Three sentence movie reviews: Force Majeure

This is a quality movie in that it's pretty, the acting is quite good and the plot (husband runs away from family when he thinks an avalanche is going to sweep over them) very interesting.  However, it is a very slow and deliberate movie, giving the viewer a lot of time to take in all details in a scene.  Aside from multiple scenes of teeth being brushed, I had ample time to contemplate the many ways of transporting skiers at fancy Alpine resorts.

Cost:  $8.00
Where watched:  Living Room Theaters, with mom.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/intl/misc/2014/turist.html

Three sentence movie reviews: Sherlock Season 1

Gleefully delightful update with Sherlock cast as a mostly insufferable (but incredibly watchable) Asperger-y Consulting Detective* and Dr. Watson a recently invalided Army doctor home from Afghanistan.  The first episode, especially (there are three 90 minute episodes in the first season) is quite funny as our two main heroes meet and get to know each other.  All three mysteries were gripping and discussable and I look forward to catching up with all seasons of this drama.

Cost:  Free from library

Where watched: at home.  Then re-watched episodes 1 & 3 with Matt.

*He made it up.  He's the only one.

poster from the Wikipedia page.

Three sentence movie reviews: Wild

It's a good year for book-to-movie adaptations and Wild joins Gone Girl in the pantheon of engrossing books that became excellent films.  The movie manages to make a long hike (which is, when you get down to it, a lot of walking and internal processing) engaging cinema. I think they did a particularly nice job of capturing the circular nature of thoughts when one spends large amounts of time alone as well as the vulnerability some women feel being out on their own.*

Cost: $8.25 (bought advanced tickets)
Where watched: Cinema 21 (Theater 3) with Kelly.

*Which, by the way, really sucks.  Thanks, asshole guys, for making women feel unsafe.

Also!  The scene that caused much brouhaha when it was filmed last year outside my school was in the movie!  It did not land on the cutting room floor.  Predictably, the scene itself was layered with music, so there was no need to have people ask the children to be quiet during recess.  Annoyance aside, it looks really cool, like a real snowstorm in Minneapolis, not a balmy November day in Portland.

Also, also!  This is the second film in a row I've seen Gaby Hoffmann be the friend to a woman who needs an abortion.  She seems to be carving out a pro-choice niche.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2014/wild.html

Three sentence movie reviews: The Homesman

Recasting the Western with a feminist slant (as written and directed by men) this was an engrossing movie.  Great acting, compelling characters and the movie balanced funny with tragic.  However, there was a thing that happened in Act 3 that I didn't at all find believable,* and which sunk the whole film.

Cost: free due to gift card
Where watched: Regal Fox Tower with S. North.

*If you've seen it, let me know, we'll talk.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2014/homesman_ver3.html

(I went with version three because it had Hilary Swank in front.)

Three sentence movie reviews: Wet Hot American Summer

There are many, many amusing scenes of teenage summer camp life as portrayed by actors who are a decade (or more) removed from actually being teenagers.  An incredibly star-studded cast all have great fun with silly tropes from teen movies.  Paul Rudd is hilarious as a hot teenage boy.*

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home with Olivia, who recommended it.

*He was 32 when this was filmed.
(Also! Vinnie VanLowe is in this!  Vinnie sighting!)

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2001/wet_hot_american_summer_ver1.html

Three sentence movie reviews: Mala Noche

A special showing with Walt Curtis in the audience and answering questions after, so this was a treat.  I love the attention to detail in this movie, the threadbare shirt, the blinking light in the kitchen, the signs in the store.  Someday I'd like to do a compare/contrast of the same streets today.

Cost:  $4.00
Where watched:  5th Avenue Cinemas.  (My first visit!  They had free popcorn!)

Poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1988/mala_noche.html

Three sentence movie reviews: Frozen

It's too bad that children totally took over "Let It Go" and drove their parents crazy with their repeated singing, because in context, that song is an incredible show stopper.  Overall, this was a Disney film that hit every Disney Animated Film requirement in a pleasing fashion.  I did think a certain character's sudden transformation from good to bad was rather abrupt, but otherwise, this was a great animated classic.

Cost: free from library
Where watched:  at home.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2013/frozen.html

Three sentence movie reviews: Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains

A great recommendation from Filmspotting, this is an uneven, yet very fun trip back to the 80s and features a very young Diane Lane and Laura Dern.  Perfect for its all-girl punk-rock exploits and interesting commentary about music, women, and women in music.  The music was good too.

Cost: free from library

Where watched: at home.

poster from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladies_and_Gentlemen,_The_Fabulous_Stains

Three sentence movie reviews: Hunger Games: Mockingjay part I

I've read/heard a lot of reviews saying that nothing happens in this movie, but I heartily disagree.  There are decisions to be made by Katniss and other sundry people in the Panem world, and the players spend this movie making them.  That means there's not a lot of shooting, but a ton of good acting* and political maneuvering, which I was down for.**

Cost:  $10.00
Where watched: With Kelly at the  Baghdad Theater.  We went to the 8pm night-before-it-was-released showing celebrating one year of the renovated theater. There were themed cocktails and promises of cake.  Though no actual cake.  Was that a commentary on the Hunger Games movie?

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2014/hunger_games_mockingjay__part_one.html

*Peeta has greatly improved.  He's quite good.  Jennifer Lawrence is, of course, phenomenal.
**I know what's coming in the next movie, we can take our time getting there.

Three sentence movie reviews: Interstellar

This was a very long movie and it really could have been much shorter, say two hours instead of 2h50m.*  I very much enjoyed the acting and was never really bored, but overall, there was just too much movie.  It's always nice to see Wes Bently and his facial hair.

Cost: $10.00
Where watched:  McMenamins Baghdad Theater with Burt, Laurie and Matt.  (And yes, we DID get stamps for our passports.)


*Don't want to sit through nearly three hours of movie? I'll sum it up here:
(you should stop reading now if you don't want SPOILERS)
(Really, now's the time to stop.  SPOILERS ahead.)

• Establishing earth story, with different feelings of family members, mostly anger and despair.
• Endless unintelligible space science talk that sounded plausible to me, but what do I know really?**
• Surprise cameo by a very famous actor!!!!
• A bunch of rocket talk, PLUS added bonus annoying sexist thing that happens a lot in movies where the guy "makes the sacrifice" without talking it over ahead of time with the woman because you know men are really in charge and there's no need to come to a solution TOGETHER.  I mean, really! In general, women are good problem solvers and collaborative people, so guess what lead male actor?  You probably didn't need to do that thing you think you need to do.
• Crazy fifth dimension thing that probably will blow your mind if your high hasn't worn off yet.
• Chatty family wrap up.

**Pretty much nothing.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2014/interstellar.html

Three sentence movie reviews: Boyhood.

At last I find a Richard Linklater film that Matt enjoys.*  I enjoyed this the second time around too, and was even more taken with Patricia Arquette's performance this time around.  I also contemplated the fact that Richard Linklater grew up/is raising his children in eras with incredibly different attitudes toward drinking and drugs than my "Just Say No!" formative years.

Cost:  $4.00

Where watched:  Laurelhurst, with Matt.

*He will like Bernie, though.  He just has to watch it.

Three sentence movie reviews: The Book of Life

There were many things to love about this movie:  the Mexican folk tale; the underworld; the fact it was incredibly pretty to look at.  However, I didn't see large sections of it, because I kept falling asleep, even though I didn't want to.  Chalk it up to the late start time and NOT the lack of interesting plot.

Cost:  $31.75 for myself, Matt, 3-D glasses, a bag of popcorn and a box of candy. (We were on vacation, so I rolled with it.)
Where watched:  Cornelius Cinemas

poster from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2262227/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Bicentennial Man

Part of the Ruby Oliver Film Festival.

A movie so lengthy I felt as though I had lived 200 years by the ending.  Full of Chris Columbus hallmarks like the bratty kid (for no discernible reason) and the overly intrusive maudlin score. It was an interesting selection as it was the first Robin Williams movie I watched after his death, and given that the bicentennial man wanted to end his life after a certain point.

Cost:  free from library
Where watched:  at home.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1999/bicentennial_man_ver1.html

Three Sentence Movie Reviews: Gone Girl

This movie has not one, not two, but three meaty parts for women.* In another stunning turn of events, the gender equilibrium from the book was translated exactly, with no maximization of the male's story at the expense of the female's.  At two and a half hours, this still managed to be a roller coaster, even for me, who just read the book last month.

Where watched: St. Johns Cinema with Kelly
Cost:  $7.00


*I normally have to watch 20 movies to find three such well written and acted roles.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2014/gone_girl_ver2.html

Three sentence movie reviews: Ruby Sparks

This was recommended by Jeff, who noted my intense adoration of Zoe Kazan in What If, and I'm going to say straight off that I liked it.  I think it's incorrectly categorized as a romantic comedy as the darker premise has it headed straight for drama territory.* By the time it ended, I was angerly shoving it into that genre where men get to write all the movies and then was shocked to discover the author of this very interesting look at relationships was none other than female lead Zoe Kazan, which completely blew my mind and changed what I thought of the movie.**

Cost:  free from library
Where watched: at home.

*Note to people who decide these things:  Just because there is ROMANCE in a movie doesn't automatically make it a romantic comedy.  Even if there are funny and sweet parts to the movie.
**Which made me wonder how I would have responded to this movie had I known from the beginning a woman wrote it.

poster from:  http://www.impawards.com/2012/ruby_sparks.html

I've got too much going on at the end of the year to give awards to posters of movies I've watched, but if I did, this would be a top finisher.  It correctly sums up this movie in an enticing way.

Three sentence movie reviews: Repo Man

Part of the Ruby Oliver Film Festival *

This has to be the most punk-rock movie I've ever seen as it refused to adhere to the conventional movie narrative.  Is it sci-fi, or action/adventure or biting social commentary?  It comes with a great soundtrack and will keep you interested.

Cost: free from library
Where watched:  at home.

*This movie is part of E. Lockheart's list of top 10 movies and I'd be interested to hear why she likes it.

poster from:  http://www.impawards.com/1984/repo_man_xlg.html

The amount of text on this poster is crazy!

Three sentence movie reviews: In a World

Breezy and fun comedy that illuminates the darkened corners of the voice-over world.  It's chock full of people you will recognize* and voices your are familiar with.**  I thought Lake Bell sold herself out by writing the Gina Davis speech, but other than that, this was a very fun movie.***

Cost:  Free from library
Where watched: at home, as a palette cleanser.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2013/in_a_world.html

*Apparently I recognize Alexandra Holden from Friday Night Lights playing someone named Suzy.
**Vinnie Van Lowe from Veronica Mars is in this.  And the bald friend of R in Warm Bodies.
***And a comedy with no defecation!

Three sentence movies reviews: Never Let Me Go

This is a compelling and well-acted movie with such a quietly disturbing premise I was forced to watch another movie afterward just to cleanse my palette.  I recommend it for anyone who enjoys the three lead actors and also would like to see the current Spider Man with an English accent.  When not being quietly disturbed by the plot, I wondered if Andrew Garfield was British.*

Cost: Free from the library
Where watched: at home.


*It turns out he was born in the USA to a British mother and an American father.  They moved back to England when he was three. So he's both.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2010/never_let_me_go.html

10 movies that marked me.

I wrote this for Facebook.  But I figured why not also post it here.  And here it is.

I watch a lot of memorable movies but the movies I find most memorable (and thus one can say marked me) are often linked to an event or place or time period.  So here’s my top 10.  I’m putting them in the order I watched them chronologically (from little girl to this summer)

Singing in the Rain

Tied for first in my “favorite movie” list.  I saw it as a girl with my mother and loved the music and the dancing and Lena Lamont’s voice.  I’ve watched it again and again because there’s always something to hook into:  the story, the performances, the costumes, the songs.  I’ve seen a theatrical production and even watched it on the big screen (thanks Cinema 21!) and I never get tired of this film.  Though I confess I tend to fast forward through the endless Cyd Charisse dance scene.  It’s just as enjoyable at double speed and done that much sooner.

Footloose

Angie Fuller asked me to accompany her to the theater.  Footloose was playing.  We were in fourth grade (and thus a tiny bit young for this film).  It had been raining at recess that day and my shoes were still sopping wet hours later.  This was the first film I saw without my parents.  When my mother asked me how I liked it, I said, “There was a lot of swearing.”  The dawn of VHS meant I watched this movie over and over and over again.  Long before I was a teenager, this movie taught me that trying to keep teenagers from doing what they wanted to do was pretty much a lost cause.  And that there is a time to dance.

Stand by Me

Number of times I’ve seen this film?  Twice.  Once when I was about 12 and once when I was in my 30s.  Amount I remembered of this film upon re-watching? Nearly 100%.  The first time I watched it was the perfect age to see this, just a year or two younger than the protagonists. I was also an 80s girl completely in love with the 50s, so the setting worked for me.  This movie marks the beginning of the end of the era of watching movies with my parents.  During most of my early teenage years it was too uncomfortable to try and process my own reactions and theirs while taking in a movie.  I also remember this movie fondly because of my mother’s aghast reaction to the mailbox baseball scene.  “That is a federal offence!” This movie also got me interested in Stephen King, who was (along with V.C. Andrews and the authors of bodice rippers) among the first grown-up authors I read.  The story of friendship and change is what ultimately sticks with me.  It’s a heartbreaking film and not just because River Phoenix would be dead seven years later.

Shag

My favorite girl movie of my teenage years and one I think many people overlook.  Four friends graduate from high school and plan one final weekend together before going off on their different paths.  The early 60s beach setting was awesome and the high-jinks that ensue are memorable. It’s highly quotable.  Pudge (yes there is a character named Pudge and yes, she’s of normal weight) says at one point “It isn't a bone at all, it's a muscle. This cousin of hers dated a Clemson Tiger who sprained his in a game, and she had to massage it every night when it got hard because he was in so much pain.” It also has a really fabulous soundtrack and a big dance number.  I’m just now realizing this movie may be the reason my friends and I went on a road trip after graduating from high school.  We met neither a "Chip" nor a "Buzz," but we still had a good time.

Dazed and Confused

I must have seen this before I graduated high school in 1993, but it didn’t really hit home for me until I watched it again in 1994 or 1995.  By that time I’d gone off to a women’s college with hazing rituals that were eerily similar to the ones depicted in this film.  I love the high school bacchanalia aspect of this film.  The soundtrack has been played to death, but I loved it for a long time.

Fargo

“We should go see Fargo,” said the guy who would become my college boyfriend.

“What’s that?”

“You’ll like it,” he assured me.

We hadn’t spent much time together, but he was right.  We went to the Academy of Music Theater in Northampton, Mass. and I laughed throughout this film.  It’s too violent and incredibly tragic, but I fell in love with Frances McDormand and her angel of a pregnant Marge Gunderson, unflappable in the face of so much senseless mayhem.

Chasing Amy

I’m guessing the films of Kevin Smith will most likely only last as period-specific examples of this and that.  I’m also guessing this film hasn’t aged well.  But there was a time when I loved it for exploring the idea (however awkwardly) that sexuality can morph and change.  It also explores male friendship in a way that I hadn’t seen much on film at that point. Holden and Banky’s breakup comes years before the bromance comedies of the last decade.  I watched this at the Academy of Music in Northampton too.  And let me tell you, watching Chasing Amy with a bunch of smart women from Smith College is a different experience than watching it in your standard multiplex.  There was hissing.  More than once.  From all areas of the theater.

Almost Famous

Also tied for first in my “favorite movie” list.  In September of 2000 I was poor.  After a few months of unemployment, I had finally found a job, but I was still catching up financially with the things I let slide.  So it was a few weeks before I could scrape together the cash to see this movie which I watched at the Lowes Harvard Square Cinema.  I remember being surprised at how funny it was—the previews had played up the drama—and I remember being so happy to be watching. For me it’s a perfect film.  I love this movie because it’s about the end of things and the beginning of things and every single performance is spot-on.  Philip Seymour Hoffman’s speech about being uncool remains a top 10 movie moment for me. 

What’s Your Number

A recent find (thanks Heather) and one I loved so much I watched it twice in one day.  What seems to be a silly rom-com plot (woman feels she’s slept with too many men and decides to look up all her past conquests to see if any are husband material) delves much deeper into the subject of how females are supposed to be in society.  There’s also great sister stuff and a slow-rolling romance with the hunky Chris Evans.  And Anna Faris’s comic timing is impeccable. 

Boyhood

Too soon to deserve to be on the list?  I can’t tell.  But as I said in my original review, there was a time before someone made a movie over 12 years with the same actors, and there is a time where that concept now exists, and I'm happy to have experienced the changeover.  I’ve been thinking about this movie since I saw it in August so that’s a good sign for longevity.  Cinema 21 was the perfect place to watch it, old theater, red seats, packed house. Great movie.

What movies have marked you?

Three sentence movie reviews: Revenge of the Nerds

Part of the Ruby Oliver Film Festival

In which a group of nerds overcomes their own persecution by oppressing women.* Setting aside my feminist convictions,** I thought this story was rather sweet, although its time has passed.  I mean, who isn't for the nerds?***

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1984/revenge_of_the_nerds.html

*I mean seriously!  Creepy spying with what we would now be calling web cams!  Having sex with a woman while pretending to be someone else (which is rape)!  Using a topless photo of the woman you have just raped to raise money for charity!  All very bad things!  I'm not going to go into how the women in the Mu sorority were all fat, and thus lesser women.  But I could.
**As I often do when watching movies.
***We're kind of living in a nerd nirvana right now.