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Reviews
The Affair (2014)
Slow Beginning, Lots of Promise - More for Female Audience
I have only seen the first episode. The show was split into two halves; first from the male's perspective and second from the female's perspective recalling the same events. I can only assume by the title the two lead characters have an affair at some point.
The first episode starts out very slow, walking you through each of these folks daily lives and through the first time they met. Because this is from two perspectives it is up to the viewer to decide what to believe. Sometimes the differences are huge, who saved the life of the little girl in the restaurant, and sometimes they are subtle, such as the lead females hairstyle or length of her waitress uniform. From this episode he seems intrigued by her because she brings a calmness to him, she seems to care about people, and she makes him feel excited - unlike other women who flirt with him. For her, he is the husband and family man she has wanted in her life. Her life was supposed to be different and she does not know how to handle it as the episode reveals.
This may be one of those shows that would have made a better movie, I'm not sure yet. The premise and tone of the show, female audience will enjoy this. I can tell there is no way my husband would ever watch this show without complaining all through it. I am intrigued and will keep watching.
Delivery Man (2013)
Heartwarming Comedy, Surprising Serious Moments, Very Entertaining
Vince Vaughn plays a lovable character in his mid 40's who still lives the life of a guy in his early 20's. He works as a terrible delivery man for the family's Brooklyn based butcher shop. His father is a Russian immigrant who grew up in extreme poverty, his mother deceased, and has two older and wiser brothers. Vaughn has blown a lot of money he borrowed from the local mob, on what is unknown. His character made over 600 donations to a sperm bank 20 years prior. The bank used only his donations for about three years resulting in over 500 children, now about 150 of them (now in their late teens or early 20's) filed to find out who the alias is they know as "Starbuck" named after a very fertile bull. He is also dating a local cop who just became pregnant and isn't sure if she wants him in her life due to his immaturity. He sees his brothers and best friend with their kids and after hearing about the kids from his donations he gets the "daddy itch". He becomes curious and randomly starts looking at his kids paper profiles and checks in on them to see what their like and at the time feels the need to do something to help or support them. The movie highlights; a NBA player, an underage girl on her own addicted to heroine, a street musician, a barista trying to be an actor, a severely disabled young man, a local lifeguard, a gay guy, a nail technician, and a very complicated sensitive guy who yearns for attention and family. Vaughn without identifying himself rallies the kids to lean on each other as a family and meets with them for a planned camp out and he brings his disabled son. His girlfriend comes around and it ends on a good note of a large and involved family and his debt to the mob payed off.
This movie is a remake of a French Canadian film named "Starbuck" and Vaughn's character was originally played by the actor who gave a flawless silent version of his disabled son in this remake. It is a comedy with some heavy emotional moments, there were things that were not needed in the storyline, like pot growing, and ended on a bit of a weird moment. The scene at the end with his girlfriend after she gives birth of she loves him then hates him for fathering over 500 children and she does not want him involved in her or their son's life then she loves him again and wants to marry him. All in a few minute scene, weird and could have been written better. Overall heartwarming, funny, with more than expected heavier moments. Whomever did the marketing did a poor job, to go into a movie expecting one thing and getting another results in a bad experience for the viewers. It is very entertaining and overall I really liked it, although I wish I knew more of what to expect.
Rush (2013)
Great Story of Competition, Human Triumph, and the Racing Business
My dad comes from a racing background, used to be a mechanic in the pits of sprint and Indy cars, and I grew up on a track. I have known the story of Niki Lauda through him. I saw this movie tonight with great expectations, most fulfilled.
The story begins getting to know the two main characters and their vastly different lifestyles. James Hunt, the dashing, charming, handsome, exciting, womanizing, witty adrenaline junkie race car driver. Niki Lauda, average looking, very few people like him, intense personality, extremely logical, always afraid of complacency, comes from extreme family money in Vienna, Austria, is supremely intelligent - so much that he is a bit socially awkward, and told his family he wants none of their money and he'll make it on his own. Lauda gets a $2 million dollar bank loan, buys his way into a partnership with a broke car owner, mechanics report to Lauda per the contract and Lauda with the mechanics work round the clock to rebuild the race car. Then he knocks Hunt out of #1 spot, Hunt has no respect for him initially because he didn't pay his dues. The fierce competition begins.
The movie takes you through the lives of these guys in one season of racing - as well as the business of car racing. Dealing with sponsors, owners, mechanics, watching fellow racers deaths and dramatic injuries, track officials, race tracks, weather, and the media. Then to the crash at the rainy race in Germany where Lauda was badly burned, including the inside of his lungs from breathing in 800 degree fuel induced fire. He was read his last rights by a priest, and somehow endured. Movie gives a glimpse into his treatments including vacuuming out the fluid from the burns in his lungs, not for the weak stomach. While he was going through skin graphing and these extremely painful treatments he is watching TV and Hunt creeping up to his first place spot. Motivated and hungry to win Lauda is back on the track about five weeks later still bandaged and healing. It's a media frenzy and no one is more glad to see him than Hunt, although disturbed by his face. They compete again with a mutual respect, a few races later in Japan the weather is rainy again. Due to media and viewers they decide not to cancel, risking the drivers. Lauda starts the race, he recognizes it as too dangerous and bows out, Hunt competes to take home world championship and needs to come in third or better to do it. Great ending and finish.
Two things I felt this movie left out. First, why were these guys drawn to racing? Movie never established the attraction, tried but fell very short likely due to bad editing. Second, did not actually show cars passing each other and what the competition is really about - it is why these guys love it and anyone watching or involved in racing is drawn to it. Otherwise fantastic film and very under rated by critics. I highly recommend seeing this human story, a true story.
The Bridge (2013)
Entertaining & Mildly Accurate
This does contain spoilers, stop reading if you do not want to know about the show thus far.
This show is, in summary, about law enforcement and crimes along the boarder of El Paso, TX and Juarez, Mexico connected by a bridge. The series began with a murder on the bridge directly on the boarder, half of the body on the American side was a white local female judge and the other half of the body on the Mexican side of the bridge was a Hispanic female. The crime being investigated by an American Detective with Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism, and a Mexican Detective who knows how to work within the corruption of the Mexican police and government. This one crime leads to a series of murders and the hunt for a serial killer, "The Beast".
Additionally, there is a side story about a woman seemingly in her 40's who was married to an extremely wealthy man in his 60's, during the bridge murder he was in an ambulance and had a heart attack and died. Turns out they were broke and he was hiding it from his family and working with gangsters locally and in Mexico by having a tunnel on his vast property used for illegal immigrants and whatever else outside the law. Now his widow is learning how to handle this information, work with the ilk of people she has to, and all while being bullied by the female gangster who seems very similar to the real-life gangster Griselda Blanco.
Overall this show is extremely entertaining, suspenseful, dramatic with comedy relief from the American detective's social awkwardness and the Mexican detective's charm. The accuracy of the show, keep in mind I live in Arizona which is a border state, it's not very accurate as to how law enforcement agencies work together, the politics among Mexico, and character actions sometimes are dumb. For example, when the Mexican detective and widow slept together it didn't add anything to the show, it simply was a stupid storyline. However, my husband and I make time to tune in to this show and that's saying a lot. We enjoy it, take it for what it is - entertainment and it is very entertaining so far.
Girls (2012)
Decent Show by Women for Women
Keep in mind I am in my early 30's. this show is about four girlfriends from college in their early 20's trying to figure out what they want in life and how to get it. Easily two of the most difficult things in life are just that, and I think nearly everyone goes through that phase around that time.
The story line is mostly about Hannah, a girl with a very incorrect sense of herself. She is selfish, thinks she is much more pretty than she is, and does not seem to understand the difference between right and wrong. Seems like she grew up with morales but doesn't understand what they are or why they are there, hiding under the premise that she wants to be a writer. She is very unlikeable and I find my self rooting against her frequently. Also, this actress shows herself naked way too much. Only women are watching this show and I certainly do not tune in to see her wobbly bits.
Hannah's BFF, Marnie, is very similar to Charlotte in Sex and the City, even works at an art gallery (shocker), she was smothered with attention by her college boyfriend and after he dumped her she wanted him back because she is supposed to dump him. Charlotte was a much more complex and interesting character than this is. Boring, boring, boring.
Trishanna is still in school, guessing grad school although no idea what she is pursuing. She is portrayed like a 13 year old girl rather than a 20-something. She was a virgin in season one then fell for a 33 year old homeless loser who gave her the slightest bit of attention and was willing to be with her even though she was a lowly virgin. Yeah ridiculous, although her story is the second most interesting. Wish they would spend more time on her.
Jessa is by far the most interesting. She clearly has raised herself, is a natural leader, wants to be taken seriously, knows her strengths, and very lives in the moment. She is aching for some sense of stability in life but doesn't know how to get it and doesn't feel she can depend on anyone. Every true adult she has in her life has let her down or rejected her. This show could only be about this character and be very successful. I am going to love to see where she goes and how she evolves.
Overall a decent show, I do not make time to tune in, I watched it on demand.
Avenging Angelo (2002)
Predictable Funny Romantic Comedy, mild action
I really enjoyed this movie. Women will love this movie, most men will hate it. I feel this movie was poorly advertised, I never heard of it until recently when it was on TV. It was likely not advertised properly. If you like movies like; Only You, Legally Blonde, and so on that are light, usually predictable, with some laugh out loud moments you will enjoy this.
Nice to see Stallone not be this Hollywood oiled up creation to be a tough guy, let's be real he is like 5'8". This is a movie you sit back with a glass of wine and enjoy.
Madeline Stowe is a well off unhappy housewife, forced to let her 8 year old son go to boarding school, she gets wrapped up in romance novel book clubs and develops a crush on the writer (a very good looking Italian) while her husband is sleeping with her best friend. She learns, from Stallone, he has been watching her to protect her and in love with her since she was a girl. He lets her know of her real identity, her parents were paid to adopt her, her adoptive father is gay, her biological father was a mob boss who was murdered and she decides to get revenge and take control of her life to find peace and happiness.
I really enjoyed this flick, my husband went into another room to watch Sports Center.
The Iceman (2012)
Excellent True Story
If you enjoy true stories and mob flicks this is a must see, I have told all of my friends about it.
Takes you through 1970ish to 1990 NY. A sociopath working pirating porn films for the neighborhood gangster gets involved with another gangster to become a hit-man while he is killing people on the side that make him angry. He meets a nice Italian Catholic girl, marries her and they start a family, daughters. He separates his family from his work, they think he is in currency exchange investing, by day he is murdering and disposing of bodies and in the evening he is home as a loving father and husband. He murdered over 100 people over two decades.
Taken from the HBO interview of Richard done around 2002. They left some things out of the script, like the fact he was a brutally abusive husband and also had a son. The movie is not about his family, it is about his "career". Michael Shannon, I feel, is a phenomenal actor and plays this part scarily well. He was Ritchie K. Excellent bio pic, not for kids and very little gore.
Now You See Me (2013)
Quick Wit & Entertaining
This is certainly not an epic film, it has Woody Harrelson for heavens sake, but this is a very good original storyline and script. There comes a point in time when I am so tired of these big loud apocalyptic special effect movies or sequels to a movie that was not all that good to begin with. This one is awesome, hope they do not ruin it by doing a sequel.
Four illusionists/magicians, each with a special talent, are brought together by a leader from the secret society of magicians (I do not remember what it is called). Together they put on a great show and get some revenge on corporate America. At times this movie went so fast I could not pick up all of the details or the reasons why certain things were done. Then other scenes, when they were being questioned by police, I would have liked to see the funny antics continue.
The special effects are original, creative, it is well acted, well directed, cinematography was awesome, and well written. This was, however, poorly edited. There were some holes in the storyline that I had to depend on a site like this to explain to me. Overall I highly recommend this movie to all, although you will likely want to see it again to catch the stuff you missed - I know I do.
This Is the End (2013)
So bad it's. good
Adjust your expectations accordingly here, this is meant to be more of a comedy than anything else. If you like Superbad, Knocked Up, and movies of that ilk you will enjoy this, it is not an action. It is a comedy horror movie, should have been advertised that way.
In summary Seth Rogen and his buddies are at a party hosted by James Franco when the apocalypse happens and all mayhem breaks loose. The guys go back and forth on how to survive and how to be saved. It got dull with no real direction on how it would end until much later in the film, the first half is funnier than the second half.
Some people walked out of the packed theatre, it did get slow at times, and it was ridiculous. This is a vulgar, mild gore, some disturbing images, and very funny movie. Adjust your expectations accordingly to enjoy.
The Master (2012)
Over Hyped, Vulgar, Confusing, Too Long, and Great Acting
This movie is about a post WWII veteran, Phoenix, with a psychological disorder and has a version of alcoholism. He makes his own hard liquor that usually contains things like paint thinner, gasoline, or whatever is lying around. Unable to hold a job and being a complete pervert he is a stowaway on a boat where he meets the leader of a cult, Hoffman, and the members of the cult including Hoffman's family. Then the movie is about their "friendship" and the way both of these men treat women like property instead of people and how they take advantage of them. It's a very anti-female movie.
I really didn't understand most of the movie and I wanted to walk out. I went with my husband and mother-in-law, yeah talk about uncomfortable. Do yourself a favor and see something else, just about anything else will do.
The Good Shepherd (2006)
All Around Bad Movie, Full of Holes and too Long
This movie had a lot of potential to be great. However, it was ruined with the cast, the pace, editing (or lack thereof), and writing. The plot was excellent.
The Good Shepherd skips around a lot and doesn't always tell you where you are in the story line, there are also a lot of holes. For example, how does a Poetry/English major at Yale become a leader of the CIA/OSS? What is this character's attraction to deaf girls? Why doesn't Matt Damon and Angie Jolie age at all in the movie? This is supposed to be a span of about 20-25 years and they don't age from 20 to 45 at all. Why is this movie skipping from place to place? Why on earth was it three hours long? Why did Robert DeNiro cast himself as an Irishman? Why is DeNiro incapable of being in any movie without Joe Pesci? A lot of big names with a lot of let down and most of the script is either too confusing or too ridiculous to be even remotely believable. I wasn't expecting a documentary here, but I was expecting to be interested and entertained. What was nice was there were no ridiculous loud special effects or gore. That was one positive and really the only one about the movie. If you have three hours to kill and want to fall asleep this is a good movie to watch.
Moment of Truth: Stalking Back (1993)
Empowering Flick
This movie is suspenseful and based off the true story of Laurisa Anello and her family. Laurisa is a beautiful and happy 14 year old girl on a softball team. The umpire, Curtis, has taken an inappropriate liking to her and as she grows Curtis' psychological problems and infatuation with her grow. No matter what Laurisa does, from going home from school to extra-curricular activities as she's in the marching band to out on a date, Curtis is there watching. In addition to sending her gifts, making harassing phone calls to her and her parents, and writing disturbing letters to her and her parents (such as for her father stating, "I almost got your daughter last night."). It even gets to the point where he's trying to run her off the road with his car and physically attacks her date. According to the law Curtis has done nothing wrong, then after the physical altercation the law gives Curtis another chance and he's released. Curtis even eventually works as a security guard, which means he now has a gun.
The audience sees how Curtis' stalking of her is breaking her and her family down slowly so he's not just out the window or off in the distance lurking anymore, he's in their mind at all times. Just when you think there is no where to turn and this girl is being terrorized Laurisa's mother takes on the law head on. She some how figures out who to call, contacts to make, and travels to St. Petersburg, FL to meet with Florida's house representative to ask for and support a stalking bill on the floor in Washington DC.
This is a great yet suspenseful movie to watch and is empowering for women, my husband even liked this movie and he hates Lifetime.
Live from Lincoln Center: The Light in the Piazza (2006)
Captivating and Heart-warming Musical Theatre
This musical is based on a novel by Elizabeth Spencer; I've never read it so cannot comment on how alike or different the two are. The story and songs capture you from the very beginning and you are drawn into a world of love between a parent and child, romance, comedy, sadness, jealously, anger, and the action of letting go.
The story begins with what seems to be a young girl (Clara), late teens or early twenties, on a holiday with her mother in Florence, Italy. While seeing the sites, to the tune of, "Florence the land of marble naked boys," Clara meets a local boy, Fabrizio, and it is love at first site, even with a language barrier. You see these two young people falling more and more in love while Clara's mother is trying to protect her daughter from being hurt and debating whether or not to tell Fabrizio and his family Clara will never psychologically be beyond a 10 year old due to an accident when she was little and is actually older than what is perceived. While all of this is going on Clara's mother, Margaret, is having problems in her own marriage and Fabrizio's family (the Naccarelli's) are having their issues as well. Margaret tries to keep Clara and Fabrizio apart, with the intention of protecting both of them, even by leaving Florence. Their love is too strong and Margaret does some giving in
not saying anymore you'll have to see it for yourself.
Victoria Clark's performance as Margaret is amazing, she will make you laugh very hard and cry, especially if you're a parent. Katie Clarke's performance as Clara is perfection; this is Katie's first job out of college where she finished at a university in Texas with a degree in Theatre. She comments during intermission on how she never had to work as a waitress trying to get an acting job and being new in New York. What a LUCKY girl! Aaron Lazar is great as Fabrizio Naccarelli, this really is a dream cast for this musical. I highly recommend it and I wish PBS would play it again so I could record it.
Mystic Pizza (1988)
Good Chic Flick
This movie is definitely for girls and women, men just don't seem to appreciate it as much. This is a comedy-drama, for those 13 and up. The movie starts out with a wedding where the bride, Jo, promptly faints at the alter, and then bursts into the pizza parlor where she and her bridesmaids work in Mystic, CN, apparently a Portuguese immigrant town. We meet the other two waitresses who are sisters, the parlor owner and her husband.
There a lot of sub-plots in the movie. One of the sisters, Kat, who is naive and is trying to be a Yale bound astronomer and baby-sits for a local architect while his wife is away trying to make $ for school, the other Daisy (Julia Roberts' character) doesn't know what she wants to do other than be rich and sleep around. Through the beginning and middle the pizza parlor is in financial trouble, the fainting bride's fiancée, Bill, is still trying to marry her, the astronomer, Kat, is getting caught up in a crush and still trying to make money for Yale, and the floozy sister, Daisy, finds a boyfriend with a Porsche, and the pizza parlor owners are trying to help the girls (they see as their own since they don't have kids), through their trials and celebrations. The ending is fitting and realistic, nothing shocking.
This is a great movie with the girls or alone with a glass of wine, if you're a first or second generation from an immigrant family now in the US the movie hits home as well.