White Christmas

A classic holiday musical from 1954 shown repeatedly on the small screen but not seen by this reviewer until it's appearance on the large screen in 2013.

Starring the legendary Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney, the film depicts a successful army song-and-dance team who become romantically hooked up with a sister act to save the Vermont inn owned by their former commanding general.

Some of the wonderful songs enjoyed during the movie are the title song, White Christmas, Sisters, Blue Skies, Gee! I wish I was back in the army, Count your blessings instead of sheep and What can you do with a general?

I would recommend this movie for anyone who likes any of the following: Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, musicals, and/or Christmas and give it two thumbs up  pointing up to the sky where the snow falls providing for us a white Christmas.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel/The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

In 2011, movie-goers were able to travel to India with some British retirees to experience what they believed to be a newly-restored hotel.  Then in 2015, we were allowed to go back to experience the continuing storyline of the retirees long with more of picturesque India.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel:

Dev Patel first came into our radar in 2008 blockbuster, Slumdog Millionaire.  Now he portrays Sonny Kapoor, a young man with an entrepreneur spirit to own the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel much to his mother's dismay.  The hotel becomes filled with characters portrayed by the wonderfully talented ensemble of actors: Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Ronald Pickup, Celia Imrie and Diana Hardcastle.  They all combine to bring humor, sadness, honesty and realism to a group of individuals thrown into a difficult situation.

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel:

A sequel to capitalize on the success of the first, this movie succeeds on the talent of the ensemble alone.  Not to say the story is bad but just simple enough as not to get in the way of the characters.  All the cast from the original returns, except Tom Wilkinson, plus the addition of Richard Gere, David Straithairn and Tamsin Greig.

If you link talented acting, beautiful scenery and a reason to with there was a best ensemble category with the Academy awards like there is for the Golden Globes, then by all means watch these movies. I give the original two exotic thumbs up pointing to the pedestal that Judi and Maggi reside on and the sequel one enthusiastic thumb up for the privilege at seeing both of them together again.

The Fault In Our Stars

Based on the best-selling book by John Green, this movie attempts to pull at our heartstrings and teach us a lesson on living a fulfilling life.

Shailene Woodley, who came to the attention of movie watchers from the critically acclaimed movie, The Descendants and also the teenage dystopian film, Divergent, stars as the protagonist, Hazel Lancaster.  Hazel has metastatic lung cancer and meets Augustus Waters in a cancer support group.  They story follows their journey through friendship and love.  The film realistically portrays cancer patients, different ways parents deal with their children with cancer and peer relationships between cancer patients and non-cancer patients.

Augustus' friend Isaac is more predominant in the book and is missed in the movie but the focus is on Hazel and Augustus.

Hazel and Augustus bond over the book An Imperial Affliction by Peter Van Houten.  Augustus uses his "make-a-wish" wish to allow them to travel to Amsterdam to visit Peter and find out what happened after the final page.

This reviewer has had the good fortune to be able to travel to Amsterdam and also share a birthday with fellow writer, Anne Frank.  Those scenes were amazing to watch on screen after experiencing them in person.

I give this movie one large thumb up pointing to all the stars in the sky helping us realize as Shakespeare said "The fault...is not in our stars, but in ourselves."

The Railway Man

Colin Firth continues his fantastic acting ability portraying Eric Lomax, an allied prisoner of war during world war two.  As a grown man, he is tormented by his memories of being a prisoner and of the Japanese officer, Takeshi Nagase,  at the head of the victimization.  When Eric's wife finds out that Takeshi is still alive, she convinces him to confront the officer and his own fears/memories.  There are a lot of flashbacks with a young Eric and young Takeshi. Tanroh Ishida really shines as the young Takeshi, emphasizing his power and the fear he commands.

The real essence of the film is overcoming your fears, trials and tribulations to find more peace and try to realize forgiveness.

I give this a large thumb up in hoping we all can search our souls to accept that the past happened, learn our lessons from it and find a way to forgive not only our tormentors but also ourselves to enjoy at least partial peace.

Book Thief

Based on the novel of the same name, written by Markus Zusak, this is the story of  Liesl, a German  girl (Sophie Nelisse) who is adopted by Hans and Rosa Hubermann (Geoffery Rush and Emily Watson) after her communist mother flees Nazi Germany.  On the way, her brother dies on the train and during his burial, she spies a book fall from one of the gravedigger's pockets thus beginning her book thievery.

Back in World War One, Hans had promised the Jewish family of a fallen comrade that he would do anything for them if they needed.  The son, Max shows up at Hans' door and the Hubermanns proceed to hide a Jew during the war.

Most of the movies set during the holocaust are from the Jewish perspective so this is refreshing to see the viewpoint of not only a German but a young girl.  Liesl reminded me of the real life German girl, Anne Frank (a writer born on June 12th just like this reviewer) with her innocence yet humanity in the face of war.

This movie was true to the book (but of course read the book for more detail), had wonderful acting, beautiful score and scenery.  The storyline between Liesl and Max is not to be outdone by Liesl and Hans, Liesl and Rudy, Liesl and the Mayor's wife nor Liesl and the neighbor, Frau Heinrich.

Overall, I give this two thumbs up in our constant yearning to learn from our history and celebrate the goodness which reside in all of our hearts but sometimes is hidden by tragic war and other negative circumstances.

Son of God/God's Not Dead/Heaven is For Real

I am reviewing all three of these movies into one blog post.

Son of God

     This is similar to the previous movie Passion of the Christ.  It deals with more than just the persecution of Jesus.  While still including the arrest and beatings, it tried to give more background to how Jesus acquired his followers.  

     When I left the theater after viewing, Passion of the Christ, I felt bad for being a sinner in the same way that I felt bad being German after viewing Schindler's List.  When I walked out of this movie, I was more focused on what a loving leader Jesus was than how much suffering he did for his followers.

     Roma Downey stars as Mary, the mother of Jesus and also co-produces it with her husband Mark Burnett (creator/producer of Survivor).  I am glad that they didn't have any other "recognizable" stars in the movie to take away from the story.  Diorgo Morgado played Jesus and while he was believable, I kept thinking he was too handsome to look at which made me feel weird like I was lusting at Jesus.

     Overall, I give this a one thumb up for cinematography and storytelling.  I was glad that I saw this movie and would recommend it.

God's Not Dead

     This is a story about an atheist college philosophy teacher (Kevin Sorbo) who challenges his class to write down the phrase "God is Dead".  One of his students, Josh (Shane Harper), refuses and so the professor requires him to defend his position to the entire class.  The main supporting characters are made up of the professor's girlfriend whom is a non-practicing Christian, her atheist materialistic brother (Dean Cain), Josh's pastor (real life pastor David A R White) and a fellow student (Hadeel Sittu) raised Islamic but exploring Christianity.  

     This movie has a good basis of a story with interesting characters and a foot-tapping song by the Christian group, Newsboys. In fact, when I think of the movie, I hear the line from that song "God is Not Dead, He's surely alive."  Then the movie became issue-driven instead of story-driven and fell flat in its ending.

     The good people in the movie were all Christian and the bad people were either atheist or non-Christian.  This attitude annoys me because when did a BELIEF become fact and if you don't agree with my belief, then you are either bad, wrong of both?

     This could have been a wonderful movie but it chooses to dictate its preaching instead of presenting different beliefs and letting each viewer decide on their own. 

     I give this a half a thumb up for the potential that it could have been along with its catchy song.  I am left disappointed in that my view of Christianity is a belief that there is a God and that he is the only one who can judge after our earthly life and that we all can live our own lives following our heart's passion.

Heaven Is For Real

     This movie based on the book by the same name follows the story of Pastor Todd Burpo's account of his son Colton's experience of seeing Heaven.

     Colton had a severe appendicitis rupture and almost died.  He had an out of body experience where he saw his parents in separate areas of the hospital and then saw Jesus in heaven.  He also met his paternal grandfather and older sister, both of whom passed on before Colton was born.  Todd has to come to grips with his own beliefs and allowing his son to believe what he saw.  Colton's experience affects his family, community and of course faith.

     Non-believers might think it is a preachy movie but not even close to the above-mentioned God's Not Dead.  

     I enjoyed this movie for allowing minds to be open and discussed calmly and rationally yet still passionately.  I give this a strong one thumb up signifying each individual belief that we follow in our hearts.  Please read the book though or a more complete detailing of the Burpo's story and even better would be to read it as a group and openly discuss it. 

     

Draft Day

I am obsessed with football.  I am also love movies.  So when I get a chance to see an advance screening of a movie about football, I am excited.

Draft Day is the fictionalized story of a day (specifically draft day hence the title) in the life of an NFL general manager, Sonny Weaver (played by Kevin Costner).  Sonny manages the Cleveland Browns and has to find balance between the owner (Frank Langella), the fans, the veteran players and the new coach (Denis Leary) while at the same time keeping both his widowed mother and girlfriend (Jennifer Garner) happy.  Sonny's father was the original coach and has passed on leaving a legacy that is hard to match up to.

In the movie, the Browns have the first pick of the draft because they were the worst team last season.  The highly touted prospect is a Heisman winning quarterback from the University of Wisconsin.  Side note, this reinforces that this is fiction as usually the UW is known more for running backs and offensive lineman.  Double side note--GO Badgers!

While watching the movie, I was a bit turned off by the lack of chemistry between Kevin and Jennifer. It also felt like they should be more father and daughter than romantically inclined.  In reality, there is 17 years difference so make your own judgements.

Jennifer Garner's character hit home as a knowledgable  female in the male-dominated NFL world.  To digress, it's like when a couple of guys are talking about a player, play or other NFL issue and I make a comment--at first they look at me like I'm a "dumb chick" but then they realise I know football and it is a fun conversation.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie as it got me back into my beloved football obsession.  It is best when dealing with the NFL front office wheeling and dealing and draft day behind the scenes.  I don't know how true it is to real life but it makes me appreciate all that Ted Thompson, Mark Murphy and Mike McCarthy go through making the GREEN BAY PACKERS the beloved team that they are on and off the field!

I give this one and a half thumbs up pointing to all the legendary NFL coaches and players looking down at us from Heaven.

The Great Beauty

This movie is a foreign film nominee from Italy.  It is the story of writer Jep Gambardello who on his 65th birthday, reflects on his life.  He has published one immensely successful book which has caused him t live the high life of Rome.  The IMDB site states that he reflects on his life due to a surprise from his past--not much of a conflict or surprise if you ask me.  This has beautiful Rome scenery and it would be interesting to read the screenplay to refresh my memory with the good lines.  The acting was nothing special and the plot had no purpose, besides being a typical high-brow nominated film.

I give this one thumb up holding my eyelids open trying to catch the scenery and dialogue and that's about it.

2014 Oscar Nominated Short Films--Documentary

I will review each of the five nominees in alphabetical order.

Cavedigger: This is the story of a man who digs caves in Arizona.  Sounds boring but when you see the artistic design that he creates in those caves it is truly jaw-dropping.

Facing Fears: This is the story about a gay man and a former neo-nazi who beat him up and left him for dead.  This is inspiring at how the tough act of forgiveness by both parties is amazing.

Karama Has No Walls:  This is the story the civil unrest in Yemen and how a peaceful sit-in goes horribly wrong.  This is violent and makes you appreciate what we have and don't have in the USA.

The Lady in Number 6-Music Saved My Life: This is the musical journey of the oldest living holocaust survivor at 109 years old, Alice Herz Sommer.  It has beautiful music, passion and familiar to most tragedy survivors--HOPE.

Prison Terminal-The Last Days of Private Jack Hall: This is the sorrowful last days of a World War II veteran and convicted murderer serving a life sentence.  Jack Hall has been through his share of tragedy but he is till human and should be allowed to die in peace in a hospice room in Iowa.

These five short documentary films all were powerful stories about real people (hence being documentaries) that captivate you from the opening scene until the closing credits and all the heart-touching moments in between.  I give thumbs up to them all but if I had to choose, there would be a 3-way tie between Facing Fears, The Lady in Number 6 and Cavedigger with Facing Fears narrowly edging out the competition.  I give Facing Fears two thumbs up in the deep-seated hope that all of us in society can celebrate our diversity and learn that forgiveness is the most powerful weapon around.

Before Midnight

This is the third installment (perhaps final?) of the before series:  Before Sunrise followed by Before Sunset preceded this movie.  Co-written and co-starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delphy play a couple in love.  Jesse, an American writer and Celine, a french environmental feminist originally met on a train in 1994, reacquainted in France in 2005 where he was married with a son and now are in Greece saying goodbye to his son while they and their twin daughters finish their summer vacation.

I haven't yet seen the first two movies but may later.  I enjoyed this movie as a beautifully-written, oozing terrific chemistry adult romance.

I give this a one and a half thumb up in enjoyment of depicting real-life, terrific chemistry and best of all beautifully written script and that it makes me want to watch the first two installments.  

The Lone Ranger

Not looking forward to seeing this as I heard that it wasn't a good movie.  I appreciated the whole Lone Ranger/Tonto story but was turned away from this Tonto's makeup.

Now that I've seen it, I rescind my comment.  Johnny Depp disappears into every role he takes on and that includes his portrayal of Tonto.  This version is told by Tonto which I found refreshing seeing Tonto as the storyteller and not just a sidekick.  Armie Hammer portrayed the Lone Ranger as a guy who fell into the job which made him more human and not as much of a "hero complex".

This was an obviously Disney-fied production with it's humor and storytelling and PG-13 action/adventure.  One of the best theme songs (William Tell Overture) was predominately featured at multiple times throughout the movie making it hokey and inspirational at the same time.  The reference to Native American medicine and spirituality especially relating to Silver, the horse was a nice touch.  Tom Wilkinson was a good bad guy.

I give this a one and a half thumbs up in surprise and a mighty "high ho Silver away".

20 Feet From Stardom

This documentary feature is about the unfortunately dying art of back up singers.  Darlene Love, Merry Clayton and Judith Hill among others were depicted in this movie along with lead singers Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, David Bowie and Bette Midler.  The back up singers may not get the recognition from the fans and media but they are still working at the craft of their passion.  The leads were also extremely supportive and recognized that the back ups are stars in their own right.

The music was catchy, toe-tapping and sing-a-long (even for those of us who can't carry a tune in a bucket) and the stories were heart-touching.

I give this a one and a half thumb up snapping fingers to the beat of the music and inspiring myself to follow my true passion(s).

Dirty Wars

This feature length documentary is about America's covert wars by the Joint special ops during the already controversial Iraq/Afghanistan war.  This was investigated by journalist Jeremy Scahill.  Jeremy appears to be a good investigator but I'm sure as with many political documentaries, if you are on one extreme of the other you could think this depiction was slanted.

I believe war is tragic and an extreme response but do not follow foreign affairs nor politics so probably shouldn't judge.  I give this documentary a one thumb up for investigation but one thumb down for the fact that it is a war that had to be investigated.

I hope it ends soon and that the men and women risking their lives come home safe to their families and are welcomed back and acclimated back into non-war situations safely.

2014 Oscar Nominated Short Films- Live Action

These five films were separated by discussions from filmmakers, Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave), Shawn Christensen (Oscar winner-short film last year), Peter Webber (Girl with the Pearl Earring) and actor Matthew Modine providing insight to future filmmakers about creating short films, staying pure in your vision and most importantly telling a good story.

I will review these films in alphabetical order.

Do I Have To Take Care of Everything? is a 7 min. comedy from Finland is about a family that oversleeps and is late for a wedding and the mother feels like she has to do everything herself in order to get anything accomplished.  This is a fun romp through a family's chaotic day with a great twist at the end.

Helium is a 23 min.story from Denmark about young Alfred who is terminal in a hospital and talks to Enzo, a janitor at the hospital, about a fantastical place called Helium.  This movie provides a heart-warming journey traversing the treacherous waters of child illness and brings to mind the essence of the long film Patch Adams and its mission to bring peace to the patient instead of focusing on the illness.

Just Before Losing Everything is a 29 min. drama from France about Miriam and her decision to escape her fearful husband with their two children.  The adage it takes a village to raise a child could be changed to it takes a community to rescue a family for this movie.

That Wasn't Me is a sobering story from Spain about a Spanish aid worker traveling to Africa with her boyfriend being confronted by child African soldiers, in particular one named Kaney and how neither of their lives are the same.  This makes you appreciate the life that most Americans are fortunate to have growing up in our childhoods and not in war.

The Voorman Problem is a 13 min. story from the USA about Doctor Williams who is called in to meet with a prisoner who has an unusual affliction, he believes he is God.  The Doctor must decide if he is a faker or a lunatic and wonders why God would choose to be in a straight jacket in prison.  This movie brings to mind the old Twilight Zone episodes.

I give two thumbs up to all five nominees for telling interesting stories while at the same time making you laugh, cry, shutter get angry but mostly making the viewer think.  I actually wouldn't mind any of these winning but the slight edge for this reviewer would have to go to a tie between Do I Have To Take Care of Everything and The Voorman Problem.

2014 Oscar Nominated Short Films-Animated

The five nominees  for short films were separated by an animated ostrich and giraffe which were funny (albeit rolling-your-eyes funny) to watch.

I will review each in alphabetical order.

Feral is the 13 min. story about a wild boy found in the forest by a hunter.  The boy tries to live in society by the same lessons he has learned in the wild.  The animation was dark and gray which went along with the feeling of the story.

Get a Horse! is the 6 min. story where Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow go on a musical wagon until Peg-Leg Pete tries to foil their day.  This was shown at the beginning of the movie Frozen too.  This is creative in combining black-an-white with color and also the appearance of being in and out of the film but the story was cute but less interesting than the effects.

Mr. Hublot is the 11 min. story about a character with O.C.D. who stays away from the outside world as much as possible.  A robotic pet enters into his life and turns it upside down.  This made me feel like I was watching an animated version of Her with all it's technology and lack of inter-personal physical communication.

Possessions is the 14 min. story depicting the ancient Japanese legend "Tsukimono" that states spirits attach to objects even when the object is deemed unusable.  The objects in this movie are broken umbrellas, ugly scarves and other "junk".  The spiritual world provides us with an interesting perspective of how we should perhaps live our physical "reality world" lives.

Room on the Broom is the longest film of the group at 25 min.  This tells the adapted story from the book of the same name by Julia Donaldson about a witch and a cat who, much to the cat's annoyance, pick up a dog, a bird and a frog on their journey and subsequent conflict with a dragon.  I have never read the book but would consider the story as a combination of Dr. Suess, Mother Goose and Shel Silverstein.

I would give one thumb up to Feral, Get A Horse! and Mr. Hublot for telling complete stories in a short span of time.  Which is the amazing part of short films.

I give one and a half thumbs up for Possessions in the hopes that we recognize the impact that both our actions and attitudes have on the world we live in--people and objects.

I give Room on the Broom two thumbs up as a complete story containing interesting characters (the cat especially), lyrical and humorous writing and action-filled plot.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

This is part 2 of a three-part series just like the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) series that this is it's prequel.

I enjoyed Lord of the Rings as a whole, never reading any of the books but basically seeing them because of their Oscar nominations.  Honestly, I don't feel smart enough to read the books which I have heard are extremely detailed with language, characters and plot of the hobbit, dwarf and fairy lands and worlds.

When I saw the first Hobbit movie, I walked out thinking oh cool, this will be fun and interesting to watch.

Not so much with this middle entry of the series.  This does it not stand on it's own (like the middle LOTR) by not having an ending--sorry SPOILER.  Although not boring, it was slow moving watching the trek to get to the mountain/dragon.

I'm glad that I saw it but now anxious to get to the finale to finish the story and be done with all these LOTR/Hobbit movies.

I give this a strong one thumb up basically for the sole enjoyment seeing the beauty of New Zealand.

Nebraska

An aging, booze-addled father (Bruce Dern) makes the trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son (Will Forte) in order to claim a million-dollar Mega Sweepstakes Marketing prize.


This is the quintessential Oscar nominated movie.  Filmed in black and white, giving it a classic quality.  The screenwriting was easy to follow but not simple with the only flaw being (SPOILER ALERT) when they said that the father had an affair.  The acting was excellent from arguable legend Bruce Dern but also surprisingly from SNL alumni, Will Forte.  June Squibb rocked the film with her priceless humor and impeccable comic timing.  Stacy Keach reminded people of his good acting and it was neat to see Devin Ratray again (older brother Buzz from the home alone movies) older but a bit typecast as a bully.  This captured the attitude of small town living without trivializing nor undermining the charm.


I give this two thumbs up in surprise and crossing them in hopes for the ultimate surprise as a Best Picture win.

Prisoners

When Keller Dover's daughter and her friend go missing, he takes matters into his own hands as the police pursue multiple leads and the pressure mounts. But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family?  

Starring Hugh Jackman as Keller, Terrence Howard as the other father, Viola Davis and Maria Bello as the their wives with Jake Gyllenhaal as the detective, Paul Dano as the suspect and Melissa Leo as the suspect's mother.  Needless to say a TON of stars.  The acting ability permeated through the screen and the suspense held you on the edge of your seat.  The plot twists at the end were great too.

This is one of the rare cases where the movie surpassed the previews as I thought the previews looked too vigilante.  I give this a one and a half thumbs in freaked out surprise grabbing the edge of my seat during the whole movie.

All Is Lost

Robert Redford, minimal dialogue and a boat...that's about it.  Somehow it still works wonderfully.  The only bad thing was being forced to admit that Robert Redford looks every bit of his 77 going on 78 years of age and that he has spent way too much time out in the sun.

After a collision with a shipping container in the middle of the Indian ocean, a man finds himself stranded and staring his own mortality in his face.

As a viewer, you get to experience action, slight humor and thought-provoking moments.  At the end, you walk away from watching, feeling wet and drained as if you were the one struggling to survive.

I give this a one strong thumb up holding on for dear life in a quest to survive.

The Croods

An animated tale about a caveman family trekking in a "new" world.  Along their way, they discover fire, shoes and most importantly the value of family.

This is a cute tale with humor most notably, Cloris Leachman's Gran character.  Nicholas Cage is perfect as Grug the patriarch who uses strength to make up for brainpower.  Emma Stone and Ryan Reynolds are adorable as Eep and Guy.

I give this a solid one thumb up for the portrayal of a tomboyish daughter learning to break away from her father's rule but realizing the father and daughter's love is one of the best relationships in a daughter's life.