Old Man @ The Movies

This is not a movie review, but I've entitled it "The Party's Over."  "The Party's Over" is a song from a musical comedy I saw decades ago called "Bells Are Ringing," but I think it's appropriate for this missive. "The Party's Over" is my swan-song and farewell address because I'm no longer going to write movie reviews or even see movies.  This is the result of my declining eyesight, which prevents me from typing the reviews in a satisfactory manner and from reading what I wrote. It's a ridiculous situation, but that's what I'm stuck with. And I will probably not be seeing movies any longer, because when I look at the huge screen I can't even differentiate between the actors and actresses. So much so that Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep both look alike (but, yes, I still dislike them both equally). Only one of them is wearing a dress--yet I'm not sure which one! Not funny, I know, but it effectively expresse...

Before I review one of the many films I saw during my sabbatical, I want to acknowledge the surprising number of you who wrote to me welcoming me back to the world of reviews. I was genuinely touched and thank you. Now on CRIME 101, which had a large number of actors whose names I know but really didn't recognize, including Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Nick Nolte and Halle Berry. This is the story of a daring criminal who successfully and singlehandedly robs a number of stores on the 101 Freeway in the Los Angeles area and has the police baffled. An insurance broker is pursuing him as well and it all comes to a head as he is involved in the final crime and the biggest one. It felt like it was shot in black and white but I honestly can't tell you if it was. It was okay and better than most of the films I've been seeing lately. Critics and audiences agreed with me, giving 88 and 85 percent thumbs up respectively to this 2 hour and 19 minute winner.   

At my age, I should know better than going to see a movie entitled PSYCHO KILLER  There is no question about its validity.  The film begins as a man with a deep voice is being detained by a state trooper on a highway. As they are talking, they're joined by the trooper's wife who is also a state trooper.  The driver shoots her husband and then drives off as she fires her gun futilely at the car. She subsequently decides to find the culprit and during her investigation discovers that he is a psycho already responsible for more than 40 deaths and you know what happens eventually. This one hour and 34 minute predictable film starring a bunch of nobodies obviously offended the critics because only 11% gave it a thumbs tip, along with 35% of audiences. I suggest you stay home and watch the endless array of reruns of once popular series like MASH and The Andy Griffith Show, either of which might prove to be more entertaining.

The movie I saw yesterday was as bad and as ridiculous as its title—GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON'T DIE. I'll try to explain the bizarre plot. A strange looking man enters a diner in Los Angeles claiming he is from the future and takes patrons hostage saying they were going to save the world, I think. They wander around aimlessly and nothing really happens that I understood, and the movie ends. I'm incapable of telling you any more and look forward to one of you telling me what it was all about. I didn't recognize anyone in the so-called cast, so I'm at a  loss as to what to say next, other than it was an hour and 32 minutes too long. 12% of critics and 35% of audiences gave GOOD a thumbs up, so I guess I'm not too far off base.

I'm back!!! Sorry for my absence. In addition to rehab for my broken patella, my eyesight has been deteriorating (close up), and it was difficult to see what I was writing. I am now a client of Vision Corps, a state and federally funded organization helping the visually impaired with equipment and ideas to help.  So I'm back to writing and have a lot of films to catch up on--several  months worth if I can remember them. And I apologize in advance for any and all typos. My most recent film was WUTHERING HEIGHTS. I never read the book and don't recall seeing an earlier film version, but I seriously doubt if any female author including Emily Bronte wrote a book depicting the sexuality of this film in the mid-1800s. The movie is visually attractive as are the lead actors, Margot Robbie and some guy who portrays Heathcliffe, a laborer on the estate where she lives. Briefly, she rejects him, he leaves, she marries, he returns, mysteriously now wealthy, and they satisfy their sexu...

Am I seeing too many movies or are they just getting worse?  The one I saw last week was just a poor excuse for a movie. It was filled with disfunctional people of all sizes and shapes, including my nominee for the most dysfunctional actress to ever grace the screen or should I say disgrace the screen—Jamie Lee Curtis as the mother of Ella, looking for herself in all the wrong places. The high point of ELLA MCCAY is when Jamie Lee offers her daughter some helpful advice on what to do—scream at me—at which point both women began to scream at one another. It wasn't the best or worse scene in the movie but it will have to do do for this 1 hour and 55 minute too-long movie, which also starred Woody Harrelson who continues to make poor choices for the roles he takes on. Critics gave this film a 24% thumbs up, while audiences favored it with 42%

I have often written that I don't like or like to see animated films and yet I break that rule on too many occasions, and I did it again today. Seeing Walt Disney's ZOOTOPIA 2 and walking out before it ended only reinforced my need to avoid them in the future. I always believe they were made for children and yet I know they aren't. Today's film was too complex for children to comprehend. In general, most of the animated films I have seen are too loud and too silly, the characters speak too fast, and this one is no exception. It is a sequel and about two animal detectives who presumably, but clumsily solved a  difficult case in the first version, but are basically inept and are assigned a hopeless case as punishment. That's the best I can offer. You're on your own with this one, and if you happen to see me in the theater watching another, please chase me out. Not surprising, because animated films are very popular and generally draw large crowds, critics (91%) an...

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.  

I saw a very good historical drama today that was wonderfully filmed and well acted. It was a totally new look at the Nuremberg trials, based on a book about the Army psychiatrist who was assigned to examine and evaluate all the Nazis on trial, starting with Hermann Gőring who surrendered at the end of the war and was the prime target of the trials. Supreme Court justice Jackson is asked to head the American delegation to the international tribunal and act as chief prosecutor. The task is difficult because they are treading on unprecedented legal issues. The focus of the film was the psychiatrist and his relationship with Gőring and the relationship is handled beautifully by Remi Malek as the psychiatrist and Russell Crowe as the Nazi. The courtroom scenes wreaked of authenticity and the entire cast was excellent. And I was not bothered by the fact that NUREMBERG was 2 hours and 28 minutes long. 70% of critics and 96% of audiences gave the film a thumbs up. It was one of the better fil...

It's going to be a busy time for me because a lot of movies opened last weekend, most of which I don't want to see. Yesterday was one of them because I vaguely recall I saw another with the same name some time ago and suspected it would be more of the same. I was pleasantly surprised because I liked THE RUNNING MAN and it was nothing like the earlier one. I warn you though, It's not for everyone because it's a violent action-based thriller which takes place in the not too distant future and could probably take place in today's society.  A wildly popular television show, envisioned and produced by Josh Brolin and entitled 'The Running Man' offers a contestant the oppportunity to win a huge cash award if he can survive for 30 days against s team of professional assassins. A young man, unemployed and down on his luck with a  wife and sick baby, decides to be a contestant, and the balance of the film is his journey to avoid the assassins. The blood thirsty studi...

I'm back. The doctor said no more leg brace last Thursday and cleared me to drive. I want to thank so many of you for your kind emails and cards. It made me realize that you do really read these reviews, so movie going has resumed although I don't think I missed much while I was recuperating. On Saturday, I saw a movie that tried hard to tell the story of a woman with postpartum psychosis but I feel they missed the boat. Jennifer Lawrence did her best but I believe the script and director failed her. It was a depressing one hour and 58 minute ordeal, although I suspect that many will be anxious to nominate her for awards come the time. Her co-stsr had the better of everything. Critics gave DIE MY LOVE (an inappropriate title) a 74% thumbs up but audiences appear to be more discriminating with only 45%. See it if you like Jennifer Lawrence who hasn't been in many films lately.

On Sunday I saw a very long, but very good drama starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Bob, a disillusioned and failed activist and revolutionary, living with his independent teenaged daughter Willa. His fellow revolutionary wife left them shortly after the daughter's birth. Bob is on drugs and drinking and thoroughly defeated, deflated and hiding out. A purist group is pursuing him and others and the chief pursuer is Colonel Steve, played viciously and evilly by Sean Penn, whom we are led to suspect as possibly being Willa's real father. Benicio Del Toro plays another revolutionary who is helping Bob and Willa get sway. When Colonel Steve captures Willa, Bob is crazed and insists on trying to free her no matter how risky it would be. Despite its length of 2 hours and 41 minutes, it was like a good book you couldn't put down until you finished. Critics liked it a lot, with a 96% thumbs-up rating and 85% of audiences followed suit. DiCaprio's performance, along with the others, ...

On Saturday I saw a movie that affected me physically. I felt cold throughout the entire film because it took place in winter, with lots of snow, and I think it was in Minnesota, not that I have anything against Minnesota. THE DEAD OF WINTER stars Emma Thompson, a fine actress and Academy Award winner, in the unusual role of a heroine in a thrilling chiller. She is Barb, a widow, in the wilderness, planning to ice fish on a frozen lake like she used to do with her husband. She inadvertently stumbles on the kidnapping of a young girl by a married couple in which the wife is clearly the instigator, the leader and the most evil. I confess I was never quite clear on why they were kidnapping the girl, but am sure the reason was revealed. Barb is persistent in attempting to foil the two and gets into real trouble without cell service and any means to get help in her frigid surroundings. It was well acted and kept my attention despite the bone chilling atmosphere that never ended. Critics gav...

Ugh! What a terrible movie I saw yesterday. And I usually like movies about sports. This one failed in every aspect, starting with the plot and going downhill from there. Can you imagine a sports movie ending up as a horror film? And a bad one at that? HIM in one hour and 36 miserable minutes set the film business back to the silent movie era. The star here is Cam Cade, a great quarterback prospect, who suffers a brain trauma when he is attacked by a crazy fan. When things look darkest for him, he is contacted by his hero, a multi-times championship quarterback, Isaiah, who proposes to train him to regain his superior stuff. Training methods at Isaiah's isolated facility are bizarre, but seem to be working until Isaiah stops being Mr. Nice guy and turns into a monster. And there it goers from bad to worse with mayhem and beheading snd stabbing and lots of blood by Cam and others. Only 36% of critics and 68% of audiences gave Him a thumbs up. My vote is 👎. 

I may have revealed in other reviews, and if I'm repeating myself forgive me, but I am an incurable romantic. Lead me to a film about love and romance and I turn into putty. The movie I saw today, A BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY, starring two of the better actors in these times, Margot Robbie as Sarah and Colin Farrell as David, I rate them better because I recognize their names and most times know what they look like. But beware. This is not a traditional romantic film. I'd call it a romantic fantasy and it is bizarre. David and Sarah meet at a mutual friend's wedding held outdoors and in the rain and don't seem to like each other. David (and ultimately Sarah) rent a car from a weird car rental firm, and while he is driving in the rain (it rains a lot in this one), the car's GPS begins to speak to him, asking if he wants to go on a big bold beautiful journey, and he answers yes. She answers yes to the same question in her rental car, and they find themselves parked si...

Yesterday I saw another movie, THE HISTORY OF SOUND, that I didn't understand and whose message I could not comprehend—if it had a message. This boring, endless two hour and 7 minute movie takes place in the early 1900s and follows the life of a young man living on a farm in the wilds of Kentucky, who has a marvelous and unique singing voice. Somehow he is discovered and receives a scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music, where he meets a piano player playing the folk music he loves.  They bond and that night become lovers. The piano player enlists in the army when WWI starts and is sent overseas. The singer quits school and goes back to Kentucky where he is contacted by the friend, now on the faculty of the Conservatory, who invites him to join him on a school project, wandering the remote areas of Maine recording the songs of the folk singers they find on a device that uses wax rollers. They part but somehow meet again in Italy where both are employed in some aspect ...

Back home yesterday I saw a finely made, well-acted movie that was sad and depressing. But I'm glad to have seen it. In an hour and 56 minute movie, I watched a journey in the future, I watched 50 young men selected to embark on a walk that would take them on a 300-plus mile trek endorsed and sponsored by the government that survived a civil war. This annual government program promises the only survivor anything he desires. Along this desolate and bleak land, friendships evolve and groups reformed as they struggle to survive because you are given three warnings to continue and then you are shot. Philosophical in content and revealing about the participants backgrounds and desires, it is painful and disturbing to watch as the ranks diminished one by one, until only two men stagger toward the finish line. One a white man and the other black, who have forged a deep friendship on the week-plus time they have been walking.  91% of critics and 56% of audiences gave THE LONG WALK a thumbs...