***** Exceptional
**** Great
*** OK
** So So
* Blah
Blue Jay is about two high school sweethearts, Amanda and Jim, who
run into each other twenty-four years later when they are both visiting their
hometown. They go for coffee at the Blue Jay then spend the afternoon and all
night reminiscing about the old days. Filmed beautifully in black and white
with gorgeous photography and framing . It was very heartwarming and touching,
but what made this movie so great was the outstanding performances. Two actors,
that's it. No frills. Really, really outstanding performances. ****
The Brand New
Testament Oh my God this was BRILLIANT! It's a Belgian movie with
English subtitles about a little girl who lives in her family's apartment with
her mother...and father...who is God. She narrates the story describing the
control God has not only over his own family, but the enjoyment he gets
tormenting humans. Her older brother, JC, escaped God's reach, but got himself
killed. She gets fed up with her father's tyrannical, abusive, petty behavior
and decides to escape, find herself some new apostles, and re-write the New
Testament, but before she leaves she wants to destroy her father's power over
humans. She releases every one's death date via their mobile devices. It's
amazingly creative and the writing is superb. My first thought was this is the
most perfect movie ever made, but then it got a little weird and stupid with
Catherine Deneuve's love interest. The character of God is outstanding. Yolande
Moreau is my new favorite actress and the sensitivity of her interpretations
are really exquisite. Her face is so expressive. She was also in the movie Seraphine from last month. Every one of
her scenes are brilliant especially the one where she is playing records and
singing along. Totally brilliant. *****
Chappie is about a law enforcement robot with consciousness.
All-star cast with Dev Patel, Sigourney Weaver and Hugh Jackman. A little
sci-fi for me and disturbing scenes of "child" abuse. ***
Dreamer is about a race horse trainer (Kurt Russell) and his
daughter (Dakota Fanning). When one of the race horses he was training takes a
tumble and is injured, instead of shooting her, he talks his boss into giving
him the horse instead of his wages. They nurture the horse back to health. Feel
good, sweet movie. Beautiful scenery and horses. Great music. ***
Emptying the
Skies is based on Jonathan
Franzen's The New Yorker expose on
the poaching of millions of migratory songbirds in Europe and the anti-poaching
volunteers that investigate, find and destroy traps, and release the birds (if
possible). So cruel and sad. The birds are snared in torturous, painful ways.
It's hard to believe these tiny little birds are eaten as a delicacy. First,
they are served with their heads still attached. Eeeeww. Who would want to eat
that? And they are so tiny it's hard to imagine there is anything there to eat.
****
Foxcatcher was about an Olympic wrestler, Mark Schulz (Tatum
Channing), who is sponsored by the rich yet twisted John du Pont (Steve
Carrell) and the relationship he has with this pseudo father figure that
challenges the relationship he has with his older brother, Dave (Mark Ruffalo),
who is also an Olympic wrestler. I don't like wrestling, not fond of brooding,
moody wrestlers, nor the politics involved in professional competition, but
Steve Carrell's performance as that entitled yet seriously damaged lunatic was
really spellbinding. I always think of Carrell as a comedian, but he really
excels at drama. **
Gia Angelina
Jolie stars as Gia Maria Carangi considered the first "supermodel"
during the 1970s. She is one of the first well-known deaths due to AIDS. What a
waste. ***
Lady MacBeth is about a nineteenth-century English woman in an
abusive marriage. Her husband is horrid and her father-in-law just as bad.
She's not allowed to go outside and is made to stand nude while her husband
masturbates. The men leave and she begins a torrid affair with the stable
boy. So they can be together she begins
murdering people. At first you want to cheer for her - the men deserve it, but
then she takes it a bit too far. Excellent performances, sets, costumes. ***
Lore This
was really interesting. Most movies about post-WWII history are about Jewish
survivors. This one was about a Nazi German family living in opulence until the
day their high-ranking military father comes home, announces the war is over (not
in a good way), and instructs them to burn all their Nazi propaganda and run
like hell. The Americans are coming! The parents are forced to turn themselves
in leaving their five Hitler Youth children on their own. Lore, is about
sixteen, left to care for her sister Liesel, twin eight-year old brothers Jurgen and
Gunter, and a baby brother, Peter. The
story follows their trek across Germany to their grandmother's house through
various military zones, refugee camps filled with homeless people, abandoned
farms with dead Germans who've committed suicide or were raped and killed, and
German country people who are all crying because Hitler is dead and claim the
photos of dead Jews are fake news. The kids are filthy and starving and end up
traveling with a man who has Jewish identity papers which gives them security
clearance they wouldn't normally get. Lore expresses her disgust toward the
Jewish man several times alternating with taking his hand and putting it up her
dress. (She's confused...wartime does that to a girl.) He sticks with them
anyway, helping them get food, protecting them from soldiers, killing for them,
but there is some indication having the baby gives them (him) special
privileges, too. It's advantageous to tell authorities he is their older
brother. I kept wondering why a Jewish man would have blue eyes, but then near
the end of the movie we find out he stole those Jewish papers off a dead
concentration camp prisoner. I don't know if I've ever seen a WWII movie from
the German perspective. It was very thought provoking and emotionally
challenging, twisting the viewer between disgust and hate for the Nazis and
their brain dead followers and empathy for the German children who through no
fault of their own were in a very bad situation...even when they were singing
Hitler songs or Heil Hitlering people. German movie with English subtitles. ****
Mi Madre is an Italian film with English subtitles about a film
director whose mother is in the hospital dying. The performances were good,
lots of Italians screaming all the time, the sequencing with flashbacks were
confusing, but more importantly, I wasn't sure of the point. She was conflicted
with accepting her mother's impending death and the need to finish her current
film, but I just didn't see the point of the movie. No great lesson to learn, no grand turmoil to overcome, a little human relationship drama but
not enough to support a movie. A couple times I almost turned it off...because
I didn't see the point. No point. *
Mother was one long very bad anxiety dream where everything
is going wrong and you've lost all control. I wanted closure and explanation. I
waited thinking maybe the main character (Jennifer Lawrence) would wake up and
it was a nightmare. Or maybe it was a senseless horror movie. What I did find
out later is it's some weird interpretation of the Old Testament. OK, I see
some of the symbolism, but they seem very unclear so not seeing the point. It
just feels confusing. Lawrence's performance was wonderful, if not incredibly
irritating at the beginning with all her patriarchal compliance that made me
scream out loud. Great special effects,
but the whole thing was one long weird nightmare. **
Our Kind of
Traitor was about a British
college professor (Ewan McGregor) who is befriended by a Russian Mafia money
launderer who plans to escape from the mob. He talks McGregor into contacting
the British intelligence with information to trade in hopes of saving his
family from execution. It was fine. I'm
not keen on political conspiracy movies and I hate stupid titles that make it
sound like some kind of comedy. I didn't find it very realistic. When they skip
realism for entertainment, it only irritates me. **
Pride is the true story about the British miners' strike in
the 1980s and the founding of the London Lesbians and Gays Support for Miners who rallied and raised money to
support the strikers in a little Welsh town. After being persecuted for so long
by the government, media and society in general, the gays decided solidarity
between all oppressed groups is the path to change and their alliance is born.
But the miners don't want their support as they feel they won't be taken
seriously if backed by gay people, and of course, the gays are apprehensive about giving it. Why should they support people who are the haters? Great comedy-drama about tolerance and acceptance. Excellent performances
(Imelda Staunton, Bill Nighy, Dominic West). ****
Seasons is a French film about the20,000-year history of
animals. It was pretty fascinating and I kept asking, How did they film THAT??? The photography is beautiful. Baby animals
delightful, filming techniques fascinating. But then humans showed up,
destroying the habitat, hunting the animals, and making a mess of everything.
Near the end I almost turned it off because it was so disgusting. Very powerful
message. ***
To Sir, With Love I can't believe I had never seen this movie before! I
stood there in the library looking at the DVD cover and I thought I was having
a senior moment and I had forgotten it. I think I've seen so many scenes from
it or maybe it was the theme song that sticks in your head for a lifetime that
I thought I had seen it. It's about a man (Sidney Poiter) who gets a job as a
teacher because he can't find a good job. He's stuck teaching juvenile
delinquents who are rude and obnoxious and how he overcomes the challenges of
getting them to learn something. I gave me flashbacks of my teaching days and
reminders what a horrid job teaching was. Very 1960s featuring all the social
issues of the day. Great dancing. ***
A Woman's
Life is about the life of a woman
in nineteenth century France. Her parents are wealthy with a sizable estate and
manor. She marries a penniless, philandering piece of shit and when she catches
him with her maid, she is bullied by her parents and the priest to forgive him.
When she catches him again this time with her best friend she opts to suffer in
silence as she knows it will destroy her best friend's very devoted husband.
Unfortunately she confesses her hatred of the lies to the priest who lectures
her relentlessly to make her feel ashamed and guilty for defying God's truth.
Finally the priest impatient with this woman's compliance which he claims is a
slap in the face to God, tells the man himself. As the woman expected, the best-friend's
husband shoots the lovers and then himself leaving our heroine to pick up the
pieces of her shattered and now shameful life. This was the only interesting
part of the movie, well, until her adult son squanders the family wealth and
she's left penniless living with her dead husband's mistress who was her maid.
Aside from the soap operatic themes, it was a little boring although the spoken
French was beautiful. **
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