The 40s House 2001

     A married couple, their daughter and her two boys agree to spend 9 weeks living under the conditions of WWII in Britain.  Michael and Lyn along with Kirstie, Ben and Thomas will be under the same roof in the 40s house.  They are moving into a home that has been renovated to be just like a home of this time period.  They will wear the clothing, have the hairstyles and live with rationing.  Tending a garden will be essential and they will need to build an Anderson air raid shelter.  Several historians and experts formed a War cabinet working behind the scenes to direct events.  The family will theoretically live through 6 years of war in the 9-week time period. 

     Everything the family is used is turned upside down.  Life was very difficult in the wartime period.  Rationing and the bombings were especially hard.  Shampoo, bath soap, cleaning powders and detergent were in short supply.  Later, there weren’t any cigarettes.  There could be monetary fines for not adhering to the blackout codes.  The use of energy resources and water was carefully monitored and excess use caused a fine.  There are no time saving devices and there was a time the family lived without water and heat.  Michael was sent away for a period to work in a factory.  Volunteering for Lyn and Kirstie was necessary and later Kirstie went to work in an airplane factory.  Lyn was left to do all the housework, shopping and taking care of the boys before and after school.  4* (I really liked this movie)  

225 min, Reality-TV with Geoffrey Palmer, Piers Brendon, Guy de la Bedoyere, Ben, Kirstie, Lyn, Michael, Thomas Hymers, Susan Jebb, Norman Longmate, Warren Rushton, Dennis Cornish, Lia Cramer.  I didn’t view this as a TV series but as a DVD with all the episodes.  

Note:  Imdb 8.3 out of 10, tv.com 5.9* out of 10* with 22 votes, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 44 reviews, the moviedb 60% out of 100 user score.

Special Note:  Filmed in West Wickham, Kent, England, UK.  There is another TV series liked this one titled The 1900 House of 1999.

Ladies of the House 2008

     A house has been donated to the church that Rose, Elizabeth and Birdie attend.  The house needs to be renovated and then sold to raise money for the church sponsored childcare program.  The women visit the house and they are appalled by it’s condition!!  Every part of the house needs a LOT of work.  If the women hire contractors to do the work, they probably won’t make the money they need to donate for the program.  They don’t know anything about home improvement but they decide they can learn.  Two of the husbands are not very happy about their wives spending so much time on this project.

     The women go to the local home improvement center, they take classes and they talk to the employees so they can learn how to do everything themselves.  They begin to bond closer together and they start to see what is lacking in their own lives.  The house becomes more important to them and not just a project.  I don’t really believe they did anything but small jobs for the camera but how could we watch paint drying??  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

Note:  Imdb 6.0 out of 10, 44% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.5* out of 5* with 43 reviews, The Movie Scene 3* out of 5*.

96 min, TV Movie, Drama directed by James A. Contner with Florence Henderson, Donna Mills, Pam Grier, Lance Henriksen, Richard Roundtree, Gordon Thomson, Lobo Sebastian.

Special Note:  This film is a Hallmark Channel Movie.  It received a 1.9 household rating and had 2.9 million viewers on the day of the premier.  Ranked as the 2nd highest rated ad supported cable movie of the week and boosted the network to sixth in Prime Time for the day.  Also doubled their October to date Prime Time rating among women between the ages of 25-54.  There is another movie from 2015 with the same title but this is a horror movie. 

A street Cat Named Bob 2016

     This film is based on an international best selling book written by James Bowen.  James was a heroin addict and he’s now on the methadone program.  He runs into a buddy still using heroin and he decides to take a hit.  This sends him to the hospital because this combination turns into an overdose.  He meets Val and she gets him an apartment so he won’t be sleeping on the street.  She counsels him on the importance of the methadone program and she really works to help him.  James has a stroke of good luck when Bob the Cat comes into his apartment.  James asks all the neighbors if anyone knows who owns the cat but that is a negative.  Bob the Cat rides on James’ shoulders and James makes a LOT more money playing his guitar and singing on the street than he did before.

     It’s called being a busker in England when a person performs to get money from strangers on the street.  If a problem arises, this person can be banned from performing.  Bob the Cat is a ginger colored tabby cat.  What Bob the Cat does to really help James is that he doesn’t judge.  He doesn’t nag except if he’s hungry but he’s not complaining about anything James does as a person or what he's done in his past.  Bob the Cat lets James know he has worth and he deserves to live even though he has made mistakes.  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

103 min, Bio directed by Roger Spottiswoode with Luke Treadaway, Bob the Cat, Ruta Gedmintas, Joanne Froggatt, Anthony Head, Darren Evans, Tony Jayawardena, Adam Riches, Llewella Gideon, Ivana Basic.

Note:  Imdb 7.4 out of 10, 77% critic 77% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic 54 out of 100 with 12 critics 8.1 out of 10 with 23 reviews, The Guardian 3* out of 5* review by Wendy Ide, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 367 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Vauxhall Bust Station, Covent Garden, London, England, UK.  Also, Twickenham Studios, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK.  Multiple cats were brought in as Bob but he played himself for most of the movie.  Treadaway and Gedmintas are dating have been for several years prior to this film.  Bob’s cat food of choice was Bob Dairy Lea Dunkers.  Roger Spottiswoode also directed Turner and Hooch with a dog and Midnight Sun with a polar bear.  The real James Bowen has a cameo getting his book signed near the ending scene. 

Alone in Berlin 2016

     This film is based on the novel Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada.  The setting of this film is Berlin, Germany of 1940 during WWII.  Otto and Anna Quangel are devastated to receive a letter from German authorities that their only child Hans has been killed during the French campaign.  Anna is so distraught that she rips up the letter because of her intense grief.  Otto decides he must do something to alert the German people about what is really going on in Germany.  Hitler and other German officials are telling lies to the people and many are suffering abuse.  Otto buys small postcards and he writes the truth on the back in German.  He leaves the cards in public places for the people living in Berlin to read.  Otto doesn’t want Anna to become involved but she wants to leave the cards too.  Otto is afraid of what may happen to Anna if either one of them is caught.  Years pass and police detective Escherich is placing a flag at each location where a card is found.  He believes all the cards will be turned in.  Escherich is being pressured by an impatient SS superior to immediately arrest the person leaving the cards and charge them with for treason.

     I thought this film was very good.  Otto has a job as a machinist in a shop and Anna is a housewife.  They probably asked themselves, what can we do now that we’ve lost our son?  Is there a way to keep one other person from losing a friend or relative in this war?  Otto and Anna are risking torture and their lives with their project.  The ending is unexpected.  I was surprised by the low reviews??  4* (I loved this movie)  

103 min, Drama directed by Vincent Perez with Brendan Gleeson, Emma Thompson, Daniel Bruhl, Mikael Persbrandt, Louis Hofmann, Katarina Schuttler, Godehard Giese, Jacob Matschenz, Lars Rudolph, Uwe Preuss.

Note:  Imdb 6.4 out of 10, 59% critic 48% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.2* out of 5* with 97 reviews, Metacritic 52 out of 100 with 16 critics 6.8 out of 10 with 6 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Saxony, Brandenburg, Germany.  Director Vincent Perez’s family lived through WWII.  Fascists in Spain shot his grandfather.  The Nazis murdered his great uncle in a gas chamber.  Another uncle died fighting on the Russian front lines.  Author Hans Fallada based his novel on actual Gestapo files that he was allowed to read.  

Dark Horse 2015

     Jan Vokes works as a bar maid and supermarket cleaning woman in the small depressed valley town of Cefn Fforest located in South Wales.  She overhears Howard Davis talking about the business of raising racehorses.  He previously owned a racehorse and he lost a lot of money.  She decides she would like to breed a horse to race but not lose money.  She talks to her husband Brian and he agrees.  She begins talking to some of the people in town about forming an alliance to pool their money. Thirty people agree to pay a weekly amount of 10 pounds for a year to bankroll a horse fund of $15,600 pounds.  They purchase a mare for $600 pounds and they pay a stud with a refund if a foal isn't produced.  Since they didn’t pay high dollar for the mare and the stud, they have enough money to pay the most experienced horse trainer they can find.  They believe this is where the money will be well spent.  At first, they were going to put names in a hat for the horse but Jan decides he will be named Dream Alliance.

     This was a big gamble for all the people involved.  Everything requires a LOT of money and only a small percentage of horses make money.  There are expenses for food, training, medical care, entry fees, salary for the jockey and their transportation costs.  The Alliance attends all the races with Dream in the running.  They have badges for horse owners and they can go into the posh places where the other wealthy owners can go.  One of the men takes a sandwich wrapped in foil and cans of beer because he doesn’t want to pay the steep price for food and drink at the track.  I thought this was very interesting, sometimes funny and the races could be very tense.  Dream united all the people in the village and not just those involved in the Alliance.  It was their horse and he represented the town!!  4* (I really liked this movie)

85 min, Doc directed by Louise Osmond with Jan and Brian Vokes, Howard and Angela Davies, Tony Kerby, Maureen Jones, Eddie Thomas.

Note:  Imdb 7.3 out of 10, 96% critic 78% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3 ½*, Amazon 4.4* out of 5* with 29 reviews, Metacritic 75 out of 100 with 29 critics 6.7 out of 10 with 7 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Wales, UK.  All the people in this film are not actors but members of the community or people involved with Dream.  This film won the Audience Award at the 2015 at Sundance. 

Callaway Went Thataway 1951

      Mike Fry and Deborah Patterson are co-owners of an advertising firm.  They have been involved in reruns of the Smoky Callaway television series.  The show is very popular with children and there is a big demand for more episodes.  Unfortunately, the actor in the role of Smoky Callaway hasn’t been seen for about 10 years.  Mike and Deborah enlist the help of Smoky’s agent Georgie Markham to do whatever it takes to find the original actor.  A fan letter is received in the mail, a man named Stretch Barnes writes it and he looks just their like Callaway actor.  He writes about all the attention he’s been receiving because people think he’s Callaway.  Mike and Deborah travel to the ranch where Barnes works and lives.  They convince him to come back with them to be the new star of the series.

     There are a lot of complications when Callaway's agent Georgie locates the real actor and brings him back.  Mike and Deborah assemble a team to get Callaway in physical shape for filming.  The problem is that he’s a drunk and he can’t stay sober.  He’s the exact opposite of Stretch Barnes in every way.  He doesn’t care anything about the program or the fans because all he’s interested in is the money.  It’s interesting to see how greedy the advertising firm can be and the differences in Callaway and Barnes.  The filming crew wanted the original actor and they give Stretch Barnes a rough time as much as they can.  I didn’t know until later (I should've caught onto this?) that the same actor plays both roles.    2 ½* (This movie is just so-so)

81 min, Western directed by Melvin Frank, Norman Panama with Fred MacMurray, Dorothy McGuire, Howard Keel, Jesse White, Fay Roope, Natalie Schafer, Douglas Kennedy, Elisabeth Fraser, John Indrisano, Stan Freberg, Don Haggerty.

Note:  Imdb 6.7 out of 10, 17% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4* out of 5* with 3 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Beverly Hills, Iverson Ranch, Los Angeles and Culver City, California. This film was also titled The Star Said No and was filmed as a satire of the Hopalong Cassidy film of 1952.  MGM historical records show this film earned $1,071,000 in the US and Canada and $267,000 in other countries.  The result was a loss of $294,000.

2 Guns 2013

     This film is based on a graphic novel with the same title by Steven Grant published by Boom! Comics.  Robert Trench (Bobby) is working as an undercover DEA agent and Michael (Stig) Stigman doesn’t know this information.  On the other hand, Bobby doesn’t know that Stig is working for the US Navy in intelligence.  Stig comes up with the idea to rob a bank and Bobby goes along with the idea so he can bust Stig for the robbery.  The plan is too successful and they take more money than they anticipated, $43.125 million instead of $3 million.  Now they aren’t sure about the owner of this extra money?  Stig shoots Bobby and he takes the money.  Soon after, they are hunted, blackmailed and isolated by corrupt rivals.  Both Bobby and Stig will need to set aside their differences, work together and find a way to get out of this situation alive.

     Both Washington and Wahlberg are good actors but they don’t have much plot to work with?  There is a very high body count and everyone is corrupted!!  There are plenty of organizations in the mix, DEA, CIA, Navy, the drug cartel and the police.  The theory must be that a humorous buddy/action movie must work on all levels if you just keep pushing forward??  2 ½* (This movie is OK)  

Note:  109 min, Action directed by Baltasar Kormakur with Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Paula Patton, Edward James Olmos, Bill Paxton, Robert John Burke, James Marsden, Greg Sproles, Fred Ward.

Note:  Imdb 6.7 out of 10, 64% critic 66% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Amazon 4.2* out of 5* with 1556 reviews, Metacritic 55 out of 100 with 43 critics 6.6 out of 10 with 214 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Kenner, Louisiana; Rio Rancho, Albuquerque, Santa Fe and San Cristobal, New Mexico; New Orleans, Louisiana; Los Angeles, California.  The bank robbery takes place in Tangipahoa Parish, Amite, Louisiana.  Washington and Wahlberg improvised many of their lines.  Originally, Vince Vaughn was cast as Bobby and Owen Wilson as Stig.  Duel Action was the code name given to this film to prevent piracy.