The House 2017

     Scott and Kate Johansen are counting on getting a scholarship from the town of Fox Meadow for their daughter’s college expenses.  They go to a town meeting and they learn the town will install a new swimming pool.  There isn’t any money left for a scholarship.  A vote is taken at the meeting and everyone except the Johansen’s votes for the swimming pool.  What are they going to do now that Alex has been accepted into her college choice?  They try to get a loan but are turned down.  The only hope may be the casino they are going to start with their gambling addicted neighbor Frank Theodorakis.

     There are some funny scenes, some scenes that fall flat and there is a LOT of swearing to fulfill the R rating!!  The biggest problem is the script!!  Amy and Will can only do so much with what they were given?  2 1/2* (This movie is so-so)  

 

88 min, Comedy directed by Andrew Jay Cohen with Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, Ryan Simpkins, Jason Mantzoukas, Nick Kroll, Allison Tolman, Rob Huebel, Christina Offley, Jessie Ennis, Rory Scovel, Lennon Parham.

Note:  Imdb 5.6 out of 10, 18% critic 36% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 1*, Metacritic 30 out of 100 with 22 critics 4.1 out of 10 with 48 reviews, Amazon 3.3* out of 5* with 4 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Sierra Madre, Monrovia, El Segundo, Las Angeles and Long Beach, California.  Mariah Carey was scheduled for a cameo but her scenes were never filmed.  She arrived four hours late and then she didn’t want to do the agreed scene.  She also wanted her trailer to be filled with white flowers and stuffed animal lambs?  This film received negative reviews from a LOT of critics.  It grossed $34 million world wide with a budget of $40 million.

The Wedding Plan 2016

     Michal is 32 years old and she is an Orthodox Jew.  She has arranged everything for her marriage but her fiancé cancels before their wedding.  He said he doesn't love her.  Michal refuses to cancel the wedding arrangements and she plans to wait on God to provide a groom within 30 days.  All the women in her family and her friends don’t understand what she is doing?  Even the owner of the wedding venue doesn’t understand?  He doesn't know whether to think she's crazy or respect her faith?  She is working with two different matchmakers but even this won’t guarantee a groom?  She goes on arranged blind dates but they are disasters.

     It takes a LOT of courage for Michal to refuse to abandon hope for a wedding.  She also refuses to let the glitch of her fiancé cancelling to change her plans.  She doesn’t want to be alone during her journey through life and she wonders if she may already be too old to find a groom?  Michal has an unusual occupation, she has a traveling zoo.  She has numerous animals and also a long black harmless snake.  Usually, children and adults are either drawn to or afraid of the snake?  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

110 min, Drama directed by Rama Burshtein with Noa Koler, Amos Tamam, Oz Zehavi, Irit Sheleg, Ronny Herhavi, Dafi Shoshana Alpern, Oded Leopold, Udi Persi, Jonathan Rozen, Karin Serrouya.

Note:  Imdb 6.6 out of 10, 86% critic 65% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Amazon 4* out of 5* with 57 reviews, Metacritic 72 out of 100 with 18 critics, Slant Magazine 2 ½* out of 4*.

Special Note:  Noa Koler and Amos Tamam acted as ex-spouses in the Israeli TV program Srugim.  The premier was at the 73^rd Venice Film Festival.  Noa Koler won the Best Actress award at the Haifa International Film Festival in 2016.

Connie and Carla 2004

     This film starts out in Chicago with Connie and Carla accidentally witnessing a mafia hit.  They immediately decide to go to Los Angeles and start over undercover.  They accidentally become drag queen singers doing a show in a dinner theater.  They have finally hit it big time but not in a way they thought!! 

     Debbie Reynolds has a cameo performance in this film.  Nia Vardalos also wrote the screenplay.  To me, it seemed unusual that Connie and Carla could pull this off??  A lot of people actually have radar about other people and surely it must have been working??  Maybe if this had been a show on ice it would be an easier sell!! 

98 min, Comedy directed by Michael Lembeck with Nia Vardalos, Toni Collette, David Duchovny, Stephen Spinella, Alec Mapa, Christopher Logan, Rober Kaiser, Ian Gomez, Nick Sandow, Dash Mihok, Boris McGiver.  2 ½* (This movie is so-so)

Note:  Imdb 6.3 out of 10, 43% critic 70% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 1 ½*, Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 231 reviews, Slant Magazine 1*, Metacritic 44 out of 100 with 30 critics 7.2 out of 10 with 12 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  Ian Gomez, the real life husband of Nia Vardalos plays Stanley the owner of the club.  Connie and Carla are introduced as Al and Mikey.  It is said in the film that Connie is from Winnipeg and Nia Vardalos is actually from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Road to the Open 2014

     Jerry McDonald and his friend Miles Worth are working together to get in shape for a tennis tournament.  Jerry works as a male nurse, he has a daughter Tyler and he lost his wife 3 years earlier to breast cancer.  Miles is a bit of an eccentric working on anger management but he’s Jerry’s best friend.  Jerry starts to notice another nurse at the hospital and her name is Sam.  He asks her if she would like to do something together on their break or another time.  She says yes and they start to date.  This is the first person Jerry has dated since his wife passed away. 

     This film is an easy watch and there are some ups and downs but they work out.  The characters are all normal people except for a couple of the tennis players.  Brothers Tim and Rob Gollant haven't lost a club championship for a decade.  They think they are unable to lose and anyone going against them is just a dope!!  3* (This movie is OK)

 

90 min, Comedy directed by Cole Claassen with Troy McKay, Phillip DeVona, Michelle Gunn, Judd Nelson, Eric Roberts, John Schneider, Kasee McDonald, Amy Lyndon, Bill Parks, Tim Abell, James Babson, Stephanie Bauder, Jennifer Farac.

Note:  Imdb 6.8 out of 10, Amazon 4.5* out of 5* with 6 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Santa Barbara and Newbury Park, California.

Anthropoid 2016

     This film is based on the true story of Operation Anthropoid.  The Operation is the WWII mission to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich in Czechoslovakia during the early part of 1942.  Heydrich was the Reich’s third in command after Hitler and Himmler.  Heydrick was the main architect behind the Final Solution and he lead the occupying Nazi forces in Czechoslovakia in 1939 as the district governor.  Jan Kubis is a former Czech soldier in exile, Josef Gabcik is a former Slovak soldier in exile and both have received training in London.  They parachute into Czechoslovakia after the Nazi takeover.  The plan of this top-secret mission is to shoot Heydrick and use an incendiary device directed at the car he is riding in on the street.

     Germany wanted to occupy Czechoslovakia because of their wealth of natural resources and manufacturing power.  This county would fuel the German war machine and enable them to conquer Poland.  They would also be able to put WWII into motion.  The SS easily defeated the Czech resistance and only a small group kept up resistance efforts.  There are a lot of problems with the plan established to eliminate Heydrick and initially the resistance balks at their plans.  I began to wonder from the beginning about how the resistance would escape after the attack?  Also, how severe and widespread would the retaliation be by the Germans?  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

120 min, Bio directed by Sean Ellis with Jamie Dornan, Cillian Murphy, Brian Caspe, Karel Hermanek, Jr., Hana Frejkova, Sean Mahon, Jan Hajek, Marcin Dorocinski, Toby Jones, Alena Mihulova, Bill Milner, Charlotte Le Bon, Pavel Reznicek.

Note:  Imdb 7.2 out of 10, 65% critic 70% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2*, Amazon 4.4* out of 5* with 613 reviews, The Guardian 4* out of 5*.

Special Note:  As the third in the Nazi line of command, Heydrich’s car license plate was SS-3.  This subject was also in the films The Assassination of 1965 and Operation: Daybreak of 1975 plus 4 other films and several books.  Another film released in 2017 about the same subject is titled The Man with the Iron Heart.  Anthropoid means to resemble a human being in form.  Emily Watson was cast as Mrs. Moravcova but she dropped out when her father became ill.  Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan play Czechoslovakians but they are both from Ireland.

You Were Never Lovelier 1942

     The Acunas family lives in Argentina.  Eduardo Acuna runs a nightclub and he is married to Delfina.  They have three daughters, Maria, Cecy and Lita.  Eduardo holds to a tradition for his daughters that the oldest sister must marry before the two sisters next in order by age.  Cecy and Lita are upset because they are both secretly engaged but Maria hasn’t met anyone since she was 16 years old.  Eduardo believes the men of this age are not romantic enough.  He decides to write notes to Maria and send orchids to create a mystery man.  He believes she will fall in love again.

     Hayworth and Astaire are very good together in the dance scenes.  Astaire has a lot of grace and charm plus Hayworth is very beautiful. Hayworth and Astaire made only two films together.  Astaire said he didn’t want to limit himself with his partners but he danced a lot with his sister Adele and he made ten films with Ginger Rogers.  The orchids are very beautiful and there is a large quantity of them!!  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

97 min, Comedy directed by William A. Seiter with Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Adolphe Menjou, Isobel Elsom, Leslie Brooks, Adele Mara, Gus Schilling, Barbara Brown, Douglas Leavitt, Xavier Cugat and his Orchestra.

Note:  Imdb 7.3 out of 10, 100% critic 73% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.3* out of 5* with 88 reviews, TCM Leonard Maltin 3.5* out of 4*.

Special Note:  This film is also known as Tuesday’s Orchids.  The character Robert Davis played by Fred Astaire says he’s from Omaha, Nebraska.  This is the real birthplace of Astaire.  Because of lack of space at the studio Astaire and Hayworth rehearsed most of their dance routines in a funeral parlor next to a cemetery?  It is said that this film features a 15-year-old Fidel Castro as an extra?  The song “I’m Old Fashioned” was recorded by more than 12 singers and was on the top of the hit charts for more than 6 weeks.

The Sons of Katie Elder 1965

     The year is 1898 and Katie Elder has passed away in her hometown of Clearwater, Texas.  This town is about two hours east of Dallas but not by horse.  Her four adult sons come to pay their respects.  John is a famous professional gunman, Tom is a professional gambler and the youngest son Bud is attending college.  Matt is an unsuccessful hardware dealer.  The one thing Katie would have wanted is for the boys not to become involved in violence.  What is the first thing they do after the funeral, they stir up the waters in town?  They start to investigate why Katie was renting a small home and Morgan Hastings now owns the Elder Ranch?  Supposedly, the Ranch was lost in a game of Blackjack and soon after Bass Elder was shot in the back?  There hasn’t been any investigation of the killing?  Hastings kills Sheriff Bob and he blames the death on the Elders.  The entire town is against them and the new Sheriff hustles the brothers out of town early in the morning.

     Everyone in town loved Katie because of her honesty, the way she found work to pay her way and the love she had for the boys.  Her sons should have checked on her before she died and settled all the land problems much earlier.  Instead, they went their own ways and didn’t think much about what was happening in Clearwater or to Katie.  This film suffers from age and a weak plot?  3* (This movie is OK) 

122 min, Western directed by Henry Hathaway with John Wayne, Dean Martin Martha Hyer, Michael Anderson Jr., Earl Holliman, Jeremy Slate, James Gregory, Paul Fix, George Kennedy, Dennis Hopper, Sheldon Allman, John Litel, John Doucette, James Westerfield, Rhys Williams, John Qualen, Rodolfo Acosta, Strother Martin.

Note:  Imdb 7.2 out of 10, 100% critic 81% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 390 reviews, TCM 3.5* out of 5*.

Special Note:  Outdoor footage was in Durango, Mexico and the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, Colorado.  Other locations were Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico; Chupaderos, Casa Blanca, Sonora and El Saltito, Durango, Mexico; Mayo River, Alamos and Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico.  Filming was due to begin September 1964 but was delayed until January 1965.  John Wayne was diagnosed with lung cancer and he had surgery to remove his left lung.  He insisted on doing his own stunts and he nearly came down with pneumonia after a scene in the river.  The name Kate Elder was one of several names used by Mary Katherine Horony Cummings also known as Big Nose Kate.  She was a western icon and sometime companion of Doc Holliday.  Dean Martin also filmed Rio Bravo six years earlier after splitting with his partner Jerry Lewis.  A well-known error in this film is that John Wayne fires 13 shots from a six-shooter that was not reloaded during the final gun battle.  The hearse used at Katie’s funeral is currently in front of the Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World.