American Hustle

Deb 10    Me 5

I don't know why these things bore me. I get lost in the sets and action and my mind wanders. Its been a little while since we saw it and I couldn't tell you what its about. Couldn't tell you when I left the theater either. Now, Deb loved it. She actually watched it and followed along as the story unfolded and this brought her great joy and appreciation for the film maker's talents. I was thinking about monkey bones in Beatles songs or something. Opportunity missed.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Deb 10    Me 6

Like most stories, there's a subplot or a vehicle that moves the story along. I was completely confused by this element here and thus missed the whole thing. Sharp as a marble. But when the story was just moving along it moved with charm and wit. It was fun to watch and very entertaining. Bill Murray has a small role in it and he brings his brand of serenity to the screen in a most appealing way. For the most part this is a fun quirky picture to watch but there was a whole part of it that got by me and sort of wrecked my experience. I'm sure you'll have better luck.

The Great Beauty

Deb 8     Me 5

This actually was long at 2:22 but wore on nicely. There were some privileged behind the scenes type shots of some terrific Roman features as we follow a guy around partying. It was just plain watchable, not particularly insightful as I remember, but populated with interesting folks. Deb seemed to have got a lot more out of it than me, so there is meat there.

The Wind Rises

Deb 5     Me 6

An animated feature about the guy who ultimately designed the Japanese ZERO aircraft. This is a great looking movie with (perhaps unwitting) homage to Disney's top animated classics. The story is told well and in beautiful scenes done in a variety of mediums. Some scenes looked to be pastel, others guache, oil or watercolor. It may have all been done on a computer (I don't know), but the feel of these media were artful and convincing. Its only a tick over two hours, but felt long. Pretty good movie, I've heard the hype on the radio and it doesn't meet the level of beauty they proclaim, but it is good looking and interesting.

Particle Fever

Deb 7    Me 7

I was really excited about seeing this, not so excited while seeing it. Its a documentary about the particle accelerator in Switzerland where they hope to create the elusive Higgs boson, minute particle whose existence has only been theorized. So there's a huge facility built specially for trying to discover this little gem and I figured this movie is supposed to tell us all about it. It told a lot about it, but not enough to get a grip on the whole idea. The place they build for the experiment is beyond huge, and didn't think its enormity translated well to the big screen. They pulled the best looking people from the project and followed them around for the execution of the experiment and its aftermath. That was pleasant and added the needed human interest aspect, but I'd like to have had a bit more explanation of what and was going on. Its a fascinating project, look for a good PBS special on it.

Le Week-end

Deb 4    Me 3

The title translates to "the Weekend", yet it feels like it took a month to watch it. Set in Paris, you'd think the scenery would be used to best advantage, but no. A big problem for us was the actors whispered most of the time. Couldn't hear a thing and knew nothing of what was going on. To add to the frustration, the few parts we could hear sounded like they might have been interesting if there was a context. Jeff Goldblum was a welcome addition to the otherwise anonymous cast as we could hear him fine and his character was amusing. The other players even commented that he was loud, so the quiet talking throughout was by design, just a very bad idea from our vantage point. A waste of time.

August: Osage County

Deb 10    Me 10

Stupid title. This is a great story and I like the way it unfolded. Because of the cast I thought this would be some sappy chick flick, BUT even though its populated with chicks its just a very good movie with recessive male genes. This was up for some awards which goes to show the awards aren't completely without merit. The acting really was superior and that goes for direction, set design, you name it, it was pretty darn great. Not an easy movie to watch, not full of comic relief. If you like straight dramatic storytelling, check it out.