To Dust 2018

     Shmuel is a Hasidic cantor in upstate New York.  He is very depressed, upset and distraught by the sudden death of his wife from cancer.  He struggles to find peace and solace.  He begins a secret obsession over how her body will decay now that she has been buried?  He goes to see Albert, a biology professor at a local community college.  They talk at length about the process and Shmuel looks at a film the professor shows him about how a small pig would decay?

     This may be the most different and weird film I have ever seen?  I didn’t realize what the title really meant?  It is probably amazing that this film was ever made?  In a review, a theater attendee said there were 10 people watching the film, two couples left after 20 minutes and didn’t come back.  That left 6 people watching the entire film?  3* (This movie was OK)

105 min, Drama directed by Sean Snyder with Geza Rohirig, Matthrew Broderick, Sammy Voit, Bern Cohen, Ben Hammer, Leo Heller, Marceline Hugot, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Jill Marie Lawrence, Larry Owens, Isabelle Phillips. 

Note:  Imdb 5.5* out of 10, Roger Ebert 3*, Rotten Tomatoes, 88% critic 75% audience, Metacritic 66 out of 100 with 16 critics, Amazon 3.4* out of 5* with 11 reviews, ChicagoTribune.com 2.5* out of 5* Michael O’Sullivan.

Special Note:  The scenes at the community college were filmed at the City University of New York’s College of Staten Island.  The end credits show that this movie was in memory of a family of the Director Sean Snyder, Linda Snyder.  Tribeca Film Festival 2018 winner Audience Award.  Producers of this film were Emily Mortimer, Alessandro Nivola and Ron Perlman.  The domestic total gross as of 4/25/19 was $184,495.   

Americano 2011

     Martin was born in Los Angeles and he lived there for his early childhood until his father took him to France to live with him.  Martin is now an adult in his late thirties and he gets a phone call telling him that his mother has died.  He needs to be the one to fly to LA because he has an American passport and his father does not.  There is an apartment that needs to be sold and his mother wanted to be buried in France.  Martin feels his mother didn’t want him and he doesn’t have any memories of living with her until after he learns of her death.  He gets very mixed up when he gets to LA and tries to find the woman that used to be the young girl he played with.  She had kept in contact with his mother until shortly before his mother died.  All he knows is that she lives in Mexico and her name is Lola.

     OK, I must cut Martin some slack (I don’t want to) because he believes his mother didn’t love him?   He goes to Mexico to find Lola.  He drives a beautiful vintage red Mustang convertible belonging to his mother’s friend and neighbor Linda.  Why does he think this car will still be on the street in Tijuana where he parked it when he returns from trying to find Lola?  It would be amazing for it to still be in the parking space in LA!!  Interesting from the beginning but begins to wander when Martin goes across the border.  3* (This movie is OK)  (I give the car 4*)

106 min, Drama directed by Mathieu Demy with Mathieu Demy, Geraldine Chaplin, Chiara Mastroianni, Carlos Bardem, Salma Hayek, Sabine Mamou.

Note:  Imdb 5.2 out of 10, 50% critic 27% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Metacrtic 50 out of 100 with 8 critics, Slant Magazine 1 1/2* out of 4* Bill Weber, Letterboxd 2.9* out of 5*, filmsdefrance.com. 4* James Travers, Amazon 3.5* out of 5* with 24 reviews.
 

Special Note:  I thought it was Geraldine Chaplin playing the role of his mother's friend and neighbor Linda.  She has been an actress since 1956 and speaks fluent French and Spanish.  She was born in Santa Monica, California July 31, 1944.  She was 67 at the time of filming.  Her mother was Oona Chaplin (Oona’s father was Eugene O’Neill famed American playwright and her mother was Agnes Boulton English-born socialite). Geraldine’s father was legendary entertainer Charlie Chaplin.   

Strange Interlude 1932

     This film is adapted from a play written by Eugene O’Neill.  The play won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1928.  Gordon Shaw was a flyer and he was shot down and killed during WWI.  Nina wanted to marry him but her father wouldn’t give his consent.  Charlie is a friend but Nina doesn’t love him.  He’s too timid, too shy to talk about how he feels about her.  After Nina marries Sam, she learns that there is mental illness in his family.  For this reason, they won’t be able to have any children.  She has a secret affair with Ned and he wants her to leave Sam.  She has a son and his name is Gordon but he doesn’t know Ned is his father.  Nina still feels connected to Gordon, Sam and Ned.  The thoughts people think are never the words they speak.  In this film, we can hear what the people are thinking!!

     Clark Gable and Norma Shearer really had chemistry together on the screen.  There are difficult themes in this film.  There is insanity and infidelity with powerful and gripping scenes.  It examines life with its strange paths and disappointments.  There are times with the use of both dialogue and thought dialogue is too much!!  You want one of the dialogues to shut up!!  3 ½* (I liked this movie)      

109 min, Drama directed by Robert Z. Leonard with Norma Shearer, Clark Gable, Alexander Kirkland, Ralph Morgan, Robert Young, May Robson, Maureen O’Sullivan, Henry B. Walthall, Mary Alden, Tad Alexander.

Note:  Imdb 5.8 out of 10, Rotten Tomatoes 31% audience, TCM Leonard Maltin 3* of 4* average user rating 3* out of 5*, Amazon 3.9* out of 5* with 21 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Culver City and Santa Catalina Island, Channel Islands, California.  When Maureen O’Sullivan first met Clarke Gable on the set, he was in his old man makeup.  He asked her out on a horse-riding date, she turned him down because she thought he was too old for her?  Later, she saw him without make-up and regretted her decision.  Gable never asked her out again.  This is the first film with Gable sporting his trademark mustache.  Originally, Lynn Fontanne and her husband Alfred Lunt were to star.  They had the lead roles on Broadway but they didn’t’ want to do movies.  This film did fair at the box office and MGM received a profit of $90,000 ($1.54 million in 2017 money).

American Renegades 2019

     In 1995, a group of American Navy Seals is stationed in war-torn Bosnia.   One of the team members, Stanton Baker has been seeing a beautiful Bosnian woman.  Lara told him that there is a massive underwater stash of Nazi gold in a nearby lake.  During WWII a group of Yogoslav Partisans blew up a dam to flood the town of Grahovo.  The Germans were hiding treasures pilfered from Paris.  Supposedly, there are twenty-seven tons of gold bars?  The team will need to figure out how to get this massive amount of weight to the surface?  They plan to split the money with Lara, she will use her money to help the Bosnian people who have suffered during the war.

     There are some fun action scenes in the beginning that get the team a good yelling from Levin (J.K. Simmons) their superior officer!!  The diving sequences are very complex.  The Seals are the good guys and of course there is a bad guy tracking them and out to eliminate them any way he can!!  The reviews are a mixed bag, some good, some bad.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)  

             

106 min, Action directed by Steven Quale with J.K. Simmons, Sullivan Stapleton, Charlie Bewley, Sylvai Hoeks, Joshua Henry, Diarmaid Murtagh, Dimitri Leonidas, Clemens Schick, Ewan Bremner, Peter Davor, Hahamadou Coulibaly, Alain Blazevic, Karim Cherif, Denis Brizic.

Note:  Imdb 5.4* out of 10*, Rotten Tomatoes 6% critic 43% audience, CommonSenseMedia.com 3* out of 5* age 14+, 2* positive, 1* role, 4* violence, 3* sex, 3* language, Jeffrey M. Anderson, Roger Ebert 2* Simon Abrams, Metacritic 33 out of 100 with 8 critics (mixed 6, negative 2), Amazon 3.9* out of 5* with 184 reviews. 

Special Note:  Filmed in Ogulin, Karlovac, Hum, Zagreb; Lokve, Gorski kotar, Croatia; AED Studios, Lint, Flanders, Belgium; Studio Babelsberg, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany.  J.K. Simmons is the only American actor in this film because Joshua Henry is actually Canadian.  Director Steven Quale has also directed Strike Back star Richard Armitage in Into the Storm.  He will direct another Strike Back protagonist Sullivan Stapleton. The British Special Forces are assigned the call sign “22SAS” while trying to organize the extraction at the start of this film.  This would never happen in real life!!  It would give away the fact that the world’s Elite Special Forces Unit (22^nd Special Air Service Regiment) are operating in the area.  During the scene destroying the dam, the rush of water from the reservoir above the town will destroy and wash away almost everything below it.  The level of the water below will drain back down to where it was before the dam was destroyed.  It would be approximately the same as it was before the dam was built.  A town below the dam would not be submerged in a lake years later?  A diver is shown with 2 bars of gold in his right hand?  This would be impossible because it has already been stated that the bars weight 27 pounds.  That would mean the diver could carry 54 pounds in one hand?

In The Time of the Butterflies 2001

     This film is based on the best-selling 1994 novel by Latina writer Julia Alvarez.  From 1930 until 1961, General Rafael Leonidas Trujillo held absolute control of the Dominican Republic.  He had secret alliances with the church, aristocrats, intellectuals and the press.  This was the foundation of his dictatorship and in order to remain in power, he murdered anyone who opposed him!!  More than 30,000 people were executed during his reign of terror.  Minerva Mirabal and her three sisters, Patria, Dede and Maria Teresa live on a farm in rural Ojo De Agua.  Minerva convinces her father to send her and her sisters Patria and Mate to boarding school.  They spend five years away at school and Trujillo notices Minerva while viewing a school play.  When she returns to the farm, Minerva meets Virgilio and he gives her the nickname Butterfly.  Virgilio leaves the country and the family is invited to a formal ball at Trujillo’s palace.  Minerva is asked to dance with Trujillo but this doesn’t go well.  Later, Minerva, Patria and Mate become members of the resistance fighting against Trujillo.   

    This film follows the plot and the major details of the novel very well.  There are some edge of your seat moments and you don't know what is going to happen.  Anyone who opposes Trujillo in any way is risking their life and possibly a family member's life!!  Minerva wants to study to be a lawyer but she would need special permission from Trujillo because women are not allowed to be lawyers.  Later, several of the children of the Mirabal sisters served in important positions in the government.  4* (I really liked this movie)   

 

95 min, Crime directed by Mariano Barroso with Salma Hayek, Lumi Cavazos, Edward James Olmos, Mia Maestro, Demian Bichir, Pilar Padilla, Marc Anthony, Pedro Armendariz Jr., Ana Maartin, Fernadno Becerril, Anthonay Alvarez, Ermahn Ospina, Raul Mendez.

Note:  Imdb 6.8 out of 10, Rotten Tomatoes 77% audience, Letterboxd 2* out of 5* Robert Cettl, MovieMoveMe.com 5* with two votes, TVGuide.com 2* out of 5* Elizabeth Wolgemuth, Amazon 4.2* out of 5* with 94 reviews.  Goodreads gives the book 4.1* out of 5* with 49,672 votes.

Special Note:  Filmed in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Morelos, Veracruz, Mexico.  The novel is used in high school classes to teach the history of the Dominican Republic and highlight the religious fervor, patriotism, struggles and family values of the resistance.      

Mirabal Family:  The members of the family are Mama, Papa Enrique, Minerva (3/12/1926), Dede 3/1/1925, Patria 2/27/1924), Maria Teresa (Mate) (11/15/1935).

Because You’re Mine 1952

     Renaldo Rossano is drafted into the Army as 1A and he goes to boot camp.  Renaldo is a famous opera singer in New York and his manager tries to get him out of this commitment but it isn’t possible.  Renaldo does have a lucky break when he learns that his Sergeant is an opera fan.  The Sergeant also has a sister and she is trying to get a big break as a singer.  Everything is going very well until Doretta goes for her tryout with Ronaldo’s people.  His former girlfriend Francesca Landers is very jealous and she derails the tryout for Doretta.  She wants Renaldo back as her boyfriend.  The Sergeant is very irate and he gives Renaldo every kind of KP duty and extra training too. 

     There are a LOT of songs in this film and a LOT of complications because of being in the Army!!  Mario Lanza was an American tenor of Italian ancestry, actor and Hollywood film star of the late 1940’s and 1950’s.  He began studying to be a professional singer at the age of 16.  He was born January 31, 1921 in Philadelphia, PA.  He died October 7, 1959 in Rome, Italy at the age of 37 due to a heart attack.  He was married to Betty Lanza from 1945 to 1959.  They had four children, Marc, Elisa, Colleen and Damon.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

103 min, Musical directed by Alexander Hall with Mario Lanza, Doretta Morrow, James Whitmore, Dean Miller, Rita Corday, Jeff Donnell, Spring Byington, Curtis Cooksey, Don Porter, Eduard Franz, Bobby Van, Ralph Reed.

Note:  Imdb 6.1 out of 10, Rotten Tomatoes 33% audience, Amazon 4.2* out of 5* with 61 reviews, TCM Leonard Maltin 2* out of 4* average user rating 4.6* out of 5*.

Special Note:  Filmed at MGM Studios, Culver City, California.  There is a scene with an older woman asking for Renaldo’s autograph.  She’s played by Mario Lanza’s real-life mother.  The man with her who doesn’t say anything is Mario’s father.  This is the 10^th film appearance by Lanza.  Nominated for Best Song for an Academy Award. 

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs 2009

     This film follows Ice Age: The Meltdown.  Manny and many of his friends find there are changes in their lives.  Scrat is still trying to hold onto his beloved acorn.  Manny and Ellie are expecting a baby and Manny wants everything to be perfect for the birth.  Diego is fed up with being treated like a house-cat?  He ponders the idea that he may be too laid back?  Sid wants a family because he sees how happy Manny and Ellie are to be having a baby.

     This film is funny and there are also slightly scary parts with the T-Rex character.  I would have liked identification of the species of some of the dinosaurs but I don’t know how this would have been done? Maybe school children are more familiar with these facts than adults?  Sid makes a BIG mistake when he adopts three eggs that have not hatched!!  He doesn’t take into consideration how large these eggs really are!!  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

94 min, Animation directed by Carlos Saldanha, Mike Thurmeier with the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Eunice Cho, Karen Disher, Harrison Fahn, Maile Flanagan, Jason Fricchione, Bill Hader, Kelly Keaton, Joey King, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary, Alegra, John and Lucas Leguizamo, Clea Lewis, Jane Lynch.

Note:  Imdb 7 out of 10, Roger Ebert 3 ½*, Rotten Tomatoes 46% critic 62% audience, EmpireOnline.com 3* out of 5* James Dyer, The Guardian 3* out of 5* Peter Bradshaw, PluggedIn.com 4.5* out of 5* Bob Hoose, Amazon 4.5* out of 5* with 1062 reviews, CommonSenseMedia.org age 6+ 3* out of 5* Sandie Angulo Chen 2* educational, 3* positive, 3* role models, 3* violence/scariness, 1* sex, 1* language.  

Special Note:  The character Buck was based on Crocodile Dundee with the late Steve Irwin.   Also on Frank Buck, adventurer and actor in the 1930’s and 1940’s.  With a worldwide gross of over $880 million, this is Blue Sky Studio’s and the Ice Age franchises highest grossing film to date.  It was also the highest grossing animated film of 2009 worldwide.  Domestically it fell short of Up 2009 and Monsters Vs. Aliens 2009.  This film and Ice Age 2002 are the only two films in this franchise to be nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Animated Film.  They lost to Spirited Away 2002 and Monsters Vs. Aliens 2009.

Other Dinosaur Films:  The Meltdown, Collision Course, Ice Age, A Mammoth Christmas Special, Walking with Dinosaurs, Dinosaur, The Great Egg-escapade, Rio 1 and 2, The Good Dinosaur, Dino Time, We’re Back, The Croods.