My Neighbors the Yamadas 1999

     The Yamadas are a middle class Japanese family living in urban Tokyo.  There are nine episodes in this film about their lives and it is based on a popular comic strip in Japan.  The stories are about the parents Takashi and Matsuko, Shige, Matsuko’s mother and grandmother to Noboru, a son aged 13 and Nonoko, a daughter aged 5.  They also have the family dog, Pochi and he has his own doghouse in the yard.  Nonoko is accidently left behind at the mall and the family races back to get her.  There are stories about the relationships between the parents, the children and the addition of a grandmother.  There are arguments over control of the television and the remote. 

     This family is relatable because they are like American families with the same joy, problems, misunderstandings and circumstances.  They love each other and care about each other.  The parents want to do the best they can for the children.  The parents and grandmother also worry about aging.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

104 min, Animation directed by Isao Takahata with the voices of James Belushi, Molly Shannon, Daryl Sabara, Liliana Mumy, Tress MacNeille, David Ogden Stiers.

Note:  Imdb 7.3 out of 10, 75% critic 76% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.4* out of 5* with 83 reviews.

Special Note:  This is the first film from Studio Ghibli to be 100% digital.  It is also different because there is not a continuing storyline but short vignettes.  The comic strips are by written Hisaichi Ishii and are published with four panels. 

Love Field 1992

     Lurene Hallett is a housewife living in Dallas.  She goes to Love Field on November 22, 1963 because this is the airport where President and Mrs. Kennedy arrive.  They will be to driving through Dallas in an open convertible.  Lurene has been living vicariously through Mrs. Kennedy and this has helped her to recover from the loss of her daughter.  Ray is her husband and he doesn’t understand any of this and he’s not going to the airport.  After the death of President Kennedy, Lurene leaves a note for Ray and she takes a Greyhound bus to attend the funeral in Washington DC.  She meets Paul Cater and his five-year-old daughter Jonell.  In the beginning, she is friendly to Paul and Jonell.  She finds out later that Paul has taken his daughter from an orphanage.  She was not being treated well and he wants to have custody of her.  Jonell was in the orphanage because her mother passed away.  Lurene’s dull housewife days are left behind on this bus trip. 

     Lurene deals with her own reality by changing her viewpoint to that of John and Jackie Kennedy.  She doesn’t realize how much her bus trip is going to make her life different.  She just wants to be there for this historic event and emotionally support Jackie from a distance.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

102 min, Drama directed by Jonathan Kaplan with Michelle Pfeiffer, Dennis Haysbert, Stehpanie McFadden, Brian Kerwin, Lousie Latham, Peggy Rea, Beth Grant, Johnny Ray McGhee, Cooper Huckabee, Troy Evans.

Note:  Imdb 6.7 out of 10, 36% critic 56% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 26 reviews.

Special Note:  This movie was filmed in Wilson and Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Richmond, Virginia and California.  This is the first film released by Michelle Pfeiffer’s production company, Via Rosa.

Morning Glory 1993

     This movie is based on a book written by Lavryle Spencer.  The setting is a small country town in the early 1940’s during the depression.  Will Parker has hit bottom and seems to have run out of options.  He was in prison for five years for the murder of a woman but his best friend was responsible for her death.  The court believed Will was guilty because his friend testified against him.  Will sees an advertisement in the paper from Elly Dinsmore.  Her husband has died, she has two young boys and is expecting another baby.  She has a small farm and she really needs help during the winter.  She is also looking for a new husband, she wants a man who is good with her children and can take over the heavy work of a farm.  Will comes to meet her and she agrees to have him live in the barn on a trial basis. 

     I’ve seen other movies set in this time span and the depression was a very tough time for those with property and also those with nothing.  Many people wandered from place to place just trying to stay alive.  Will Parker has more problems because of the actions of other people than he can handle.  Even though the times are tough, life was different in these days.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

96 min, Drama directed by Steven Hillard Stern with Christopher Reeve, Deborah Raffin, Lloyd Bochner, Nina Foch, Helen Shaver, J.T. Walsh, Susan Astley.

Note:  Imdb 6.5 out of 10, 54% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 3.9* out of 5* with 378 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  Deborah Raffin previously auditioned for the role of Lois Lane in Superman: The Movie of 1978.

Life as a House 2001

     George Monroe has lived alone for ten years in a run down shack on the Southern California coast.  All the other homes could be called estates but not the one George and his dog live in.  His dog has a ‘bad’ habit of peeing the car, newspapers and yard of one of the neighbors.  The plumbing is out and George pees in the ocean.  George has worked building scale models of architectural projects for the same firm for twenty-five years.  Everything is moving to computers and George is let go.  He learns he has advanced cancer and he decides he will finally build the house he has always wanted to live in.  He wants his rebellious sixteen-year-old son Sam to help him and he wants to try to change Sam’s life.

     Building the house changes more than Sam’s life, it changes George, Sam’s mother, her husband, her younger children, the neighbors and other people in Sam’s life.  I thought it was interesting and good how the project expands and it rises into a new house from a shack.  The people are also able to rise from brokenness.  3 ½* (I liked this movie) 

125 min, Drama directed by Irwin Winkler with Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, Hayden Christensen, Jena Malone, Mary Steenburgen, Ian Somerhalder, Jamey Sheridan, Scott Bakula.

Note:  Imdb 7.5 out of 10, 47% critic 88% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2 ½*, Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 518 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Long Beach, Los Angeles, Malibu, Palos Verdes, Santa Catalina Island, California and Bermuda.  Kevin Kline lost about 25 pounds, he was on a constant diet and had a trainer.  He wasn't sick but it was to show George getting sicker and sicker.

Man Hunt 1941

     Captain Alan Thorndike is a big game hunter vacationing in Bavaria.  He goes out into the woods and he has Adolf Hitler in his gun sight.  He wants to see if it would be possible to shoot him but he’s planning on not pulling the trigger.  He is captured by Nazi troops, beaten and left for dead in the woods.  He escapes back to London as a stowaway on a Danish steamer.  In London, German agents hound him but Jerry Stokes tries to help him.  To thank her, he wants his attorney to arrange for her to receive money after he leaves London but she refuses.

     I wondered how Thorndike could think he could get this close to Hitler without being discovered and captured?  He endangers himself and also those he meets after he escapes.  I wonder if the outcome was worth this adventure?  3* (This movie is OK)

105 min, Drama directed by Fritz Lang with Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett, George Sanders, John Carradine, Roddy McDowall, Ludwig Stossel, Heather Thatcher.

Note:  Imdb 7.4 out of 10, 90% critic 75% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.0* out of 5* with 87 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Los Angeles, California.  The director, Fritz Lang fled Germany to Paris in 1933 rather than accept an offer from Joseph Goebbels to make Nazi propaganda films.  The next year he came to America.  This is the first film out of four that Joan Bennett made with Fritz Lang.  She also made The Woman in the Window, The Secret Behind the Door and Scarlet Street.  She partnered with Lang to form the company Diana Productions for those films.

The Silent War 2013

     This film is based on the true story of the underwater war between the US, UK and Soviet submarines in the second half of the 20^th century.  The three countries sailed secretly around each other and tracked each other to deter a nuclear war.  A typical mission was two to three months at a time.  Traveling at the surface was a luxury as well as sunlight, fresh air, fresh food and showers.  It wasn’t easy to keep track of day and night plus the day of the week or year.  Other things to be worried about were the status of the atomic reactor and the sophisticated weaponry on board.  The crews were unable to talk about where they were going and what they were doing with friends and families.

     This is interesting and good.  The nuclear-powered submarine changed thinking about its use in warfare.  These boats could go faster, deeper and stay out much longer.  They were larger with complex missile launching platforms.  They were completely silent and cat-and-mouse games were played between the US and the Soviet Union.  Previously, the diesel boats were noisy and their sound patterns could be identified.  There was a lot of tension during this time that filtered down to the both the American and Soviet people and their feelings of safety.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)  

58 min each, 2 episodes, Know Your Enemy and The Russians are Coming, TV Movie, directed by David Belton and Graham Cooper.

Note:  Imdb 6.8 out of 10, The Telegraph 3* out of 5*, Amazon 4.0* out of 5* with 3 reviews.

Special Note:  I was surprised that only 3 people have watched and reviewed this film on Amazon?

Hello, My Name is Doris 2015

     Doris meets the new art director John in the elevator.  She thinks he is very attractive and wonderful.  She starts doing everything she can to talk to him and get his attention.  She attends a self-help seminar with her Roz and she gets the idea to keep pursuing John.  Doris has led a very sheltered life living in Staten Island and taking care of her mother.  Her brother was too busy with his own life to help her with their mother.  Her mother has recently passed away and now she's on her own for the first time.  Roz worries that Doris will be hurt and she wonders about Doris getting dating advice from Roz's 13-year-old granddaughter?

     There are moments when you don't know what Doris is seeing is real or what she has in her imagination.  Doris is a very unusual person and her wardrobe is made up of Salvation Army finds.  She's not afraid to combine bright colors and patterns.  She also likes to pick up cast offs on her way to work and her home is pretty stuffed.  There are a LOT of very funny moments in this film.  Also, some times with Doris losing it!!  3 1/2*  (I liked this movie)

95 min, Comedy directed by Michael Showalter with Sally Field, Max Greenfield, Tyne Daly, Stephen Root, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Kumail Nanjiani.

Note:  Imdb 6.7 out of 10, 83% critic 78% critic on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Amazon 3.7* out of 5* with 1266 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Los Angeles, California; New York City, Manhattan, Brooklyn, New York.  Sally Field is 69 years old and Max Greenfield is 35.