a little more entertaining. Prepon tends to play
the same person in every role: always dyed black hair with teeny tiny drawn
eyebrows, usually leather attired, often drugs, same personality. Same
everything. I've never seen her do anything different and that suggests she's
not acting, just being herself. That gets boring. ***
In Darkness is
the Holocaust survivor story of a group of Jews in Lvov, Poland, who lived in
the sewers for 14 months after the Jewish ghetto was annihilated until the end
of the war. Leopold Socha, the local sewer maintenance worker and inspector,
helped keep them safe and fed. Can you imagine? It amazes me they survived
under those conditions, but they didn't have much of a choice. I actually read
this story many years ago in a Holocaust encyclopedia. I wasn't sure if it was
the same or based on the same story, but two details were seared into my brain:
1) the woman who had to smother her baby to keep it from crying so they
wouldn't be discovered, and 2) when the war was over and Socha brought the Jews
up to street level he proudly exclaimed repeatedly, "These are my Jews! I
saved them!" It must have been hard work and his joy was overwhelming even
in print. Great story, excellent performances, very violent and graphic, but
it's the Holocaust and I appreciate the director didn't clean it up or
romanticize it. Lots of rats. I can only imagine the smell of shit and dead
bodies. I wonder how they didn't all die from disease. ****
Kings This
was about the Rodney King trial and riots in Los Angeles in 1991-1992. It
focuses on a husband-less woman (Halle Berry) with a whole lot of children
including foster kids. She seemed to be out of control in every scene or not
present leaving the children alone with older siblings who are not always
competent in their care or even present themselves constantly moving in and out
of the house. They are always hungry and with no food in the house, one of the
older kids teaches the younger ones how to shoplift. They head to the local
supermarket for some shoplifting fun and a meal of Cheetos and junk food. (Note: this was really unrealistic as she
would never be allowed to have this ratio of foster kids and with constant
inspections, the neglect wouldn't go unnoticed. I think....) When the violence
starts to escalate, the characters become perpetually confused and hysterical.
Halle's character runs down the street and with no thought to leaving her very
young kids at home. She starts screaming at and attacking police officers. Then
as an afterthought she becomes a blubbering idiot wondering why they are
arresting her. This leaves the seven year old in charge of two two year olds!
Her kids all go running out into the streets in different directions regardless
of the explosions and sounds of gunfire. Are they just stupid? The oldest kid
in a hysterical fit of rage purposely stabs his friend/foster brother with a
shard of window glass and then seems to come to his senses and wigs out that
the kid is dying. Well, duh! Was he just not thinking? So they jump in an
abandoned car, stealing it, and race around the neighborhood hysterically
crying not sure where they are going with the idea they might save the kid's
life by driving in circles. The whole movie was weird like that with people
acting as brain dead as possible and the actors overacting to absurdity. Daniel
Craig played Halle's drunk and volatile neighbor. Normally I like him, but his
character was pretty ignorant as well. What adult in their right mind would
harbor three young kids in his apartment without telling the parent? At one
point Halle falls asleep and fantasizes about him. There was even some humor
inappropriately and haphazardly interjected into some scenes that almost made
it feel like a parody. Totally inappropriate for the subject matter. Is police
brutality, injustice and violence funny? Maybe the writing was just bad?? Are
these characters supposed to be stupid? And then it dawns on me...Is this the
white man's view of the Rodney King situation? Are all African Americans perceived
as stupid with too many unsupervised, out of control children? Do all black
women desperately long for a white man? Are they all hysterical and unable to
think in times of stress? And is all this violence their fault because they are
so stupid to run out and challenge police officers? Hmmm... I wonder about the
title, too. Kings. Hmmmmm.... So unable to stop thinking about how offensive
and insulting this movie is, I got online and tried to find more information.
Sure enough the director who is also the writer is a French white woman. Rotten
Tomatoes, Rolling Stone and Roger Ebert each gave this film ONE star with
comments such as "emotionally constipated" and "a really bad
sitcom." So my final question: Why are Berry and Craig in such a movie?
They are big box office draws. Did they not see these underlying messages? This movie was a racist commentary on African
Americans. Oddly enough, it was very thought-provoking and watchable, just
appalling. *
Love, Simon is
a coming-of-age, coming-out film about Simon who has a great life, great
friends, great family and one big secret he desperately tries to keep for fear
disclosure will change everything. Then someone at school confesses anonymously in a chat or group and
Simon and this mystery man begin emailing. Simon tries to guess who it is as
the movie progresses. His emails are discovered by an asshole who blackmails
him into helping him get a girl with the threat he'll tell everyone. It's a
sweet movie, well-written with excellent performances and great humor while
addressing nearly everything about being in the closet and coming out: the
stereotypical behaviors of people, the worries and stresses, the realities, the "rules".
Love the drama teacher. LOL. He has a great bedroom with really cool
blackboard/slate walls surrounding his bed, but all I could think of is how he has to breathe in
and sleep on chalk dust. Eeeeww. *****
Nostalgia is
about the material objects people leave behind after they die and the personal
meaning and value that is attached to them. It follows several interconnecting
stories of people's lives and their memories of loved ones. It was a little
slow, but interesting in how it asks questions, for instance, if your house was
burning down, what would you save, what is irreplaceable. I've often thought about if I had only
moments to get out of my house what would I grab. One of the stories involved a
young woman who dies and because her computer and phone were destroyed, she
left so little behind. Interesting thought. ***
Outside In is
about a man who gets out of prison after twenty years for murder he didn't
commit but took the blame. His ex-high school teacher (Eddie Falco) work for
two years to get him released, talking to him several times a week. He's in
love with her. She's married. Adjusting to life on the outside is difficult and
he misses the connection they once had. ***
Patti Cakes This
movie was a total surprise. I couldn't read the back of the DVD without my
glasses, but I could make out "an inspirational underdog story" so I
thought, OK. The front cover was questionable featuring an overweight blonde
girl looking a little too much like Melissa McCarthy and an Indian man looking
like ghetto gangsters. I was afraid it was stupid humor. I asked the librarian
to read the back for me and she wasn't impressed. She read like this,
"...Jersey NO!...strip-mall NO!...rapper NO!" I got it anyway, not
always trusting the intuition of my librarians. Pleasantly surprised. It's
about a 23 year old bartender living with her alcoholic, slutty mother and her
dying grandmother. With posters of her favorite rapper covering her bedroom
walls and many notebooks filled with rap lyrics, she fantasizes about being a
famous rapper garnering acceptance from those who doubt her and money to pay
for her grandmother's medical expenses. Playing in a man's world is difficult. Having
a mother who once nearly got a recording contract when she was young and constantly
beats your self-esteem down makes it nearly impossible. Most of the boys from
her neighborhood still call her their junior high nickname for her
"Dumbo" and resent her presence on street corners challenging their
rapping skills. Her best friend is a Indian
pharmacy worker and she meets an African American guitar player at a open mic with
metal rings in his mouth who calls himself the anti-Christ but goes by the name
of Basterd. He lives on the edge of the cemetery in a shack filled with all
kinds of recording equipment. Together
they become the rap group PBNJ and set to record a demo. Amidst the constant,
debilitating rejection and negativity, she fights to escape the Jersey suburbs.
Great story. Outstanding performances. ****
Permanent is
about a very strange family in the 1980s. Their junior high daughter decides
she wants hair like Farrah Fawcett and talks her mother (Patricia Arquette)
into a perm. Her mother takes her to a beauty school where they overperm her
head and she ends up with wild kinky curls. The previews looked like it might
be cute and clever, instead it was stupid and irritating. *
Please Stand By is
about a young woman (Dakota Fanning) living in a group home who wants
desperately to live with her sister but she had a difficult time functioning,
gets confused often, noises bother her and she throws violent temper tantrums.
She's a Star Trek fan and enters a
script writing contest in order to win money that she feels would enable her to
live with her sister without costing her money. When she has missed the mailing
deadline, she heads to Los Angeles on a bus negotiating the road blocks and
hurdles along the way. Toni Colette is her therapist. **
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women
is about the creator of the comic Wonder Woman which is based on William
Marston's psychological theories of dominance, influence, submission and
compliance enacted through the polyamorous relationship between him, his wife
and their student assistant. It was fascinating seeing how Wonder Woman and all
her sexual domination over men came to be. Great performances. Loved the 1920s
- 1940s wardrobe. ***
Roman J. Israel, Esq. is
about a lawyer (Denzel Washington) who has been the hidden backbone of a
two-partner law firm. His partner has a heart attack and his estate along with
the firm is left to the niece to close using her uncle's former law student
(Colin Farrell). She makes it clear Roman is unsuited to continue the
work. I think he is either autistic or
has Asberger's Syndrome. He is unkept, dresses in old suits, listens to 1970s
music and constantly relives his 1970's activist days sporting an Afro
hairstyle. He tends to blurt out just what he's thinking and doesn't seem to
comprehend the body language of others. Although he has a photographic memory
and astute knowledge of the law, his interpersonal relationship style makes him
a shitty lawyer which is why he was relegated to the backroom for the past 26
years. It was a sad, depressing movie. Washington was brilliant although
truthfully it was a little unsettling seeing him 50 lbs. heavier, looking like
a homeless guy stuck in the 1970s, and acting like he was cognitively impaired.
I was never sure if Colin Farrell was a good guy or an extremely sleazy guy.
Excellent soundtrack. ***
Same Kind of Different Than Me is
about rich people volunteering at a homeless shelter. It was a little mushy.
Lots of A-list actors, but the dialogue was a little staged. *
Submission is
about a college literature professor (Stanley Tucci) who wrote one good novel
and now has a serious case of writer's block due to his mundane, lifeless
existence. One of his students is writing her own novel and asks him to read
it. It's an X-rated narrative about a high school girl who has an affair with
her science teacher. The young woman acts insecure, but clingy, needing his
advice and approval constantly, hanging outside his office waiting for him,
calling him at home. Are men really that stupid not to see the manipulation,
how she setting him up to use and blackmail him? It's so pathetic to see how
weak and stupid he is not to see what she's doing and she gives all women a bad
name. Is it any wonder women who report bad behaving men are rarely taken
seriously? **
Thank You For Your Service is
about veterans who come back from the war with PTSD, get absolutely no help
from veteran's services, and have to negotiate life while contemplating suicide
all the time. It was very sad and frustrating. Great story, excellent
performances with Miles Teller as the main character. ****
We Are X Oh,
good god where have I been? It amazes me how much I don't know about the rest
of the world. This is a documentary film on the androgynous-looking
elaborately-costumed with a foot tall spiked pink hair, Japanese heavy metal
band X Japan who has been around since 1977!!!??? They are internationally
well-known...although clearly not that well-known in my part of the world! Yoshiki,
is an incredibly high-energy, head-banging drummer, with huge celebrity, super-hero-type following in
Japan. He is a classically trained pianist, writes all the group's songs, plays
a number of instruments and is the designated band leader. He has made
everything happen. The film addresses his background and family including his
father's traumatic suicide when he was ten years old. Most his songs have to do
with that pain which is why they resonate with so many. Outstanding vocals from
the lead singer who at one point was brainwashed by a cult who talked him into
quitting and causing the band to break up. Shortly after the breakup, their
guitarist committed suicide although I don't think it was suicide agreeing with
other people in the film based on the information they gave. Another guitarist,
former band member, also committed suicide after he was arrested. It was an
incredibly compelling history and now forty years later, they are still
performing to huge international audiences with a devoted following. What
shocks me is how young Yoshiki looks! Skinny rockstar, no wrinkles, long
hair...He's 52 years old now and doesn't look a day older than 25!. How does
that happen? I'm jealous. The film included a lot of footage on the steroid
shots he takes because of the pain in his wrists, elbows, and shoulders from
overuse (drumming and piano playing) and he wears a neck brace due to neck
injuries from head banging action, but it all somehow adds to his rock-star
mystique. The fact he looks immortal helps. They wear face masks too, but I
don't know if it's because of air pollution, a fashion statement, or vocal
protection. It wasn't addressed. I know this is really popular in Japan, and
with MCS I was curious. Great movie. I love it when fans cry when they meet
him. LOL. *****
The Wedding Plan is
an Israeli movie about a Jewish woman who has been looking for a husband for
twelve years. She's about to get married and as they are sitting with the
wedding planner's sampling dishes for the wedding, she asks him why he has
become distant, they argue, then he finally confesses he doesn't love her. She
gets back on the wagon and through a matchmaker starts looking for another
suitable candidate, but she's so depressed and exhausted by the frustration and
disappointment she turns them all off with her negativity. In the meantime she
has booked the wedding hall and plans to get married in 22 days trusting God
will find her the perfect man in time. At one point she goes to visit some
rabbi's tomb and cries about how unworthy she is. A man on the other side of
the gender partition starts asking her if she's alright and if she needs
anything, what her name is. Again as with all men she shuns him and tells him
to go away. He meets her outside...GORGEOUS, CHARMING, totally mesmerized by her
and the chemistry between them in undeniable. Come to find out he's a rock
star. Really! But she starts spouting off her crazy-ass wedding plan and tells
him clearly their relationship would be unrealistic because she's looking for
the real thing with a religious spouse and kids and homemaker responsibilities.
Good god, I wanted to slap her! She continues being negative and depressed,
turning off and away suitable men. It was so fucking weird, but these orthodox
religious beliefs are so weird they are often unbelievable. I can't imagine the
stress of being an extremely orthodox Jewish woman who feels she must get
married but is so picky it never happens. The wedding song lyrics are so
bizarre! Weird ending. It says on the DVD cover it's a comedy, but I thought it
was depressing as hell. **
Wilson starts
off hilarious with LOL moments. It's about Wilson (Woody Harrelson) who is
contemplating life and how when we are young we are full of possibility, but
then the older we get the more we realize it's all bull shit. Wilson has
realized his life has no meaning and with the advent of computer technology,
we've lost all connection to other human beings. He goes through his day trying
to make connections, sitting next to strangers in cafes, on buses, on trains,
people who are staring at their phones or laptops or plugged into earphones.
And he has absolutely no filter saying whatever he wants. After his father
dies, he realizes he has no one. He decides to try dating (Margo
Martindale...who I always love) and then reminisces about his drug-addicted
ex-wife from long ago. He finds out she didn't have that abortion eighteen
years ago and they have a daughter who the wife gave up for adoption. They find
the daughter, stalk her, whisk her away for a weekend, until her adopted
parents charge him with kidnapping. That's where the movie got a little
bizarre, silly and convoluted. Prior to that it was asking some really great
questions about life. ***
Wind River is
about a young Native American woman who is found frozen in the snow far from
civilization on the Wind River Reservation by a Fish and Wildlife Ranger who is
a professional tracker. The FBI is called in and together they set about
solving her rape and murder. It was excellent and addressed violence against
Native American women that goes ignored. ****