McFarland, USA 2015

     This film is based on the actual 1987 McFarland High School cross-country team and their coach.  Jim White was a high school football team coach but he was fired after a pre-game session turned into verbal and physical abuse of a player.  Now he doesn’t have many job choices and he moves his wife and two daughters to McFarland, California.  He has a job as assistant football coach but the coach wants him fired after one practice session.  Jim is still a teacher but he's now not a coach.  He begins to think about cross-country running since he has seen how well some of the guys can run. 

     The runners are all Latino and some of them get up before school to help their parents pick in the fields.  This is how they put food on the table and they need everyone in the family to work.  White learns he needs to work training sessions around their schedules in the field and communicate with the parents to keep the runners.  The team starts off with no chance to win but they start moving up.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

129 min, Sport directed by Niki Caro with Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, Ramiro Rodriguez, Carlos Pratts, Johnny Ortiz, Rafael Martinez, Hector Duran, Serfio Avelar, Michael Aguero, Diana Maria Riva, Omar Leyva, Morgan Saylor, Elsie Fisher.

Note:  Imdb 7.4 out of 10, 80% critic 88% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3 ½*.

Special Note:  The director Niki Caro is a woman from New Zealand. This movie was filmed in Kern County, California.

Love, Rosie 2014

     This movie is based on a novel written by Cecelia Ahern titled Where Rainbows End.  Rosie and Alex have been best friends since they were five years old.  It’s possible they could be right for each other and Alex wants Rosie to attend college in Boston with him.  Unfortunately, Rosie isn’t able to travel to America and she marries Greg.  Alex wonders if Greg really loves Rosie and he writes her letters but Greg doesn’t give them to her.  Rosie decides it’s time to let Greg go but just then Alex marries Bethany.

     There are a lot of times where Rosie and Alex could’ve just talked and straightened things out between them but that would be too easy?  There has to be a lot of mistakes in between before the possibility of anything going right comes along.  3* (This movie is OK)

102 min, Comedy directed by Christian Ditter with Lily Collins, Sam Claflin, Christian Cooke, Jamie Winstone, Suki Waterhouse, Tamsin Egerton, Jamie Beamish, Lorcan Cranitch, Ger Ryan.

Note:  Imdb 7.2 out of 10, 27% critic 62% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2*.

Special Note:  This movie was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and County Wicklow, Ireland.  Lilly Collins is the daughter of Phil Collins and Jamie Winstone is the daughter of Ray Winstone.

Angel in the House 2013

     Zooey and Alec lost their son in an accident.  Since this tragedy happened to the couple, they haven’t been able to have another child.  Psychological trauma is the problem and not physiological reasons.  Zooey talks to Alec about adopting a child to try to recover from their pain.  Eli knocks on their door and they remember seeing him at the children’s home.  He said because the director had an accident, the paperwork was fast tracked and he’s been selected for them.  They are very happy and he turns out to be a perfect addition to their home.  They own a toy company Alec inherited from his father but the company is struggling.  Eli comes up with an idea that will help the company turn around. 

     Eli turns everything around.  Zooey and Alec don’t know how they managed without him in their lives.  They feel so much better and their marriage has improved as well.  He has even saved their company from bankruptcy and saved the jobs of the employees.  There is a double twist at the end of this film!!  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

90 min, Drama directed by Jonathan Newman with Toni Collette, Ioan Gruffudd, Richard E. Grant, Hayley Mills.

Note:  Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 486 reviews, Netflix 4*, Redbox 4.0 average.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens 2015

      There has been 30 years since the defeat of Darth Vader and the Empire.  Poe Dameron is a pilot and he’s in possession of a BB-8 droid containing a map showing the location of Luke Skywalker.  The First Order takes Poe prisoner, the BB-8 is missing and all the people in this village are killed.  Rey is a scavenger from the planet Jakku, she sells scrap that she takes from crashed ships.  This is how she is able to buy food for herself.  She finds the BB-8 and she could sell it for much more than she usually receives for her finds.  She decides to keep the BB-8 and she teams with a rogue stormtrooper, FN-287 renamed Finn.  He landed on Jakku with Poe but Poe may have died after they crashed.  The First Order attacks them but they manage to escape by stealing the former ship of Han Solo.  Finn is surprised that Rey is able to fly the Millennium Falcon. 

     I liked that the past of the three original Star Wars films is connected to the present and the old team is back.  Ford, Chewbacca, R2-D2, C-3PO, Hamill and Fisher plus the Falcon.  I was surprised about the actor playing the new lord of the dark side, Kylo Ren.  The foe this time is the First Order instead of the Empire and the Death Star.  4* (I really liked this movie)

135 min, Action directed by J.J. Abrams with Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Lupita Nyong’o, Any Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Max von Sydow.

Note:  Imdb 8.5 out of 10, 93% critic 90% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic 81 metascore with 52 critic 6.9 user score with 3880 ratings.

Special Note:  Daisy Ridley and John Boyega were not allowed to tell anyone they had been cast in Star Wars until about three months later.  The Millennium Falcon is a Corellian YT-1300 light freighter used by smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca during the Galactic Civil War.  It was originally owned by Lando Calrissian but he lost it to Solo in a game of sabacc.  Disney paid $4.05 billion to buy Lucas Films.

Loving Leah 2009

     Jake Lever is a cardiology surgeon in Washington DC and he’s been accepted into a fellowship program.  He’s lightly napping at the hospital when he sees a vision of his older brother Benjamin.  He’s surprised about the vision because he has been estranged from his brother.  Soon after, he receives the news that his brother Rabbi Benjamin Lever has passed away in Brooklyn, New York.  Jake and his mother Janice attend the funeral and they meet Benjamin’s wife Leah and her family.  Jake learns of the Levirate marriage law stating that he must marry the childless Leah to carry on his brother’s name.  Jake and Leah agree that they will go through the halizah ceremony to release Jake from his obligation.  The ceremony is held at a later date and Jake is asked to reject Benjamin’s existence.  Jake can’t say these words about his brother and they agree to have a marriage in name only.  Leah will move to Georgetown, she has wanted to attend college and she will apply to the University after she takes her SAT test.

     This is the second time I’ve seen this film.  I didn’t remember it at first but after a few scenes the story all came back.  This is interesting and the characters are realistic.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)  

95 min, TV Movie, Drama directed by Jeff Bleckner with Lauren Ambrose, Adam Kaufman, Susie Essman, Harris Yulin, Natasha Lyonne, Christy Pusz, Ricki Lake, Mercedes Ruehl, Tonye Patano, Donnie Keshawarz

Note:  Imdb 7.0 out of 10, 72% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.8* out of 5* with 225 reviews.

Special Note:  One of the reviews said small scenes were cut from the DVD version that were shown in the televised version.  There was more to the furniture-buying trip and about Leah’s mother liking the pillows they purchased.  The scene of Leah placing the Mezuzah on the doorway of Jakes’ home was edited out too.

Mail Order Bride 2008

     This film takes place in Boston and Wyoming of the 1800’s.  Jen had been exchanging letters with Beau and she planned to be his bride but she died.  Diana McQueen is her friend and she needs to get out of Boston.  Tom Rourke thinks she took $10,000 from him and she’s had enough of him.  He believes he owns Diana and she can never leave him.  Diana takes the stage out west and Beau believes she is Jen.  She is a con artist and she steals the wallets from the men at their engagement party.  She plans to take whatever she can from Beau and get out of town.

     This film had potential and could’ve been a lot better.  The acting is not very good, the pace is slow and it’s very predictable.  The only good part is the Boston area of this time period and the landscape of Wyoming.  There are scene changes at the breaks for the commercials too.  2 ½* (This movie is so-so)

88 min, TV Movie, Western directed by Anne Wheeler with Daphne Zuniga, Greg Evigan, Cameron Bancroft, Vincent Gale, G. Patrick Currie, Tom Heaton, William MacDonald, Michael Teigen, Ted Whittall, Katharine Isabelle.

Note:  Imdb 5.7 out of 10, 28% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 3.7* out of 5* with 61 reviews.

Special Note:  I was surprised to learn that this film ranked as the Hallmark Channel’s most-watched November non-holiday original movie.  Also the 2^nd highest rated cable movie of the day and 4^th highest rated movie of the week.

The First Grader 2010

     This film is set in a remote mountain village in Kenya and it’s based on the true story of an 84 year-old man with the desire to learn how to read and write.  He tries to join six year-old children in their class but there are already several children to each desk.  The teachers tell him they can’t accept him but he is persistent and they let him start to learn.  There are many events in the classroom that cause him to have flashbacks to an earlier time in his life.  He was beaten, tortured and a prisoner of the British Army during the struggle for Kenya's independence.  Maruge is a Mau-Mau revolutionary and he was held 50 years ago.  The parents and government officials are worried that large numbers of adults will want to enroll in school.  There is a lot of negative pressure on the teacher for allowing Maruge to attend.

     This is a very different type of movie.  So many terrible things happened to Maruge and it’s a wonder that he is still alive.  He’s not afraid to show that he knows as little as the six year-olds at his advanced age.  He’s also not afraid to stand up physically to men who come to protest his presence at the school.  And, he’s brave enough to fight for the teacher.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

103 min, Bio directed by Justin Chadwick with Naomie Harris, Oliver Litondo, Tony Kgoroge, Alfred Munyua, Shoki Mokgapa, Vusi Kunene, Agnes Simaloi, Kamau Mbaya, Emily Njoki, Lwanda Jawar.

Note:  Imdb 7.4 out of 10, 59% critic 76% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 90 reviews.