The Well-Digger’s Daughter 2011

     Pascal has been alone since his wife passed away but he has five daughters at home.  He is a well digger as his profession and they are a poor family.  His oldest daughter, Patricia was raised in Paris.  He’s glad to have her home to help with the younger girls.  He would like for her to marry his assistant Felipe.  World War I is just starting, Patricia meets pilot Jacques Mazel and they fall in love.  Jacques is the son of a wealthy merchant in their town.  He is supposed to see Patricia the next day but he’s suddenly called to take the place of another pilot.  He asks his mother to take her a letter and explain. 

     This is good, old-fashioned, very beautiful countryside in Provence of 1914, good plot and acting.  My only complaint is the subtitles are in white and the print is small.  When the background is also white, you can’t read the titles?  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

107 min, Drama directed by Daniel Auteuil with Astrid Berges-Frisbey, Kad Merad, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Sabine Azema, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Emile Cazenave.

Note:  Blockbuster 3*, imdb 6.5 out of 10, 100% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.   

Guilty by Suspicion 1991

     This film depicts the political fallout from the McCarthy Era Hollywood blacklist.  It’s the 1950’s and a lot of film people are being called in for interrogation.  If you had anything to do with the Communist party at any time in your life, you are in for a real ride.  You MUST implicate and name everyone even if they had nothing to do with communism just to have names to give the committee.  An actress has her child removed from her custody because she was named as a communist.  Considered to be an unfit environment.  If you don’t cooperate, you don’t work again.  Even if you are innocent and you are named, you don’t work again.

    This is good, I knew some stories about this time but not this much information.  It made me wonder if the Rosenberg’s were really guilty when they were executed as spies? I knew I recognized Martin Scorsese but I couldn't place him?  It's his distinctive eyebrows!!  4* (I really liked this movie) 

105 min, Drama directed by Irwin Winkler with Robert De Niro, Annette Bening, George Wendt, Patricia Wettig, Martin Scorsese, Sam Wanamaker, Chris Cooper.

Note:  Blockbuster 3*, imdb 6.4 out of 10, 65% critic 50% audience on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Hi-Lo Country 1998

     Max Evans based his novel on Americans trying to live the Old West lifestyle in the early Cold War days.   Two World War II veterans own land and make their living on the lush and open New Mexico countryside.  Pete and Big Boy are best friends.  Pete wants a simple life on his farm.  Big Boy is a big-drinker always looking to stir up trouble and a fight.  Mona is a beautiful woman married to one of the few men who stayed behind during the war.  Pete meets her first and he’s instantly drawn to her.  He finds out soon after that she has started seeing Big Boy. 

     You know there is going to be big trouble when two friends fall for the same woman.  There is already enough trouble with Bog Boy always pushing others down into the dirt, even though there are some who need this treatment.  I was glad I do not eat beef after watching this film!  The material is interesting plus seeing the actors as their younger selves.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

114 min, Drama directed by Stephen Frears with Woody Harrelson, Patricia Arquette, Penelope Cruz, Billy Crudup, Robert Knott, Sam Elliott.

Note:  Blockbuster 3*, imdb 6.0 out of 10, 56% critic 42% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Trishna 2011:

     This film is a contemporary treatment of the novel, Tess of the D’Urbervilles.  Trishna is a nineteen-year-old woman living in Rajasthan, India.  She meets Jay, the son of a rich British hotel owner.  Her large family is very poor; her father picks up fruits and vegetables for delivery.  He falls asleep at the wheel and runs into a bus.  Her family needs money after he is disabled and the Jeep is totaled.  Jay asks Trishna to work in a hotel owned by his father.  Since he is so handsome, charming and she doesn’t have a lot of choices, she accepts.  In the beginning, everything is going very well until Jay starts blurring the boundaries of their employer and employee relationship. 

     There was a lot of potential in this film but it relies too heavily on the tried and true formula of rich boy and poor girl.  Trishna and Jay become just paper cutouts instead of real people you can relate to.  More a story of beauty and the beast except the beast changes without explanation into a real beast.  3* (This movie is OK)

113 min, Drama directed by Michael Winterbottom with Freida Pinto, Riz Ahmed, Meeta Vashisht, Harish Khanna, Roshan Seth, Leela Madhauram.

Note:  Blockbuster 3*, imdb 5.6 out of 10, 67% critic 56% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Red Lights 2012

     Psychologist Dr. Margaret Matheson and her physicist assistant Tom Buckley investigate paranormal occurrences.  They specialize in exposing frauds and they don’t believe true examples exist.  They also teach a university class on how to spot “red lights” which are clues revealing the trickery behind the so-called supernatural.  Mystic Simon Silver has been away from the public eye for many years since his number one critic died at his last appearance.  He’s suddenly back on the scene and scheduling various venues across the country.  Tom tries to convince Margaret to go after him but she believes he was investigated fully during his first career.  Strange things start to happen to Tom and Margaret soon after his insistence that they go after Silver. 

     I would not think Robert DeNiro as a spoon bending blind clairvoyant in my ideas for movie castings?  The first two-thirds of this film are very good but the last one-third leaves you going HUH?  Everything grinds to a halt and runs away from the substantial groundwork established in the beginning.  3* (This movie is OK)

113, Drama directed by Rodrigo Cortes with Sigourney Weaver, Robert DeNiro, Cillian Murphy, Elizabeth Olsen, Joely Richardson, Toby Jones.

Note:  Blockbuster 2 ½*, imdb 6.1 out of 10, 29% critic 36% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Words 2012

     Rory Jansen is a writer who finally has success through his work when his novel is published.  There is only one problem with his writing, he didn’t write this novel.  He stole the material from another author.  He doesn't know who wrote the novel, he discovered it just by chance.  Rory thinks no one will ever know and this success leads to the publishing of his rejected novels.  Will a price be paid for stealing another man’s work in order to achieve success?  What about dealing with lying and guilt?

     This is very good.  It keeps your attention throughout and it has a twist that you will need to figure out!  Somewhat like wrapped packages within a larger package.  4* (I really liked this movie) 

97 min, Drama directed by Brian Klugman, Lee Stemthal with Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Dennis Quaid, John Hannah, Jeremy Irons, Vito DeFilippo, Michael McKean. 

Note:  Blockbuster 3 ½*, imdb 6.8 out of 10, 22% critic 51% audience on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Intruders 2012

     Two families have their lives thrown in chaos by a terrible vision of a hooded man.  A young boy and his mother live in Spain.  He can’t sleep through the night because of his constant nightmare.  His mother consults the Church but decides they can’t help.  They move as far as they can from their current apartment.  Another family in Britain have a teenage daughter.  She climbs a tree to rescue her cat and finds a wooden box in an opening in the tree.  There is a paper with a story inside that inspires her to write the story as her own.  The nightmare begins for her and her father.

     A lot of viewers didn’t like this because it is not scary or weird enough but it is for me.  I didn’t have to peer through my fingers even once and I was able to safely go along with the ride.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

100 min, Suspense directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo with Clive Owen, Daniel Bruhl, Carice van Houten, Ella Purnell, Pilar Lopez de Ayala, Izan Corcher.

Note:  Blockbuster 2 ½*, imdb 5.8 out of 10, 32% critic 23% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.