Promised Land

Deb 7    Me8

First thing I noticed was that the stars had a vested interest in this thing. They did everything from the screenplay to produce it so you felt they were in earnest all the way through. It was actually a good movie. I'm always suspicious when a TV guy does a movie, this had Jim from "the Office" in it and again, he was a driving force in the movie production, and he was swell. Too often these crossover guys are one dimensional and here he didn't stray far from his TV image. The other guy wasn't Brad Pitt but the other guy, Matt Damon (he kinda looks like Bruce Watson). He was great and Frances MacDormand was much less whacky than we've seen her in the past, but did a fine job. 

It was a great story, topical, you see why these guys might want to tell the tale and entertaining. They talk about "fracking" in the movie and describe it differently that I understood it. So I looked it up and there are many ways it can be done, loosely including the method described in the film. (For me this was a distraction while watching it, so now you can be at ease during the show.)

All in all a nice episode of Leave it to Beaver with big kids. Entertaining, educational and not too preachy. Worth the time it takes to watch it and might provoke some provocative after movie conversation.

Parental Guidance

Deb 8    Me 8

This was the Christmas season anomaly. This would never make my list of movies to see during the year, but there's always some sort of fluke of scheduling during the holidays that gets me into a theater to see this kind of tripe. The only consolation was Billy Crystal, who I regard as a consummate entertainer regardless of the vehicle.

This is a cinematic nightmare. Every formula, every tired cliche, every predictable over-used gimmick you can think of is used and used again. But they were done so well.

This is an example of why some of these things are used so often, when done this well, they work. Crystal was Crystal, Bette Midler wasn't gross and the supporting cast did their cartoonish best to do their part. Argh! It's just horrible; but I really liked it. It's like a tourist trap, you don't want to go because its bad food and cheap souvenirs, but wow, it is more than a hole in the ground, that's why tourists come here. Not that every one of these terrible movies can be equated to the Grand Canyon, but this one is a treat, but take the airsick bag just in case.

Silver Lining Playbook

Deb 8      Me 8

We both liked it. Deb didn't at the start and it won her over. I liked it all the way through. A good story. The main guy had some Sean Penn going for him, quiet intensity, ability to take you up and down at his will. He was excellent. The main girl did a great job, had some Juno about her but was pretty believable in her role. Some of the supporting crew was a bit cartoonish at times, but the story worked. Robert DeNiro has a big supporting role. I missed the early DeNiro work, the stuff that made him a legend, the only time I see him is in these soft core roles. Too bad, I heard he was a game changer. Here he was fine. More of these movies would be fine with me.

Any Day Now

Deb 10   Me 8

This one was a pleasant surprise. It's the story of two gay men in the mid-1980s trying to adopt a kid with disabilities. A good story, credible and enjoyable. Bad hair. For some reason they used wigs on actors who shouldn't have worn wigs, but that is a minor grievance. I really liked the way the story unfolded. I liked the people in the movie and what it said about them and their world. I might give it a ten BUT about five minutes from the end there was a power outage and we missed what may have been important information. Without that closure I'll dip it down a little, but what we saw, and that was 90% was 100% engaging.

Holy Motors

Deb 1     Me 2

For those who love farm equipment there's a cloudy midget. Besides adventure inside formulas and giant streams of working moths protrude. Asking for witnesses around campaign gypsies gain woodshed aroma. Forever gambler dipped over candles that won. When I was a kid I'd see foreign films by masters that made no sense. Fishing propagates anonymous Indian blue ripping. In weather auction contour listening service details. As far as I know, this film was not made by a master. Come eyes form luster other tools glass. Gemini fondue marked horns radio. I've read intellectual reviews of Holy Motors, and the filmmaker is indeed esteemed. The reviewers draw from a deeper cinematic pool than mine. After reading several dissertations on what is perceived to be a marvelous movie I changed my evaluation of this vacuous piece from a 4 down to a 1.

Life of Pi 2-D

Deb 10    Me 10

Didn’t know much of anything about this and that ignorance made watching the story unfold a true and pleasant wonder. I won’t tell you anything about the movie so you can be as amazed as I was, but I’ll tell you a couple other things. This movie provoked LOTS of conversation. I thought about it for a couple days, still thinking about it in fact. I think I’ll continue thinking about for a while because I like it. I liked most everything about it. Acting was great. The pace, staging, look of the film is all fabulous. And the story, it was a best selling book, but that doesn’t mean much, but the story was Very good and told extremely well. Maybe in a couple months I’ll do an analysis of it, give everyone time to see it fore themselves and then we can talk about it. But check it out.

By the way, I see its offered in 2 and 3D. We saw it in 2D and could tell there were a few gratuitous shots for effect, but they were minimal and didn’t cheapen the production at all. I might see it again, this time in 3D for comparison. A nice movie despite all the advertising.

Hitchcock

Deb 8    Me 5

This is an inside look at the life of Alfred Hitchcock and the making of the film Psycho. This is one of those flat bio-pics that may be factual and true to life, but it is clinical and never engaging. Deb called it antiseptic. It might be a little septic. I guess you blame the director here. It was a terrific cast including Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel and James D'Arcy who was a ringer for Anthony Perkins; and the acting was all very good. The details were there, all the neat "behind the scenes" stuff on movie sets, everything seemed period correct, no distractions there. The story was probably interesting in itself, they added some subplot people that were of little consequence, but that's no problem. Hitchcock's monotone delivery seemed authentic and appropriate. It is probably a good script. But it feels like it just goes from page to page, they might tell you a few motivations and they are welcome because otherwise you get no sensation of what Hitch might use as a process in making the decisions he made. The film creates no emotional connection with the audience, at least two of its audience. Hitch can be unemotional and detached all he wants, but the director should make us care that he is.