Boardwalk Empire: Season Five 2014

     This is the final season so all plots and characters need a final wrap-up.  Nucky is still working on his Bacardi Rum deal in Cuba.  The Volstead Act is lifted and Prohibition expires.  There are flashbacks to Nucky as a young boy in 1884.  Margaret finds herself in trouble over a deal she made with Arnold Rothstein.  Chalky makes a deal with Narcisse.  Gillian is shown as a young girl.  Capone hears rumors of tax evasion charges?

     There were a LOT of good parts to this series but it’s finally all wrapped up!!  There was plenty of violence and it was spread throughout the series.  In every episode you didn’t know who would be around for the next episode.  Everyone knew from the beginning that Prohibition would have an end.  Get all the money you can now and try to stay alive!!  5* (I really liked this series)  

Note:  Imdb 8.7*, 89% critic 92% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon Metacritic 83 out of 100 with 12 critics 8.4 out of 10 with 131 ratings, 4.6* out of 5* with 1453 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in many New York locations.  Inspired by the book Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times and Corruption of Atlantic City by Nelson Johnson about historical criminal kingpin Enoch. L. Johnson.

Episode Titles:  Golden Days for Boys and Girls, The Good Listener, What Jesus Said, Cuanto, King of Norway, Devil You Know, Friendless Child, Eldorado.

Little Miss Sunshine 2006

     Sheryl Hoover lives in Albuquerque New Mexico with her family.  She has a brother Frank has he’s been having a lot of problems.  She is hoping he will start to get better living with her.  Sheryl’s husband Richard is trying to sell his self-help and self-improvement technique using nine steps.  He hasn’t had any success and he’s actually a complete loser?  Sheryl’s son Dwayne has taken a vow of silence and he wants to be a jet pilot.  Sheryl’s seven-year old daughter Olive has a chance to compete in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach California.  The family travels together in their old Volkswagen Type 2 Microbus and they have hope!!

     This family is very dysfunctional but their love is solid.  A LOT of true-to-life comedy and a LOT of laughs!!  There are also some tears thrown into the mix.  4* (I really liked this movie)

104 min, Comedy directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris with Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin, Paul Dano, Alan Arkin, Marc Turtletaub, Jill Talley, Brenda Canela, Julio Oscar Mechoso.

Note:  Imdb 7.8 out of 10, 91% critic 91% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3 ½*, Empire Online 4* out of 5*, Metacritic 80 out of 100 with 36 critics 7.4 out of 10 with 627 reviews, Amazon 4.4* out of 5* with 1007 reviews, Independent Critic 3.5*.

Special Note:  Filmed in Flagstaff, Chandler, Phoenix, Arizona.  Ventura, Acton, Santa Clarita, Los Angeles, California.  Abigail Breslin was listening to music on her headphones so she would not hear Alan Arkin’s profanity-laced scenes!!  All the participants in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant were veterans of real beauty pageants except Abigail.  She wore a fat suit for the role of Olive.  Writer Michael Arndt quit his job as Matthew Broderick’s assistant to write the script.  Five identical Volkswagen Type 2s were used during filming.  The DVD contains 4 alternate endings.  Budget was estimated at $8 million and worldwide gross was $100,523,181.

Awards:  Academy Award Best Actor in a Supporting, Best Original Screenplay, Screen Actors Guild for Best Outstanding Performance by a Cast, BAFTA Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Original Screenplay and two young actors, Critics’ Choice for Acting and Screenplay, Independent Spirit for Best Supporting, Screenplay and Director, Cesar Award for Best Foreign Film, Producers Guild for Best Picture, Writers Guild for Best Screenplay, GLAAD Outstanding Film.

Shopgirl 2005

     This film is based on a bestselling novella written by Steve Martin.  Mirabelle Buttersfield is in her twenties and she has recently graduated from college.  She has moved to Los Angeles and it’s not quite what she was expecting or hoped for.  She is barely eking out a living working as a clerk at the women’s evening gloves counter at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills.  She has massive student loans and her salary is barely making a dent on the balance.  She has made no friends at work or where she lives.  This fact doesn’t help with her chronic clinical depression?  Suddenly, two men with a romantic interest enter her life??  Jeremy is a poor slacker and he works as an amplifier salesman/font designer.  The other man is Ray and since he is older at 35, he could be called a sugar daddy.

     It’s tough to graduate from college and then expect everything to fall into perfect place in your life.  The cocoon of education has dumped you out and your own your own!!  Mirabelle has two choices at the moment, Ray or Jeremy?  But, there is a third choice, could she meet someone else and turn down both Ray and Jeremy?  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)    

106 min, Drama directed by Anand Tucker with Steve Martin, Claire Danes, Jason Schwartzman, Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, Sam Bottoms, Frances Conroy, Rebecca Pidgeon, Samantha Shelton, Gina Doctor.

Note:  Imdb 6.4 out of 10, Roger Ebert 3 ½*, 60% critic 58% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic 62 out of 10 with 34 critics 6.5 out of 10 with 63 reviews, Rolling Stone 3* out of 4* Peter Travers, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 224 reviews.

Special Note:  There are two different cats used in a scene in Mirabelle’s bedroom.  One cat jumps on the bed and watches her with Jeremy.  One cat would jump but never watched.  The other cat didn’t jump but watched? 

V is for Vendetta 2005

     This film is based on a 1988 DC/Vertigo Comics limited series by Alan Moore and David Lloyd.  Evey Hammond is a resident of a futuristic Great Britain of 2031.  She tells the story of how she was an instrumental part in bringing down the fascist government in control of the country.  An unknown man in a Guy Fawkes mask saved her from a life-and-death situation.  He calls himself V and she begins to learn about his past.  She decides to help him bring down those who have dragged down Britain.

     Guy Fawkes was a real person and he lived from 13 April 1570 to 31 January 1606.  He fought for the Spanish and he was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.  This was an attempt against King James I.  36 barrels of gunpowder were placed in a cellar under Westminster Hall below parliament.  The perpetrators were caught before the fuses could be lit.     The face of V is never shown because he is an idea or symbol.  A figure of Guy Fawkes is burned in effigy on bonfires around England every year on November 5.  There are MANY confusing ideas and there is a LOT of disorganization!!  Probably best not to think too deeply while viewing but don't lose concentration!!  3* (This movie is OK) 

  

132 min, Action directed by James McTeigue with Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman, Rubert Graves, Stephen Fry, John Hurt, Tim Pigott-Smith, Roger Allam, Ben Miles, Sinead Cusack, Natasha Wightman, John Standing.

Note:  Imdb 8.2 out of 10, 73% critic 90% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Rolling Stone Peter Travers 3 ½* out of 4*, Empire Online 4* out of 5*.

Special Note:  There is a scene where V tips over black and red dominoes and they form a giant letter V.  Twenty-two thousand dominoes were used and it took four professional domino assemblers 200 hours to complete the set up!!  There is another scene where V walks through fire.  He is wearing a special fire resistant gel and a g-string.  His body temperature had to be lowered before shooting the scene.  It was 3 degrees below zero the night of the shoot.  15 minutes before the take, he would put on ice-cold flame resistant clothing.  When he took the clothing off, he would be covered wit the gel and it had been iced all day.  The secret police were called Fingermen because the New Order was arranged on the model of the human body.  The cast and crew were only allowed to shoot near the British Parliament and the Clock Tower from midnight to 4:30 am.  They could stop traffic for only four minutes at a time.  The budget was $54 million and the box office take was $132.5 million.

Marylyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dance and Charm School 2005

     Frank Keene is out on the highway at an early hour to deliver bread baked in his bread shop.  Steve Mills has had an accident it appears to be a single care collision?  Steve is heading to a 50^th class reunion and it’s May 5, 2005.  He promised Lisa they would meet again.  Steve asks Frank to stay with him until the ambulance can arrive.  They begin talking and Steve says he is on his way to an appointment in Pasadena California.  He is meeting a years-ago acquaintance and many years have passed.   Steve asks Frank to take his place at the dance class.  The story goes back and forth between Steve’s childhood, the accident scene and the dance class.

     There is another aspect about this film and it is that Frank is still grieving the loss of his wife.  He hasn’t been able to part with any of her belongings.  I didn’t know if he would fit in with the crowd and the School?  I didn’t know what would happen to Steve but I had an idea?  3* (This movie is OK)   

103 min, Comedy directed by Randall Miller, with Robert Carlyle, Marisa Tomei, Mary Steenburgen, John Goodman, Elden Henson, Sean Astin, Teresa Johnston, Kelley Parker Michael Bower, Chance Michael Corbitt.

Note:  Imdb 6.6 out of 10, 22% critic 60% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, 2* Roger Ebert, Metacritic 40 out of 100 with 20 critics 7.6 out of 10 with 8 reviews, Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 150 reviews, Slant Magazine 3* out of 5*.

Special Note:  The flashbacks are from a 1990 short film with the same name and the children are 12 years old.  Randall is very obnoxious and Mark Wahlberg has this role.  An elderly man tells Frank that Randall thinks he is Lord of the Dance but he’s not even Irish?  The Wahlberg family is actually of primarily of Irish decent.     

Under the Greenwood Tree 2005

     This film is based on a novel by Thomas Hardy.  Fancy Day has returned the village in Ireland where her father lives.  Her mother has passed away and Fancy has come back to teach school.  She is also caring for her ailing father.  The town becomes full of gossip about the man Fancy will marry.  Will it be wealthy Mr. Shinar, poor but handsome Dick Dewy or Parson Maybold.  Right away Fancy is in a bind because Maybold has brought in a harmonium to be played in the church.  The former church choir has their noses out of joint to be suddenly replaced!!

     I prepared myself for everything to turn out badly since this is from a Thomas Hardy novel!!  I was pleasantly surprised that there are complications but everyone doesn’t die horribly!!  This film is like a Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.  There are miscommunications and the restraints of the time period.  I wasn’t sure what choice Fancy would make for her husband but I thought she did well.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)         

93 min, Drama directed by Nicholas Laughland with Keeley Hawes, James Murray, Terry Mortimer, Richard Leaf, Tony Haygarth Jane Wheldon, Sian Brooke, Ellie Thackeray, Liam DeGrunchy, John Axon, Steve Pemberton, Ben Miles, Aletha Steven, Tom Georgeson, Sean Arnold. 

Note:  Imdb 7 out of 10, 74% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 211 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Hamptonne Country Life Museum, St Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands and Ashridge Park, Little Gaddesden, Hertfordshire, England, UK.  The movement of Fancy’s hands on the harmonium at the Parson’s house doesn’t match the sound of the harmonium.  Fancy Day’s hairstyle changes from a full ponytail to a half ponytail between shots when Fancy is introduced to the villagers.  In the final scene, solar panels are visible on the rooftops at the right of the screen?  The novel has 3.69* out of 5* on Goodreads.

Diet Fiction 2018

     The award winning filmmaker and producer of the documentary Food Choices also made this film.  He delves into the controversial world of weight loss and dieting.  There are shocking facts, common misconceptions and there is misleading information promoted to the public by the diet industry.  There is science-based evidence on what can really lead to long term sustainable weight loss and improved health.

     The bottom line of this film is that a plant-based diet has been proven to provide weight loss and better health.  The worst diet and the cheapest diet is a fast food diet.  The food products in this diet are financially supported to make them a cheaper choice.  Other terms for the plant-based diet are the Mediterranean Diet/Lifestyle and the whole foods plant based diets.  There is a LOT of information in this film about the food industry, medical industry, different diets and myths around these diets.  Vegan is also a diet but it is not pushed here, only discussed as a possibility.       

    

90 min, Doc, directed by Michael Siewierski and produced by Gwyn Whittaker.

Note:  Amazon 3.3* out of 5* with 82 reviews.  There are many other websites with information about this DVD but they don’t include numerical reviews.

Special Note:  I thought it was interesting that John Mackey, the CEO of Wholefoods is interviewed.  He has also published a book titled The Whole Foods Diet.  He recommends that meat should be a 5-10% maximum of your diet.  There is one fact about the diet industry that cannot be disputed and that is selling products and making money is their bottom line!!   There is also a book with the same title written by Pamela Popper and Michal Siewierski published January 7, 2019.  Two reviewers on Amazon give the book 3* out of 5*.  The book states that about two billion people or 30% of the world’s population are overweight or obese.  Many live a yoyo life where their weight is up and down.  The book The Whole Foods Diet published on April 11, 2007 has 4.4 out of 5* with 89 reviews.