Morlang 2001

     This film is inspired by true events.  It is a chilling psychological drama with a secret pact.  Julius Morland is a successful art photographer and painter.  He lives with his wife Ellen in the UK but they have also purchased a large home in Ireland.  Ellen has been seeing a doctor in the UK and he tells her she has a brain tumor.  She has surgery but all of the tumor could not be removed.  She cannot get chemotherapy because of the type of tumor and her prognosis is not good.  Julius and Ellen retreat to Ireland for rest and recovery.  Julius finds a new muse in Ann and his photography and paintings are selling again.  Someone breaks into his studio and throws everything around but nothing seems to be missing?  It is suggested by the police that he install security cameras and he does take this action.  The break-in and other events have set in motion intense paranoia in Julius.  He is constantly on edge and he is at a breaking point.  He is very jealous of a rising young artist, Dutch painter Robert Jansen.  There is beautiful cinematography and the scenery of this area is part of the story. 
     There are some puzzles in this film and I can’t fill in a lot of the details without giving away key plot points that need to unfold as a surprise.  There are two separate time periods in this film.  There is Julius and his manager wife Ellen.  Then there is Ann, his latest muse.  There is some dullness about Julius and that can lead to impatience by viewers.  Even Ellen and Ann become angry about his lack of communication skills and dour demeanor!!  Some of the plot points are not clear until later as well.  This is a very different film!!  I was surprised to learn that the film is based on true events!!  4* (I liked this movie) 
  
94 min, Drama, directed and written by Tjebbo Penning, also written by Matthew Faulk, Ruud Schuurman and Mark Skeet with Paul Freeman, Susan Lynch, Diana Kent, Eric van der Donk, Marcel Faber, Porgy Franssen, Huib Broos, Joe Gallagher, Ann Bourroughs, Freida Hand, Nora Mullens, Masximo Mewl, Paddy O’Conell, Elvira Out, Derek Reid.

Note:  Imdb 6.3 out of 10 with 432 ratings, Amazon 3.2* out of 5* with 510 ratings, Metacritic 60 out of 100 with 9 critics (6 positive 2 mixed and 1 negative), Letterboxd 3.3*.

Special Note:  Filmed at the Cliffs of Moher, County Clare; Duleek, Country Meath, Ireland; Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands.  Released by Film Movement.

Ratatouille 2007

     Remy dreams of becoming a great French chef in spite of his family’s doubts and his biggest drawback is that he is a rat.  He has an exceptional nose and he appreciates the finer foods in life.  He is suddenly swept away by the sewers of Paris and finds himself under a restaurant formerly owned by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau.  At first, Remy doesn’t think he has a chance to work at this respected establishment?  He helps Linguini, the newly hired garbage boy correct the seasonings in the soup du jour (of the day) and he’s on his way to a career.  There are many mishaps and missteps along his path. 

     I have seen this before but I had forgotten how funny it really is.  Remy controls the garbage boy in cooking by pulling the boy’s hair underneath his chef hat.  The current chef thinks he keeps seeing a rat in the kitchen but how can that be?  There are remarks about the French, haute cuisine, food critics, etc.  Linguini is an orphan but he is a young adult and not a child.  There is some moderate peril involving rats and weapon wielding humans!!  5* (I really liked this movie)
 
111 min, Pixar Animation directed and written by Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava, with the voices of Brad Garrett, Lou Romano, Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Brian Dennehy, Peter Sohn, Peter O’Toole, Janeane Garofalo, Will Arnett, Julius Callahan, James Remar, John Ratzenberger, Teddy Newton,Tony Fucile.

Note:  Blockbuster 4*, Imdb 8.0 out of 10, 96% critic 87% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 4*, Common Sense Media Sandie Angulo Chen, age 6+, 4* out of 5*, 1* educational. 3* positive, 3* role models, 3* violence & scariness, 1* sexy stuff, 1* language, 1* drinking, drugs, smoking, metacritic 96 out of 100 with 37 critics (37 positive) 8.6 out of 10 with 1738 ratings (1574 positive, 105 mixed, 59 negative), The Guardian 5* Xan Brooks, cbn.com 4* out of 5*, Amazon 4.8* out of 5* with 5,443 ratings. 

Special Note:  Filmed at Pixar Animation Studios; Walt Disney Animation Studios, California; Paris, France; Chicago, Illinois.  Pet rats were kept at the studio in the hallway for more than a year so that the animators could study the movement of their fur, noses, ears, paws and tails!!  To find out how to animate the scene with the Head Chef wet, a person was dressed in a chef suit and put into a swimming pool.  The animators needed to see which parts of the suit stuck to his body and the parts you could see through.  In nearly every Pixar movie, the trademark Pizza Planet truck from the Toy Story franchise is shown.  It is about one hour and fourteen minutes into the film.  This time it appears on the bridge over the Seine in the scene where Skinner chases Remy.  Marketing tie-ins were problematic for this movie because no food product company wanted to be associated with a rat!!  This movie was filmed in France and it broke the record for the biggest debut for an animated movie in France.

Seabiscuit 2003

     This film is based on a book by Laura Hillenbrand published in 2003.  The setting of this film is during the Depression.  This was during the late 1920's and into the late 1930's.  Times are hard for everyone and car maker Charles Howard is trying to rebuild his life.  His only child tragically died and this ended his first marriage.  Now he is married to his second wife Marcela.  Charles has decided he wants to get into horse racing and he lands in a team of underdogs chasing their own dream.  The trainer is Tom Smith and he has a natural instinct to spot the capabilities of horses.  Tom selects Seabiscuit and this is an unconventional choice.  This house has a pedigreed lineage but he is small at fifteen and a half hands real with a slight limp??  Tom sees something in Seabiscuit’s nature that will make him a winner.  He needs to be retrained from his inbred losing ways.  They decide to  hire Johnny “Red” Pollard as the jockey.  He has this nickname because of his red hair.  Red also has a natural way with horses.

     The jockey, Red is sent to someone who owns a stable and who and offer to put Red up as a jockey.  His parents are forced to do this because of their reduced income and abilities due to the Depression.  Red doesn’t understand why this has happened because he is not old enough.  Red also tries to make some money by amateur boxing.  He has significant injuries from a fight.  Red also has another sports-related injury to his leg.  There is an off-screen car crash with a young child being killed.  There is drinking during Prohibition, a radio announcer is drunk a lot of times and cigarette smoking.  It wasn’t until 1963 that smoking was found to be a harmful practice.  There are good themes of perseverance, kindness, struggles and self-reliance.  This is beautifully shot and well-acted.  There isn’t any way you can’t be rooting for Seabiscuit and Red!!!  5* (I really liked this movie)
 
140 min, Drama directed by Gary Ross with David McCullough, Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Vincent O’Connor, Chris Cooper, Michael Ensign, James Keane, Valerie Mahaffey, David Doty, Carl M. Craig, Michael O’Neill, Annie Corley, Michael Angarano, Cameron Bowen, Noah Luke, Mariah Bess.

Note:  Imdb 7.3 out of 10 with 64,533 views, Roger Ebert 4 1/2*, Rotten Tomatoes 78% with 205 critics 76% audience with 118,381 ratings, Common Sense Media Nell Minow, age 13+, 4* out of 5*, 2* positive, 3* violence, 3* sex, 3* language, 3* drinking, drugs, smoking, The Guardian 4* out of 5* Derek Malcolm, empireonline.com 4* out of 5* Angie Errigo, Amazon 4.8* out of 5* with 1,754 reviews, Letterboxd 3.1* out of 5*, Metacritic 72 out of 100 with 43 critics (38 positive 4 mixed 1 negative), 7.3 out of 10 with 53 ratings (41 positive 7 mixed 5 negative), Goodreads gives the book 4.22* out of 5* with 137,748 ratings and 4,261 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Hemet, Santa Anita Park & Racetrack, Arcadia, Filmore, Pasadena, Pomona, Tjon Ranch, Ontario, Universal City, Los Angeles, California;, Saratoga Race Track, New York; Keeneland Racetrack (Pimlico), Paris, Kentucky Laura Hillenbrand is also the author of Unbroken 2014 and Unbroken: Path to Redemption 2018.  She was born May 15, 1967 in Fairfax, Virginia and she won an Eclipse Award in 1998 for her American Heritage magazine article on Seabiscuit entitled Four Good Legs Between Us.  The budge was estimated to be $87,000,000, opening weekend gross $20,854,735, gross USA $120,277,854, worldwide $148,336,445.  More than 5.5 million copies of DVD’s were sold.

Trivia:  Trainer Tom Smith tries to bring a goat into Seabiscuit’s stall.  Many horses feel better if they have the company of another animal.  It’s a common practice to partner a horse with a goat.  The saying,”to get one’s goat” came from the practice of stealing a goat from a rival race horse’s stall the night before a big race.  This would upset the horse before the race.  The horse War Admiral was played in the film by one is Seabiscuit’s descendants, a gelding named Verboom.

Liberty Stands Still 2002

     A gunman ties up an actor and locks him in his dressing room just before a performance.  He puts a bomb with a 90-minute timer next to the actor.  The gunman goes into a room above the LA plaza and draws a bead on the actor’s girlfriend, international arms dealer Liberty Wallace!!   He calls Liberty’s cell phone and tells her his name is Joe.  He shows her a rifle pointed right at her.  He tells her to cuff herself to a hot-dog cart nearby with the cuffs beside it.  Over the next 90 minutes the story begins to unfold.  The gunman wants a public debate on the Second Amendment because of his daughter’s death.  Liberty begins to bond with Joe on the phone and he gets some truths from her plus his revenge. 
     This film was screened at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.  It failed to get a theatrical release and went straight to DVD on October 22, 2002 because of critical reception.  There was praise for the performances by Snipes and Fiorentino but panned the overall plot.  This film is good in the suspense part but weak on the action.  The beginning is slow but then it starts to pickup as it goes along.  Includes heavy messages about gun control.  3* (This movie is OK) 

96 min, Action directed and written by Kari Skogland with Tanya Allen, Hart Bochner, Fulvio Cecere, Gregory Calpakis, Terry Chen, Garvin Cross, Roger Cross, Martin Cummins, Keith Dallas, Linda Fiorentino, Marrett Green, Darch Laurie, David Lewis, Brian Markinson.

Note:  Imdb 5.7 out of 10 with 7,151 views, Rotten Tomatoes 20% with 5 critics 36% with 3,896 user ratings, Letterboxd 2.6* out of 5*, Amazon 3.8* out of 5* with 100 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.    There are mistakes in this film.  Near the end of the film, Liberty drops her phone and headset on the ground.  In the next scene we see the headset still in her ear?  The rank insignia worn by the police captain is improperly worn at odd angles?  The red dot of Joe’s laser-sight is on Liberty’s chest but she repeatedly scans buildings behind her while trying to spot Joe??

Cigarette Soup 2017

     A journalist gets the opportunity of a lifetime when he is embedded with a small band of American soldiers during the height of the war in Afghanistan.  There is a surprise attack and they become separated from their unit.  They are trapped in an insurgent bunker and surrounded on all sides by the enemy.  During this time, the journalist is able to interview the soldiers and find out who they are individually.  Even in the face of war and terror, there is still kindness and hope.

     This film is not a documentary and this is pure fiction and totally false.  Basically, it is the producer’s personal political views being stated by the fake soldiers?  The US Army had very limited operations in Helmand in 2006.  It was primarily NATO and the ANA/ANP units with a heavy presence of British soldiers.  Also some Gurkha's and Scots.  A few US Marines here and there also.  In mid 2007, units 6th, 7th and 8th Marines started to heat up.  The 10th Mountain and the 101st Airborne were not running regular foot patrols at this time.  The actors/soldiers are wearing all kinds of unit patches at the same time.  2* (I didn't like this movie)

108 min, Action directed and written by Damian Voerg with Dina Shihabi, Samantha Soule, Joe Perrino, Tobias Truvillion, Quincy Dunn-Baker, Alejandro Santoni, Donna Worsley-Hines, Rahul Rai, Joshua Wills, Jonathan Sale, Christopher Stadulis, Michael Gentile, Sea McHale, Darrian Strong.

Note:  Imdb 6.4 out of 10 with 511 views, Amazon 1.4* with 86 reviews.

Special Note: ANA Units are soldiers from the Afghan National Army.  ANP units refers to the Afghan National Police.  The Gurkhas are soldiers native to the Indian subcontinent of Nepalese nationality and ethnic Nepalis of Indian Nationality recruited for the British, Nepales, Indian Armies and Gurkha Contingent Singapore, Gurkha Reserve Unit Brunei, UN.

Wycliffe Series 4, Episode 27

     This is a British television series based on novels written by W.J. Burley about Detective Superintendent Charles Wycliffe, the head of CID.  The Cornish setting is an important feature and it provides beautiful landscapes and insights into the local way of life.  In this episode titled Seen a Ghost, Morna Petheric, a young woman deliberately runs over an elderly woman walking in a pedestrian crossing.  She not only runs her down but she drives over her?  The victim is identified as Dinah Curran.  During the inquiry by Detective Superintendent Wycliffe, Deputy Chief Constable Lane and Deputy Chief Constable Kersey, Morna insists that she ran over a ghost that had come back to life to haunt her!!

     During the coroners inquest, stab wounds from years earlier are seen on Dinah’s chest and hands?  During an interview with her second husband, he said he never noticed them?  An interview with Morna’s mother reveals that she doesn't’ know where her husband is?  He is the father of Morna and her older brother?  Morna believes she killed Dinah many years ago as a young child of about 7 and her brother was 9?  Dinah was once married to Morna’s uncle and Dinah’s second husband didn’t know she was married before?  Morna’s mother and her uncle run two separate bed and breakfast establishments that are right next door to each other.  In the past, the businesses were together but they physically separated.  Morna’s brother starts digging in the yard but his mother and his uncle pay no attention?

     I am reviewing this TV episode because I found it to be one of the most unusual plots that I have ever seen??  In the beginning, Morna bought something at an auction.  She was the highest bidder and it was placed in her car.  I thought there was some kind of connection between what she bought and running over of Dinah?  This turned out to be an entirely false assumption!!  Another item that I thought was unusual is how stoic Moana’s mother and uncle are??  I don’t think any occurrence would rattle them??  “Oh, my daughter will probably be charged with murder?"  It is treated like saying, my daughter forgot to buy milk at the market??  About the digging in the yard?  I would not be very happy if a family member or a stranger started digging up my grass and I would certainly stop them??  5* (I really liked this episode)

Calendar Girls 2003

     This film is based on a true story about eleven middle-aged Englishwomen.  Chris Harper and her friend Annie Clarke are two of the middle aged women.  They volunteer a lot of their time at their local Kanpely, Yorkshire County chapter of the Women’s Institute.  Their motto is enlightenment, fun and friendship.  They like most of the women members at the WI.  But, Chris doesn’t appreciate the way the local President Marie runs the chapter?  The monthly presentations seem bland plus devoid of enlightenment and fun.  The fundraising calendar from last year only raised 75.60 pounds?  The calendar featured local bridges and the calendar for this year is to feature local churches.  Annie’s husband has recently passed away and Chris would like the WI to provide a memorial in his memory.  To accomplish this, they will need the calendar to raise more money.  A new sofa for the family room at the hospital will cost 999 pounds!!  Chris proposes the calendar feature tasteful photographs of nude WI members?  Will Chris and Annie be able to convince nine other WI members to pose with December being a group photograph??  

     The calendar will have the women posing behind different tasks that the WI teaches their members.  Such as making bread rolls, knitting, planting flowers, playing the piano.  The calendar will be tastefully photographed and it will tie into the latest idea that older can still be beautiful!!  I thought this film was very funny!!!  One of the lines is, “We’re going to need substantially larger buns for this photo!!  The characters seem real and like normal people!!  The calendar was a success and raised more than 500,000 pounds for a new leukemia unit sofa.  Annie’s husband died from leukemia.  5* (I really liked this movie)

108 min, Comedy directed by Nigel Cole and written by Juliette Towhidi and Tim Firth with Helen Mirren, Julie Walters, Penelope Wilton, John Alderton, Linda Bassett, Annette Crosbie, Philip Glenister, Ciaran Hinds, Cellia Imrie, Geraldine James, George Costigan, Graham Crowden, John Fortune, Georgie Glen, Angela Curran.

Note:  Imdb 6.9 out of 10 with 22,472 views, Roger Ebert 3*, Rotten Tomatoes 74% with 126 critics 67% with 74,457 audience ratings, empireonline.com 4* out of 5*, Metacritic 60 out of 100 with 30 critics 7.3 out of 10 with 16 ratings, Letterboxd 3.3* out of 5*, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 1,121 reviews, Common Sense Media Beth Pratt age 14+, 3* positive, 3* sex, 3* language, 3* consumerism, 3* drinking, drugs & smoking.

Special Note:  There is a scene where some of the real institute members appear as institute members at a cooking competition.  Most of the filming was done in the village of Kettlewell in North Yorkshire about ten miles away from the location of the real institute in Rylstone.  This film was staged as a touring theatrical event in the UK.  The stage show generated more box-office revenue than this movie release.