Buffalo Girls 2012

    

     There are over 30,000 young girls from small villages in rural Thailand boxing to make money for their families.  This film focuses on Stam and Pet, both are 8 years old, they weight about 45 pounds and they fight in small underground arenas.  There are months of rigorous training and a long schedule of fights.  Pet is the holder of the championship belt of Thailand and she fights Stam to maintain her title and win the prize money.

     This film really makes me think about the long-term physical and psychological effects of fists-and-feet Muay Thai boxing?  Muay Thai combines the use of fists, elbows, knees, shins and feet against the opponent.  They wear gloves but are not required to wear protective headgear in their matches.  This may be a hit now but hopefully it won’t last very long.  3* (This movie is OK)

66 min, Doc directed by Todd Kellstein with Stam Sor Con Lek, Pet Chor Chanachai, Jid, Lek, Walee Niym, Nong Torn.

Note:  Imdb 7.4 out of 10, 33% critic 45% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Keeper of the Flame 1942

     This film is adapted from a novel by I.A.R. Wylie.  Stephen O’Malley is given the assignment to write the life story of a recently deceased hero.  Unfortunately, his widow refuses to meet with O’Malley.  He works to gain Christine's confidence and she agrees to help him with his article.  Several details raise O’Malley’s suspicions that Christine may have played a role in the death of her husband.

     I find Katharine Hepburn’s voice very interesting and distinctive. There are a lot of twists and turns in this film and I was really tired of hearing the name Robert Forrest over and over without ever seeing him!  There are a lot of clues, some relative and some not.  Hepburn and Tracy were in a relationship from 1941 until his death 26 years later in 1967.  He was separated from his wife but they did not divorce.  3* (This movie is OK) 

100 min, Drama directed by George Cukor with Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Richard Whorf, Margaret Wycherly, Forrest Tucker, Frank Craven, Horace McNally, Percy Kilbride, Audrey Christie, Darryl Hickman.

Note:  Blockbuster 3*, imdb 6.9 out of 10, 62% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Paradise: Faith 2012

     Anna Maria devotes her summer vacation on missionary work in Austria.  She works as an x-ray technician but she is very worried about the virtue of her country.  She makes a daily pilgrimage in Vienna going door-to-door and telling people Mary, the Mother of God has come to visit them.  She carries a large statue of the Virgin Mary with her.  She lives her life as a single woman and she is in her 50’s.  Her long absent husband, an Egyptian Muslim confined to a wheelchair, comes home after a two-year absence.  She makes up a bed for him on the couch.  She is also cat sitting for someone else on vacation.

     This may be the most “unusual” film I have seen?  Anna Maria whips her back, wears a belt on her skin with spikes and prays on her knees throughout her apartment until they are bloody?  I have seen this before but I don't think these are the basics or requirements of Catholicism?  I’m surprised I was able to watch the entire movie, it’s very slow paced and many things are not explained.  Maybe this is a good thing?  2 ½* (This movie is so-so)  

115 min, Drama directed by Ulrich Seidl with Maria Hofstatter, Nabil Saleh, Natalya Baranova, Rene Rupnik.

Note:  Imdb 6.8 out of 10, 75% critic 59% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Special Note:  This film is part of a trilogy.   Paradise: Hope, Paradise: Faith, Paradise: Love.

We're the Millers 2013

     David Burke makes a living as a low-level pot dealer.  When he tries to prevent the theft of Casey's phone and he’s the robbery victim instead.  He makes a deal with his supplier to pay back his debt by bringing in more marijuana from Mexico.  He has the idea that a family traveling in a motor home would not draw suspicion and they wouldn’t get caught.  He asks rebellious Casey to play his daughter since she was the one being robbed of her phone.  He asks his neighbor Kenny to play his son because he was kind enough to point out to the thieves that David was a drug dealer.  He also asks his neighbor Rose to play his wife, she refuses and later changes her mind to get money for her rent.

     The premise is different but it’s wasted and doesn’t pay off.  This film is rude, vulgar, the jokes are not funny and not much else is funny either.  I didn’t expect much and I was not disappointed.  I’m surprised at the 4* and 7.1 reviews?   2 ½* (This movie is so-so)

119 min, Comedy directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber with Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, Ed Helms, Will Poulter, Emma Roberts, Nick Offerman, Kathryn Hahn, Ken Marino.

Note:  Blockbuster 4*, imdb 7.1 out of 10, 47% critic 74% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Renoir 2012

     This film is set on the French Riviera (Cote d’Azur) in the summer of 1915.  Pierre-Auguste Renoir is still painting but he is elderly with a lot of physical difficulties.  These illnesses caused him to alter his painting techniques.  His wife has passed away and he misses her very much.  His youngest son, Coco is the only one of his three sons living with him.  Pierre, his eldest son, has been injured in WWI and he may need surgery.  Jean, his middle son, returns home to convalesce after an injury to his left leg in the war.  Pierre-Auguste has a new model posing for his latest paintings.  Andree is a free spirit, she causes renewed interest in painting for Pierre-Auguste and Jean begins to fall in love with her.

     This region is very beautiful and the light playing on the landscape makes it even more beautiful.  The pace is slow, dry, thinly written and a lot of things aren’t explained, especially concerning Renoir’s infirmities.  Another problem is with the painting, Michel Bouquet does a very good job at portraying Renoir but when he paints, he makes strokes on the canvas that don’t deposit any paint?  He could at least add some color, even if very little?  3* (This movie is OK)

111 min, Drama directed by Gilles Bourdos with Michel Bouquet, Christa Theret, Vincent Rottiers, Thomas Doret, Romane Bohringer, Michele Gleizer, Laurent Poitrenaux.

Note:  Imdb 6.4 out of 10, 68% critic 57% audience on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Special Note:  Renoir had rheumatoid arthritis and he developed deformities in his hands.  He also had ankylosis of his right shoulder.  This caused the bones to be rigid in the joint.

                                                                                                                            

Welcome to the Punch 2013

     A notorious thief was on a big job when Detective Max Lewinski entered the crime scene even though he had been instructed to wait for backup.  Jacob Sternwood shot Max in the leg and he is lucky to be alive.  It has been three years since the shooting and Max is still waiting to meet up with Jacob again.  Jacob’s son is admitted to a London hospital with a gunshot wound and Max believes this is his chance to put Jacob behind bars.  Max begins to discover there is a massive conspiracy and he’s just a small piece in a much bigger machine.

    There are so many gun standoffs that you begin to grow very weary.  The twists and turns are like going though a maze, you may never come out the other side?  Does Mark Strong ever tire of being the bad guy?  2 ½* (This movie is so-so)

99 min, Mystery & Suspense directed by Eran Creevy with James McAvoy, Mark Strong, Peter Mullan, David Morrissey, Andrea Riseborough, Johnny Harris, Daniel Mays, Natasha Little.

Note:  Blockbuster 2 ½*, imdb 6.1 out of 10, 50% critic 39% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

As Cool As I Am 2013

     Lucy is a sixteen-year-old tomboy.  Her father is gone a lot at work in Canada but they get along well.  She enjoys doing a lot of the cooking and has an easy-going relationship with her mother.  She becomes more friendly with her best friend Kenny and she starts to notice that her parents’ marriage is not as good as she thought.  The time her father spends away from the family is not like in other marriages.  Also, her mother doesn’t miss her father as much as she does.

     I like Bolger, Danes and Marsden as actors but the plot in this film is very weak.  It seems too much like a TV movie and Bolger is more like a parent than her parents?  I almost stop watching but I wanted to like this and gets just a little better.  3* (This movie is OK)

92 min, Drama directed by Max Mayer with Sarah Bolger, Claire Danes, James Marsden, Thomas Mann, Jeremy Sisto, Rhys Coiro, Peter Fonda, Anika Noni Rose, Jon Tenney.

Note:  Blockbuster 1 ½*, imdb 5.5 out of 10, 17% critic 27% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.