Old Man @ The Movies

Today and probably Wednesday, I watch the leftover films—those not expected to be blockbusters or star big, recognizable names. There were two in that category and I flipped a coin. ETERNITY won and is about what the title implies—death and the hereafter. A bickering elderly couple are driving to a family  get together and she remarks, "We have to tell them." It seems that she has incurable cancer, but he chokes on a snack and dies and the rest of the movie takes place in the hereafter. He arrives on a train not aware that he is dead and mingles in the enormous waiting room with hundreds of new arrivals. He is told he must choose his eternity location where he will survive forever. He, Larry, opts to wait for his wife so they can choose together, but when she arrives she is met by the guy she was going to marry who died 67 years ago and has been waiting for the love of his life. She must choose one of them and that essentially is what the rest of the film is about. Guess you ...

I went to a movie on Thanksgiving with my two daughters and my grandson from Los Angeles who happens to be a documentary filmmaker. The film we saw was his choice and he picked a winner.  Finally saw a movie that was clever, very well done and acted and was made for adults who think. And it was filmed in Tokyo and was primarily in Japanese. Despite my worsening inability to read subtitles, I was able to understand what was going on easily. Brendan Frazier stars as an actor living kind of aimlessly in Japan and fluent in the language who is hired by a rental agency, a business which I assume is indigenous to Japan. He is retired to take on roles to react with strangers in various situation, attempting to aid them in some way. He has a difficult time adjusting to these roles, but eventually begins to care too much for his clients and their needs. This is an intelligent film with poignancy and humor and Frazier is perfect in the role. I truly enjoyed this film far more than I expected...

My second movie of Thanksgiving Week left me batting zero. But as bad as it was, NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON'T, I liked it better than Wicked for Good. Actually that isn't quite true. I wanted to like it better than Wicked but didn't. This film was a sequel, and my vague memory of the first wasn't favorable.  I am a sucker for magic shows but there was little magic to this one. A group of magicians with ulterior motives decide to pull off one last caper, one larger than anything they have undertaken previously. They plan to steal the world's largest diamond in front of a large group of wealthy people. They are successful and then spend the rest of the movie evading capture. There are some reasonably competent actors in this who would have been better off staying home which is what I should have done.  Among them are Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson wearing s stupid hat and should have known better, Dave Franco and Rosamond Pike. They may regret appearing in this one...

Sorry to report that despite its title, WICKED FOR GOOD was not very good. It had nice singing and photography and settings, but the story was weak and meandering and I ended up disliking both principals—the wimpy blond good witch and the not so evil and green one with a pointed hat bad witch. And the worse thing was, it was too darn long and I saw no reason except a way to get more money from us for it to have required two separate and distinct movies. The first one was better. And the second one bored me to tears (no, I didn't really cry). Disappointing and a waste of money. I was sorely tempted to leave early but I stayed, hoping things would improve. Nope, they didn't. Critics, for a change, didn't fall in love with it, for only 67% gave it a thumbs up along with 94% of audiences. My suggestion: Pick another film to see.