July Movie Reviews

The Captive is about a ten-year old who is snatched from her dad's truck when he's in a store buying pie and she's kept captive by this lunatic who kidnaps kids for some ring. They constantly imply the horrors these children go through, but they never deal in details. I didn't like how they jump around the story back and forth in time. It's like someone didn't think the plot didn't have any merit on its own. ***

Free Samples was a movie about a woman who takes a sabbatical from law school, goes to L.A. to try her hand at art and music, but spends most of the time drunk. That's the background. The friend she's staying with needs her to cover for her by giving out free samples of ice cream out of a taco truck in a parking lot. The hang over she has makes her anything but friendly and patient. She has no filter. All kinds of strange people walk up to the truck to get their free samples.. It was surprisingly good with some LOL moments. ****

The Last Five Years is a movie based on a Broadway musical starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan, both outstanding performers with great voices. The storyline is the progression of a relationship from the beginning to the end. I was perpetually confused. The scenes kept jumping back and forth in time although I don't know why they didn't just go with a linear plot. I kept getting up to do other things without pausing the DVD and that is never a good sign. I hated Anna Kendrick's dye job. But the music was great. **

Selma is a movie about Martin Luther King, Jr. and the 1965 march for voting rights in Selma, Alabama. The opening scenes set the stage...very disturbing, but the photography is outstanding. The acting is superb. It's outrageous that people in this world are so racist and the culture they grew up in promotes such hate. Excellent movie. ****

The Sixth Sense is about a little boy who is scared all the time and a child psychologist tries to help him. If you've never seen this movie or have never heard about it [because you live under a rock], don't watch the preview. Unfortunately the preview was wide-spread before the movie came out so everyone knew what it was about. This is probably the fifth time I've seen the movie and I tried to watch it with "new eyes". If you didn't know the story in advance, it's not really clear until the middle of the movie. Of course, if you've ever seen the movie, you know it's really not clear until the end of the movie! Love it. The kid is spectacular. *****

Small Time was about a car salesman in the 1970s and his partner who agree to hire the man's newly high-school graduated son and teach him the skills of [sleazy] salesmanship. It was OK. Nothing special. **

Voices is a movie about a crazy guy (Ryan Reynolds). He lives alone with his cat and his dog and works at the local factory that builds bathroom fixtures. If he doesn't take his meds his pets talk to him. The cat keeps telling him if he wants to feel alive he should kill things. He accidentally kills the woman he's in love with, cuts her up into little pieces, stores the pieces in Tupperware, and places her head in the refrigerator. The head starts talking to him telling him she lonely and wants a friend... Such a weird movie. ***