Le Week-End 2013

     Meg and Nick are a British couple returning to Paris to celebrate their anniversary where they had their honeymoon.  A lot has changed in the passing years and more than just they have grown older.  They are hoping this trip will rejuvenate their marriage.  Nick is shy, bashful modest and self-effacing.  Meg is demanding and take-charge.  Their trip seesaws from getting along to arguing and back again.  Meg immediately rejects the cheap and seedy accommodations he has booked and they find another place but it appears to be above their price range. They accidently run into an old friend that causes them to squabble more when they compare their modest life to his superstar life.

     This is funny and also sad but enjoyable but there is a little too much bickering and lamenting.  I think it needs closer editing since it seems overlong even though the film is just over 1-½ hours.  3* (This movie is OK)

93 min, Comedy directed by Roger Michell with Lindsay Duncan, Jim Broadbent, Jeff Goldblum.

Note:  Imdb 6.4 out of 10, 89% critic 55% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3 ½*.

Special Note:  Director Roger Michell has also done Four Weddings and a Funeral 1994, Notting Hill 1999, Persuasion 1995, Changing Lanes 2002, Venus 2006, The King’s Speech 2010, Hyde Park on Hudson 2012.  Also, I think Duncan looks like an older Julie Delpy.

The Right Kind of Wrong 2013

     This movie is based on a novel by Tim Sandlin and filmed in Canada.  Leo Palamino is a dishwasher in a busy restaurant who can also juggle dishes, knives and other kitchen equipment.  He wrote a novel and accepted an advance but refused to make recommended changes.  He returned the advance and self published but his novel was a failure.  His wife Julie left him after achieving success as a writer with her blog about Leo and his failures plus turning the blog into a novel.  Leo meets Colette at her wedding and he believes she’s making a mistake.  Even though her new husband Danny seems perfect, Leo believes he’s the man for her. 

     This film is asking us to believe a lot that seems implausible?  How can Leo be the right one for Colette when he doesn’t have anything but ridicule going for him?  I don’t see a lot mutual attraction or a feeling that they must be right for each other and they don’t know each other at all?  What about breaking up a new marriage just because you don’t have anyone else but your cat?  2 ½* (This movie is so-so)

97 min, Comedy directed by Jeremiah Chechik with Ryan Kwanten, Sara Canning, Ryan McPartlin, Kristen Hager, James A. Woods, Raoul Bhaneja, Jennifer Baxter, Will Sasso, Catherine O’Hara, Maria Menounos.

Note:  Imdb 6.2 out of 10, 12% critic 40% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 1 ½*.

The Cinncinnati Kid 1965

      The setting is New Orleans in the 1930’s.  The Cincinnati Kid is a young poker player who goes from one big game to the next.  He also stops along the way to meet attractive women.  In New Orleans, he has a chance to play against the legendary champion cardsharp Lancey Howard known as The Man in a very high-stakes poker game.  The Shooter is another gambling pro, he arranges the game and he’s the main dealer.  They have Lady Fingers to fill in if The Shooter gets tired.  Slade is an old enemy of The Man and he tries to fix the game.

       I had forgotten that these games could go on all night and into the next day.  They only stop for a break if there is a request to do so.  I also found the roles of Ann-Margret and Tuesday Weld interesting.  Nothing related about them personally but only their behavior concerning the men is in their scenes.  There are a lot of review comparisons with The Hustler with Paul Newman shooting pool (1961) and the Thomas Crown Affair with Pierce Brosnan (1999).  3* (This movie is OK)

102 min, Drama directed by Norman Jewison with Steve McQueen, Ann-Margret, Edward G. Robinson, Karl Malden, Tuesday Weld, Joan Blondell, Rip Torn, Jack Weston, Cab Calloway, Jeff Corey, Theodore Marcuse.

Note:  Imdb 7.3 out of 10, 85% critic 79% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, TCM average 4.2 out of 5 user review, Amazon 7.3 out of 10 with 104 reviews.

Little Children

     Sarah Pierce is married to an advertising executive in New England and they have a young daughter.  She feels her days are long, she can’t seem to connect with her daughter and she feels her marriage is lacking love.  Brad Adamson sometimes comes to the park with his young son and they also go to the pool.  He’s supposedly studying every night at the library to retake the bar exam but he hasn’t gone all summer and his wife makes documentaries.  Brad is a husband and dad but he can’t quite seem to grasp adulthood.  Sarah and Brad meet at the park and they start meeting at the pool with their children.  Sarah has a master’s degree in literature, she is just very happy to have adult conversation and to have someone listen to her.  Ronnie is a convicted child molester living in the neighborhood and everyone is afraid of him and talking about him.  Larry has retired from the police force because of PSTD, he’s been kicked out of his house by his wife and his only purpose in life at the moment is to torment Ronnie. 

     There are a lot of plots going here at once and they are sorted out by soothing voice-over narration to keep us straight.  Think James Earl Jones but not quite as deep voiced.  There are unexpected twists of resolution at the end.  3* (This movie is OK)

136 min Drama directed by Todd Field with Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly, Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Noah Emmerich, Gregg Edelman, Phyllis Somerville, Raymond J. Barry, Jane Adams.

Note:  Imdb 7.6 out of 10, 80% critic 82% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2 ½*.

Rhapsody in Blue 1945

     This film follows the Gershwin family from the boyhood of George and Ira to 1937 when George was 39 years old.  The Gershwin family has talent, composer George is driven by the need to compose and succeed.  Ira is good at writing lyrics but not as driven.  Julie Adams is in love with George but he’s too busy.  Ira has gotten married and he doesn’t push himself so hard.

     The music is good, there is a lot of it and it’s filmed in black and white.  There is a lot of information I didn't know about the Gershwin brothers.  3* (This movie is OK)

135 min, Bio directed by Irving Rapper with Robert Alda, Joan Leslie, Alexis Smith, Charles Coburn, Julie Bishop, Albert Bassermann, Morris Carnovsky, Rosemary DeCamp, Oscar Levant, Paul Whiteman, Al Jolson.

Note:  Imdb 7.0 out of 10, 20% critic 58% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.3* with 53 reviews.

Special Note:  The director wanted Tyrone Power to play Gershwin but Power was still serving in the Marines.  Rhapsody in Blue was composed in 1924.  Gershwin had been seeing composer Kay Swift for 10 years.  Julie and Christine in the film are fictional.

Dead Ringers 1988

     This film is loosely based on facts. The Mantle brothers are twins and they are both gynecologists in Toronto.  They look exactly alike but they are different in personality, temperament and medical expertise.  Elliot is the dominant twin, confident, good at public speaking and a ladies man.  Beverly is more reserved and better at working with the patients.  Elliot meets Claire Niveau, she is an actress and he thinks Beverly would like her more.  Beverly and Claire become very close but she likes to take drugs and Beverly begins to take them too.  Claire leaves for an acting role and Beverly starts to fall apart without her.  Elliot continues with his part of their exclusive practice and he doesn’t realize how disturbed Beverly has become.

     This is a very different and slightly eerie film with a cold, detached style and Irons playing both roles of the twins with differences in their hair to tell them apart.  Claire shakes everything up in their very well tailored life.  Since Beverly is the one who is repressed, changes affect him first and the worst.  Elliot wants everything to remain the same for their lives and their medical practice.  The music sets you up to thinks you will see something really terrible but the film is visually controlled without special effects.  3* (This movie is OK) 

116 min, Drama directed by David Cronenberg with Jeremy Irons, Genevieve Bujold, Heidi von Palleske, Barbara Gordon, Shirley Douglas, Stephen Lack, Nick Nichols, Lynne Cormack, Damir Andrei, Miriam Newhouse.

Note:  Imdb 7.4 out of 10, 83% critic 83% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2 ½*.

Labor Day 2013

     This film is based on a novel by Joyce Maynard.  The year is 1987 on Labor Day weekend, Adele is a divorced single mom and she has a 13 year-old son, Henry.  They live in a house needing repair work and paint in a small New Hampshire town.  Adele is depressed and she can’t go into the bank but she can drive Henry there to go inside for her.  She pushes herself to take Henry to buy new clothes for going back to school.  They meet a man there and he manages to get them to offer him a ride because he’s injured and asks for their help.  Police are searching the town for him because he’s an escaped convict.  Frank begins to tell his story to Adele and Henry.  He also changes the oil in her car, cleans the gutters, mops and waxes the floor.  He teaches them how to make a peach pie from fruit brought over by a neighbor.

     What happened to Adele and her marriage is told in flashbacks.  There is a lot of tension when there are scenes where Frank could get caught and sent back to prison.  This film has low marks for sentiment but wasn’t 1987 a different time than 2013, especially small town America?  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

111 min, Drama directed by Jason Reitman with Kate Winslet, Josh Brolin, Gattlin Griffith, Tobey Maguire, Tom Lipinski, Maika Monroe, Clark Gregg, James Van Der Beek, J.K. Simmons, Brooke Smith.

Note:  Imdb 6.9 out of 10, 33% critic 55% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 1 ½*.

Special Note:  The author Joyce Maynard, came to the set of Labor Day in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts to teach Winslet and Brolin how to make the peach pie.  They made three pies and ate them right away.  Josh told her later that he made a pie almost every day of that summer.  When Joyce’s mother was dying, Joyce also made a pie nearly every day during those months.  Friends came by to see her mother and she fed them pie.  Later she started teaching others to make pies using her mother’s method.  Joyce said she cries every time she watches them make the pie in this movie.