Happy Valley 2014

     This series takes place in a rural Yorkshire valley.  Catherine Cawood is a police sergeant, 47 years old, she is divorced, lives with her former heroin addict sister, has two daughters but one died and the other doesn’t speak to her.  She has a young grandson that lives with her and his mother was the daughter who died.  There is a lot going on in this valley and they have a real problem with drugs.   A young local woman is kidnapped and that spirals into a series of crimes.  Catherine often wonders why she doesn’t receive any information about what is going on locally from those above her rank?

     Happy Valley and it’s not very happy!!  Catherine doesn’t let things go and she gets involved in everything.  There is a lot of emotion between Catherine and her extended family too.  I wondered many times if she was going to be shot?  The police are not allowed to carry guns in Britain unless there are special circumstances.  The government believes that arming the police with guns engenders more gun violence than it prevents.  4* (I really liked this series)

6 episodes, 300 min total, TV Series, Crime directed by Sally Wainwright with Sarah Lancashire, Siobhan Finneran, Steve Pemberton, James Norton, Adam Long, Joe Armstrong, George Costigan, Charllie Murphy, Katherine Kelly, Julie Hessmondhalgh.

Note:  Imdb 8.5 out of 10, 100% critic 91% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 90 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Calder Valley, Yorkshire, North Light Film Studios, Brookes Mill, Berry Brow, Huddersfield, England, UK.  There are two seasons, one from 2015 on DVD and the other 2016 available now on Netfix.  Sally Wainwright is also in The Paradise and Last Tango in Halifax.  Siobhan Finneran was O’Brien, Lady Grantham’s personal maid on Downton Abbey for 25 episodes from 2010-2012.

No Escape 2015

     A new water plant is going to be constructed in Southeast Asia.  Jack Dwyer was forced to close his company and he was offered a job with this larger company.  Jack, his wife Annie and their daughters Lucy and Breeze take a very long plane flight.  They are surprised there isn’t a car sent by the company to take them to their hotel?  They met Hammond on the plane and he offers to take them when his ride comes.  They were concerned they had too much luggage but Kenny Rogers is driving a small bus.  The family is very tired, jet lagged and ready for a long night of sleep.  The next morning, Jack heads out to get an American newspaper.  After he gets the paper, he sees local people heading toward a line of policemen to clash and fight with them.  Jack hurries back to the hotel, gathers his family and tries to find safety.

     This is a very tense film as soon as Jack gets his paper in the morning.  There is a lot of violence, gunfire, bombings, buildings burning and gangs roaming the streets.  The family has a tough time every minute.  3* (This movie is OK)

103 min, Action directed by John Erick Dowdle with Lake Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Owen Wilson, Sterling Jerins, Claire Gere, Sahajak Boonthanakit.

Note:  Imdb 6.8 out of 10, 45% critic 63% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert ½*, Amazon 4.2* out of 5* with 892 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Chiang Mai, Lampang, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.  Michelle Monaghan was originally cast in the role of Annie but the movie was delayed and she was going to have a baby.  Trailers of this film were released in Cambodia and there was a social uproar because of the use of upside down Khmer lettering on the police shields.

She's Funny That Way 2014

     Isabella (Izzy) Patterson is being interviewed by Hollywood reporter Judy.  She is an actress and she got her big break when she met theater director Arnold Albertson.  Her first part in a play is about a call girl who gets a big break when she meets a director, not unlike the way Izzy got her start.  Arnold’s wife and his friend Seth also have parts in A Grecian Evening.  Jane Claremont is a therapist and she finds out she is dealing with many of the people involved in this play and their friends.

     This film has the style of Woody Allen with the relationships back and forth and many complications.  There are a lot of misunderstandings, running around, jumping in cabs, breakups and attempted patching up the breakups.  2 1/2* (This movie is so-so)

93 min, Comedy directed by Peter Bogdanovich with Imogen Poots, Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Illeana Douglas, Kathryn Hahn, Rhys Ifans, Richard Lewis, Cybill Shepherd, Austin Pendleton, George Morfogen, Tovah Feldshuh.

Note:  Imdb 6.2 out of 10, 40% critic 36% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2 ½*, Amazon 3.1* out of 5* with 184 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in New York City and Manhattan.  People Magazine reported this film was going into preproduction in the mid-1990’s with the title to be Soup to Nuts with Tatum O’Neal.

The Walk 2015

     This film is based on the book To Reach the Clouds written by Philippe Petit.  The year is 1973, he lives in Paris and he makes a living performing juggling acts.  His parents are not happy about his lack of income and his work as a street performer.  His father asks him to leave the family house.  Philippe returns to the circus were he practices for hours on his wire walking skills.  He starts to get training and help from his a friend he calls Papa Rudy.  Philippe’s first public appearance as a wirewalker ends with him falling in a lake.  He decides to try walking walking on Notre Dame Cathedral to redeem himself.  His next decision is that he will walk between the two uncompleted towers of the World Trade Center in New York.  This walk will be much more complicated because of guards and the construction crews.  He sets the walk date as August 6. 1974.

     I think this is a little too long with too much focus on talking about wire walking.  There isn’t any explanation for the integral parts of the rigging for the tower walk.  It must be done perfectly, able to withstand the wind and the changes in the weather at 140 feet.  3* (This movie is OK)

123 min, Adventure directed by Robert Zemeckis with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Charlotte Le Bon, Ben Kingsley, Patrick Baby, Marie Turgeon.

Note:  Imdb 7.4 out of 10, 85% critic 78% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2 ½*, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 377 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Montreal Canada, Paris France, New York. The film Man on Wire features archival footage and interviews with the real Philippe Petit. 

Clouds of Sils Maria 2014

      Sils Maria is a remote region of the Alps.  Maria Enders and her assistant Valentine go to this area for Maria to rehearse for a role in a play.  Maria has been selected because this is a revival of a play she was acted in when she was 18 years old.  Twenty years have passed since this role established her career.  This time around she would play the older woman and another actress will play the younger woman.  Maria is at the top of her career and she decides she wants to drop out of this commitment.  She decides she would rather play the younger woman again.  Her agent thinks she will be sued if she tries to back out.

      The problem I have with this film is the scenes with Binoche and Stewart in rehearsal.  Where do the lines of the play drop off and the conversation lines between the two women begin?  They seem to merge and blend together until I couldn’t tell the difference?  I couldn’t keep my interest going and kept delaying trying to figure it all out?  The scenes of this area are very beautiful.  3* (This movie is OK)

124 min, Drama directed by Olivier Assayas with Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart, Chloe Grace Moretz, Lars Eidinger, Johnny Flynn, Angela Winkler, Hanns Zischler, Nora von Waldstatten, Brady Corbet.

Note:  Imdb 6.8 out of 10, 89% critic 65% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3 ½*, Amazon 3.4* out of 5* with 284 reviews.

Special Note:  This movie was filmed in Switzerland, Italy and Germany.

San Andreas 2015

     Ray Gaines works for the Los Angeles Fire Department Air Rescue as a pilot.  He is getting a divorce from his wife Emma and they have a daughter Blake.  They had another daughter but she died.  Caltech seismologist Lawrence Hayes and his colleague Dr. Kim Park travel to the Hoover dam to do research for their earthquake-predicting model.  While they are on the dam, there is a 7.1 magnitude quake that collapses the dam.  Dr. Park is killed when he falls into the collapsing ground.  The earthquake at the dam triggers a 9.1 quake in Los Angeles.  Ray heads to a downtown LA hotel in a helicopter to rescue Emma from the rooftop of the building.  They need to get to San Francisco right away to rescue Blake from the quake that will happen there.

     There is a LOT of action and tension in this film.  It is very interesting to see the magnitude of the damage to Hoover Dam and the collapse of the buildings and landmarks in LA and SF.  I knew there were errors in this film as I watched but I didn’t realize there were so many!!  Surprisingly, this was the highest-grossing Warner Brothers film of 2015 and fourteenth worldwide.  3* (This movie is OK)

114 min, Action directed by Brad Peyton with Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario, Ioan Gruffudd, Archie Panjabi, Paul Giamatti, Hugo Johnstone-Burt, Art Parkinson, Will Yun Lee, Kylie Minogue.

Note:  Imdb 6.1 out of 10, 50% critic 53% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Amazon 4.0* out of 5* with 6290 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California; Hoover Dam on the Arizona-Nevada Border and Queensland, Australia.  On Imdb, there is a long list of character, continuity, geography and factual errors.  There are also revealing mistakes, plot holes and one error in the sound of an airplane.

Jurassic World 2015

     There have been three previous Jurassic films.  In this film, after 10 years of operations there is a renovated park open for the public called Jurassic World.  It is located on the same Isla Nublar off the Pacific coast of Central America.  Scientists have been studying the genetic makeup of dinosaurs and they have engineered a new breed of dinosaur.  Brothers Zach and Grady Mitchell visit the park to see what it has to offer and visit with their aunt Claire.  She is a busy park operations manager.  Owen Grady was formerly in the Navy and he has been training the park’s velociraptors.  The security chief, Vic Hoskins thinks the velociraptors should be trained for military use and not entertainment?  The park owner, Simon Masarani asks Owen to evaluate the new hybrid dinosaur, indominus rex.  Owen is worried about the park raising the rex apart from the other animals in isolation.

     It’s better to treat this film as a comedy and it is a lot easier viewing.  There is plenty of action and plenty of running away.  The velociraptors are much smaller than the rex and the rex is an immense animal much smarter than they expect.  It is interesting to see the different types of animals and their behavior.  I didn't recognize Bryce Dallas Howard with a short modern hairstyle.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

124 min, Action directed by Colin Trevorrow with Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins, Irrfan Khan, Vincent D’Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Jake Johnson, Omar Sy, BD Wong, Judy Greer.

Note:  Imdb 7.1 out of 10, 71% critic 79% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Amazon 4.2* out of 5* with 7943 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Kilauea, Kaua’i, Oahu, Honolulu, Hawaii; New Orleans, Louisiana; San Diego, San Rafael, Cazadero, California.  There are mistakes with Claire’s shoes and I wondered about her shoes?  They are shown in some scenes as light colored stiletto heels, not shown sometimes and they are the same color but lace-up flat shoes in other scenes?  Steven Spielberg returns as executive producer and the characters are based on those created by Michael Crichton.