The Godfather 1972

     This film was adapted from a novel written by Mario Puzo.  The setting is between 1945 and 1955.  Vito Corelone is hearing requests in his role as the Godfather, the Don of a New York crime family.  The occasion is the wedding of Vito’s daughter.  Michael is his youngest son and he introduces his girlfriend Kay Adams to his family.  One request for the Godfather is a movie role for Johnny Fontane, the godson of Vito.  His consigliore Tom Hagen is dispatched to California to discuss the movie role.  The Tattaglia crime family asks Don Corelone for an investment and protection for his narcotic business.  A refusal by the Godfather sets off open warfare.  Vito’s three sons fear for their safety and Vito is sent to the hospital with many gunshot wounds.  Michael has stayed out of the family business but he realizes he needs to accept the position of the Godfather in the place of Vito.

     There is a lot going on in this film.  I liked the plot and the characters.  There are squabbles among the Corelone family and more difficult problems between the other crime families.  You don’t know who will be killed in the next scene.  I didn’t watch this film before because I didn’t want to see one of the scenes with the Hollywood director who refused to give Johnny Fontane the film role.  4* (I really liked this movie)

175 min, Crime directed by Francis Ford Coppola with Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard S. Castellano, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte, Al Lettieri, Diane Keaton, Abe Vigoda, Talia Shire, Gianni Russo, John Cazale, Rudy Bond.

Note:  Imdb 9.2 out of 10, 99% critic 98% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 4*, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 1272 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Forza d’Agro, Messina, Catania and Savoca, Sicily, Italy; New York City, Long Island, Bronx, Manhattan, New York; Jersey City, New Jersey; Las Vegas, Nevada; Los Angeles, Beverly Hills,  Ross, California.  The film technicians told James Caan that they had never attached that many squibs to anyone before.  Squibs replicate gunshots and hits.

Blue is the Warmest Color 2013

     This film is adapted from a novel by Julie Maroh.  Adele is 15 years old and a junior in high school, she’s attractive and she has a lot of friends.  She’s gone out with guys but she doesn’t know if this is what she wants.  She sees Emma, she has blue in her hair and for some reason Adele is hoping to see her again.  She does meet Emma again and they start to see each other.  Adele tells her parents that Emma is helping her with her philosophy studies.

      This is a different film in many ways, including the awards won.  Three hours is a long time to focus on just the two lead actresses.  Also, at its center is Adele maturing from 15 to 18 years old.  Adele is trying to get though high school and move on to a teaching job.  Emma has finished her education and she is trying to earn a living with her art.  There are many ways that Adele and Emma are unequal in their relationship.  Most scenes have the color blue in the forefront or background.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

180 min, Drama directed by Abdellatif Kechiche with Lea Seydoux, Adele Exarchopoulos, Salim Kerchiouche, Aurelien Recoing, Catherine Salee, Benjamin Siksou, Mona Walravens, Alma Jodorowsky.

Note:  Imdb 7.8 out of 10, 90% critic 85% critic on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 554 reviews.

Special Note:  First shown at Cannes, winner of a Palme d’Or and the FIPRESCI Prize.  It is the first film to receive a Palme d’Or for the director and the lead actresses.  Lea and Adele are the first women to have won the Palme d’Or.  Nominated for a Golden Globe and the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film.  Filmed in Lile, Roubaix and Lievin, France.

The Martian 2015

     This film is based on a novel by Andy Weir.  NASA has sent a manned mission to Mars and the crew quickly leaves during an intense storm.  They believe Mark Watney is dead after an antenna strikes him and there is a no response signal from his space suit.  A piece of the antenna pierced his suit and went into his abdomen but he wakes up alive.  He is stranded and alone with meager supplies.  He is a botanist and he challenges the hostile planet to prevent him from growing food.  He sets up an indoor farm to grow potatoes and he has a great crop.  He must find a way to signal Earth that he is alive.  NASA and Mark rig up a way for him to communicate and they begin to prepare a probe that will send supplies to him before a rescue can reach him.  It becomes a complicated back and forth discussion.  Can they get supplies to him in time, should the crew of the Hermes spaceship return to get him and extend their mission?  Time is of the essence, Mars is far away and it will take time for any plan to reach Mark.

     The scenery is very unusual and the equipment left on Mars is complex.  It seems as if this adventure is really happening to Mark and everything is very interesting.  His methods of making what he has work for him are very good.  He feels he can’t give up and he needs to extend everything he has and make more of anything he can.  I didn’t expect this film to draw me into the story so well.  I thought this was just Matt Damon sitting on Mars and waiting?  4* (I really liked this movie)

144 min, Adventure directed by Ridley Scott with Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Sean Bean, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Mackenzie Davis, Donald Glover, Nick Mohammed, Shu Chen.

Note:  Imdb 8.1 out of 10, 92% critic 92% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3 ½*, Amazon 4.5* out of 5* with 11,814 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Wadi Rum, Jordan; Etyek, Budapest, Hungary; Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas; Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.  The text on the computer screen when the Hermes crew and Mark have their first conversation has a display like Mother, the computer on Alien of 1979 also directed by Ridley Scott.

Learning to Drive 2014

     Wendy works in New York as a book critic.  She is shocked when her husband Ted asks her for a divorce.  He feels she never listens to him and she looks right through him.  He has already moved on to another relationship.  Wendy has relied on Ted for a lot of things and she doesn’t know how to drive.  Darwan returned an envelope to her that she left in his cab and he gives her his card for driving lessons.  Darwan gives driving lessons during the day and he drives a cab at night.  He is a Sikh Indian and he is thinking about an arranged marriage.  The woman will be from India and someone he has never met in person.  Darwan is very patient and he is a calming force for Wendy when she is falling apart at the seams.

     I really enjoyed this film.  The characters draw you in and you see the expansive difference in the lives of Wendy and Darwan.  They console and offer helpful advice to each other about relationships.  Learning to drive strengthens Wendy in other aspects of her now single life.  4* (I really liked this movie)

90 min, Comedy directed by Isabel Coixet with Patricia Clarkson, Ben Kingsley, Grace Gummer, Sarita Choudhury, Avi Nash, Samantha Bee, Matt Salinger, John Hodgman, Michael Mantell, Daniela Lavender.

Note:  Imdb 6.4 out of 10, 66% critic 61% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 271 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in New York.  Clarkson, Kingsley and Coixet also worked together on the film Elegy.  Choudhury has played the wife of the director of the CIA on Homeland.  There is also a movie of 2006 with the same title with Laura Linney and Rupert Grint.

A Walk in the Woods 2015

     This film is based on a novel written by the real Bill Bryson published in 1998.  Bill Bryson is a writer and he should be enjoying his retirement.  Instead, he would like to walk the Appalachian Trail.  This is 2200 miles of rugged countryside from Georgia to Maine.  A lot of his friends don’t think they would like to join him on this trek?  He finally gets a former friend, Katz to agree to the trip.  Katz is a serial philanderer who is down on his luck.  He has always relied on his charm and wits to maintain one step ahead of spending time in jail.  Katz thinks this will be a good time to get away to opt out on some debts and a stretch in jail. 

      Bryson thought he was in shape but he knew Katz was not in shape.  When they are passed and left behind by a woman, the realization starts to hit.  Two young guys offer to take their packs across a river but they decline.  They held onto their pride but that was a mistake!!  This is like a male version of Wild from 2014 but Imdb gives Wild 7.2 out of 10 and it was about the Pacific Crest Trail.  3* (This movie is OK)

104 min, Adventure directed by Ken Kwapis with Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, Emma Thompson, Mary Steenburgen, Nick Offerman, Kristen Schaal, R. Keith Harris, Randall Newsome, Hayley Lovitt, Linds Edwards.

Note:  Imdb 6.3 out of 10, 45% critic 50% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2 ½*, Amazon 3.7* out of 5* with 1808 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Fontana Dam, North Carolina; Sharon, Connecticut; Buford, Georgia; Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania and McAfee Knob, Virginia.  Redford and Nolte previously worked together on The Company You Keep of 2012.

Wolf Totem 2015

    This film is based on a semi-autobiographical novel published in 2004 and written by Beijing professor Lu Jiamin under the pseudonym Jiang Rong.  The setting of this film is China of 1967.  Mao Aedong has launched the Cultural Revolution and millions of urban Chinese students are sent from Beijing into the countryside to educate the rural people.  Chen Zhen is sent to live among the nomadic herdsmen of Inner Mongolia.  The advance of civilization is catching up to the nomads from the south.  Their traditional enemies the wolves are pushing toward them from the north.  The nomads can relate to the struggle of the wolves to sustain themselves.  They share food resources in order to keep the wolves from their attacking their sheep and horses.  The wolves fascinate Chen Zhen and he wants to raise a cub despite the objections of the people surrounding him.

      Both the nomads and the wolves have a difficult life of struggling for shelter, taking care of the themselves and obtaining basic necessities.  This film required a lot of background preparation and it took seven years to complete.  The scenery is very beautiful but there are difficult scenes with the animals.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

121 min, Adventure directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud with Shofeng Feng, Shawn Dou, Ankhnyam Ragchaa, Yin Ahusheng, Ba Sen Zha Bu, Baoyingexige, Tumenbayaer, Xilindule, Hai-Long Bao.

Note:  Imdb 6.6 out of 10, 71% critic 51% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 3.8* out of 5* with 34 reviews, Washington Post 2 ½*.

Special Note:  Filmed in Inner Mongolia, China.  Shaofeng Feng had a fall from his horse on the first day of filming.  He also was bitten or scratched by the wolves.  Producer Alan Wang and the film crew spent three years raising three generations of 35 Mongolian wolves.  Sixteen of the wolves and a dog stunt-double moved to Canada to live with their trainer Andrew Simpson after filming concluded.  Jean-Jacques Annaud also made Seven Years in Tibet of 1997.

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont 2005

    This film is based on a novel by Elizabeth Taylor (not the actress).  Sarah Palfrey had a long and happy marriage but now she is a widow.  She moves into a London residential hotel.  It doesn’t live up to its online description as lively and elegant.  It’s not at all lively and it is an old worn elegance.  She is hoping her grandson that lives in London will come by for visits and dinners.  On a walking trip to post a letter and pick up a library book for another resident, she falls and a young man invites her into his flat.  Ludovic tends to her injured knee and she invites him to come to dinner.  There is confusion at the Claremont and everyone thinks this is her grandson. 

     This is a good story with good characters.  Mrs. Palfrey is not a ‘hip’ grandmother, she acts and is her real age.  Ludovic finds inspiration in her life and he is able to write his first novel.  Many times a ‘family’ that is chosen can outshine real family!!  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

108 min, Comedy directed by Dan Ireland with Joan Plowright, Rupert Friend, Zoe Tapper, Robert Lang, Marcia Warren, Anna Massey, Georgina Hale, Millicent Martin, Michael Culkin, Emma Pike.

Note:  Imdb 7.7 out of 10, 71% critic 82% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Amazon 4.5* out of 5* with 927 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Hampshire, London, Middlesex, England, UK.  Eighty year-old Ruth Sacks wrote the screenplay.  Rupert Friend plays Peter Quinn on Homeland.