San Andreas: the Next Megaquake 2015

     The northern Cascadia section of the San Andreas Fault doesn’t receive as much press as the section near San Francisco.  This fault is off the coast from Vancouver Island to Northern California.  There is the possibility of a mega-quake of 9 lasting at least 5 minutes in this area.  The intensity of this quake would cause a massive tsunami and many smaller aftershocks.  There have already been four earthquakes dated by excavation of the soil in the nearby marsh.  One quake caused a forest of trees to die off.  This fault area is called a subduction zone because a denser oceanic plate is sliding under a less dense continental plate

     This is not the fictional disaster film with Dwayne Johnson but it is a documentary released by the BBC.  There is a lot of gloom and doom in this film but it does offer a lot of information to think about.  The March 11, 2011, the Japanese tsunami that damaged their nuclear power plant resulted from a 9.0 magnitude earthquake producing a tsunami of 33 feet high.  The epicenter of the earthquake was northeastern Japan.  Debris from this event continues to wash up on the coast of North American beaches.  3 1/2* (I liked this film)

50 min, Doc directed by Nathan Williams and narrated by Jack Fortune.

Note:  Amazon 2.7* out of 5* with 53 reviews.

Fetching 2012

     Liza is engaged to Mitch and he’s expecting her to quit her job as a lawyer and to become a wife, mother and homemaker.  She’s not so sure that this is what she wants at this time in her life?  It’s a difficult choice but she decides to call off the wedding and she also quits her job.  She uses the wedding money to open up a doggy day care called Fetching.  She wants less stress in her life and she feels she needs to change up her life.  She hires her friends Matt, Daveed and Aji to help out with the shop.  Just after she opens, a big box store also stocking dog supplies opens down the street.  This store does take away some of her business.  Liza doesn’t know what she’s going to do about her personal life and she doesn’t seem to be meeting anyone? 

     This is funny and it’s interesting and the dogs are a BIG part of the film.  When big changes are made, it’s tough to know if you’ve done the right thing and it’s common to second-guess your choices.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

15 episodes, Comedy, TV Series written by Amy Harris with Collette Wolfe, Levi Fiehler, Dave Annable, Elaine Hendrix, Smith Cho, Brian Tichnell, Sandra Vergara.

Note:  Imdb 7.1 out of 10, Amazon 2.8* out of 5* with 32 reviews.

Special Note:  Sandra Vergara is a cousin and adopted younger sister of Sofia Vergara.  I thought they were related because Sandra sounds just like Sofia.  She has been in Fright Night 2011, God Bless America 2011 and Days of Santiago 2004.  Filmed in Los Angeles, California.

Spitfire 1942

     The time period of this film is the late 1920’s.  R.J. Mitchell is an aircraft designer.  He has won many trophies for his designs of monoplanes.  He goes on a holiday to Germany after the recent selection of Adolf Hitler as the head of the German Workers Party propaganda effort.  Mitchell mulls over the idea to design a completely new type of fighter plane.  He feels Britain’s very survival may depend on this plane if Germany goes to war.  Mitchell worked tirelessly to finish his design as fast a possible.  He set aside concerns for his own ailing health from cancer to push forward. 

     Some liberties are taken with historical accuracy in this film.  Mitchell was up against a lot of drawbacks in designing this new type of plane.  There were a lot of requirements that hadn’t been met before.  It had to be able to do a lot and defeat any German plane in the sky.  Leslie Howard plays Mitchell and he was in Portugal on a non-governmental mission after filming.  German intelligence agents targeted him and Luftwaffe fighters attacked the civilian airplane flying him home.  The plane was shot down with no survivors.  He wasn’t able to see the release of this film.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

90 min, Adventure, Bio directed by Leslie Howard with Leslie Howard, David Niven, Rosamund John, Roland Culver, Anne Firth, David Horne, J.H. Roberts, Derrick De Marney, Rosalyn Boulter, Herbert Cameron.

Note:  Imdb 7.1 out of 10, 64% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.2* out of 5* with 237 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed at D&P Studios, Denham Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire and Polperro, Cornwall, England, UK.  Also, filmed at Ibsley, a former RAF base in Hampshire.  Filming didn’t stop because of war.  Real RAF airmen are featured, they would break for missions and begin again after fighting.  There is a mistake during a test flight of the Spitfire.  The canopy shown is called a Malcolm Hood and was not used on the early model.  Titled The First of the Few on Rotten Tomatoes.

Cafe Society 2016

     The setting of this film is New York and Hollywood of the 1930’s.  Phil Stern is a Hollywood talent agent and he receives a call from his older sister Rose in New York.  Her youngest son Bobby is coming to Hollywood and she is asking Phil to give him a job.  Bobby waits three weeks before Phil has an opening to see him.  Phil decides to hire Bobby to do errands.  Phil also asks his secretary Veronica (Vonnie) to befriend Bobby because he doesn’t know anyone in town.  Bobby falls in love with Vonnie but she has a boyfriend.  When Vonnie and her boyfriend break up, Bobby asks Vonnie to marry him and move to New York.  Vonnie’s boyfriend comes back and Vonnie must choose between the two men.

     Woody Allen movies are always about relationships.  It’s a study about friendships, courtships, marriages and choices.  It’s human nature to wonder if you made the right choice when faced with a one or the other choice.  I liked the scenery of Hollywood, the cars, clothing, hairstyles of this period.  There is a definite separation of classes between the wealthy and the middle class.  It’s all about connections too, the people you know and what they can do for you.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)  

96 min, Comedy directed by Woody Allen with Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carell, Sheryl Lee, Todd Weeks, Paul Schackman, Jodi Carlisle, Richard Portnow, Jeannie Berlin, Ken Stott, Sari Lennick, Stephen Kunken, Laurel Griggs, Corey Stoll, Blake Lively, Saul Stein.

Note:  Imdb 6.7 out of 10, 70% critic 59% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Amazon 3.4* out of 5* with 1681 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Pasadena, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California; New York City, Manhattan, Brooklyn, New York.  There is a mistake with a piano in a club scene.  It’s a Sojin brand from Korean but these pianos were not imported to the US until 1981.  Stewart and Eisenberg go to Grauman’s Chinese Theater.  Kristen Stewart has her hands and feet imprinted in the concrete there.  Eisenberg is channeling Allen from his Annie Hall days.  This is the first Allen film using a digital format and a first for the production designer and cinematographer.

Submarine Alert 1943

     During WWII, Nazi and Japanese spies killed the inventor of a shortwave transmitter prototype to steal his device.  They want to use it to broadcast top-secret shipping information to an offshore Japanese submarine.  The US Government arranges for the West Coast’s top radio engineers to be fired from their jobs.  They will follow them and see if the Nazi/Japanese organization recruits any of them for their purposes.  They are needed to complete the work needed on the prototype radio.  Engineer Lew Deerhold is a US resident alien.  He is very distressed when he is fired because he needs money for his ward's life-saving operation.  He is the one recruited by the spy ring to finish the work on the device.

     There is a LOT of running back and forth, especially in the dark?  It's difficult to see what is going on in the dark.  I couldn't tell which side the people were on?  The device was important because tankers were in danger of being torpedoed by the submarine and several were sunk.  The idea for this film was quickly generated during a switch by Hollywood to war themes to attract audiences.  3* (This movie was OK)

66 min, Thriller, War directed by Frank McDonald with Richard Arlen, Wendy Barrie, Nils Asther, Roger Pryor, Abner Biberman, Marc Lawrence, John Miljan, Patsy Nash, Ralph Sanford.

Note:  Imdb 5.5 out of 10, Amazon 3.5* out of 5* with 2 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Los Angeles, California.  The original copyright older didn’t renew the film’s copyright and anyone could duplicate and sell this movie.  Many available versions are badly edited and can be of poor quality.  There is a mistake in this film.  The bombers are shown as a single seat P-40 but later there at least two people in the planes?

Last Days in the Desert 2015

     This film is an imagined chapter of the forty days of fasting and praying of Jesus in the desert.  There are struggles with the elements and the Devil.  Jesus spends his days fasting praying, and asking for guidance.  He also meets a family living in the desert.  The father is a stone-cutter, his wife is sick and they have a teenage son. 

     I’m not sure of the point or purpose of this film since it’s not biblically or historically accurate?  As an imagined story, it could be anyone in the desert?  The scenery of the desert is very beautiful and formidable.  I’m also not sure why the story of the family in the desert concluded the way it did? 2 ½* (This movie is so-so)

98 min, Adventure directed by Rodrigo Garcia with Ewan McGregor, Ciaran Hinds, Tye Sheridan, Ayelet Zurer, Susan Gray.

Note:  Imdb 5.6 out of 10, 75% critic 47% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2 ½*, Amazon 2.8* out 5* with 76 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, California.  Ciaran Hinds and Ayelet Zurer also acted together in the film Munich.  Ewan McGregor is Scottish born and he has blue eyes.  I’m sure this casting fits the picture of a Jewish man born in the Middle East?  Emmanuel Lubezki is the cinematographer for this filmand he has won three consecutive Oscars for Gravity, Birdman and The Revenant.

The Middle Passage 2000

    This film is a realistic look at the transporting of slaves by boat from Senegal Africa to America.  Up to 300 slaves can be held in the hold but usually more were kept there.  The scenes portrayed are a mixture of fiction and actual events. 

     I’m not sure what the point is of this film?  It’s not historically accurate so it may be as presented but could be only as imagined?  Wouldn’t viewers be better served to have an accurate portrayal of the facts as a base for their personal feelings of the circumstances?  I know the bottom line is that everything about this and others trip was bad and nothing was good.  2 ½* (This movie is so-so)

78 min, Docudrama directed by Guy Deslauriers with Djimon Hounsou as narrator and Maka Kotto.

Note:  Imdb 6.1 out of 10, 60% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 3.9* out of 5* with 13 reviews, Amazon 3.9* out of 5* with 13 reviews.

Special Note:  First screened in North America at the 2000 Toronto Film Festival as part of the Planet Africa series.  The title in French is Passage du milieu.