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kathyshalleck
Reviews
The Homesman (2014)
UNBELIEVABLE
Really thought this movie was going to be good. Good cast. And it started off ok. But when Hillary Swank's character - a relatively young woman, with land, and money in the bank - proposes marriage to two men and is rejected by both (and one a world weary old codger - almost twice her age) - that is when it went off the rails for me. And the final train wreck was when the old codger finds her HANGING FROM A TREE.. (This happens right after the night she seduces him. Was the sex with TLJ's character that bad??!!) It made no sense. The character Swank plays is a religious woman who is ON A MISSION to help save the women who had been driven mad by the hardships of pioneer life. Her sudden (and unbelievable) decision to hang herself from a tree - and abandon the mission - was way way out of character. And how was that managed? There was no chair to stand on and kick out from under her. Then TLJ burning down the big house in the middle of nowhere and KILLING everyone in it just because they had told him "no room at the inn" for himself and his charges. Took a lot away from his grizzled old but "nice guy" image in the story. Once Hillary's character is gone...then it is TLJ all the way to an ending that was perplexing and disappointing at the same time.. Here is my rewrite: They make it to Meryl Streep's place, drop off the three women who need help, make their way back to Hillary's ranch, Hillary offers him a job - and with no other prospects - he accepts. Then we leave them sitting on matching rocking chairs on the front porch with the question in the air - is it likely to be a marriage or... "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
The Last Kingdom (2015)
OMG!
I have seen many shows over many years...never has one affected me like this one. IT IS THE BEST! "Destiny is All"!!!!
Everybody Wants to Be Italian (2007)
SAD
Thinking this might be in the vein of "Moonstruck" (one of my all time favorite films about Italians) I got this one and found - it was a love story about a woman - beautiful face and figure - who is an intelligent college grad and a veterinarian to boot...and a man (questionable - acts like teenage boy) who doesn't even think she
qualifies as a doctor (in his view of the world anyway) AND is pining (stalking!) his former girlfriend who has been married for 8 + years (with 3 kids) - well, that is just sad - NO not sad - UNBELIEVABLE!!!!
Troy (2004)
Better Every Time
I think this is Brad Pitt's best performance - he is at his peak portraying Achilles. The movie - the story (amazing), the cast (terrific), the performances (excellent) and the music of James Horner (wonderful) - and the news (to me anyway) that he died in a plane crash in 2015 - tragic. I had not seen this move in a number of years - still holds up. Excellent! I hope that those who have not seen this movie - will put it on a list of "must-see" films. Not only for all of the foregoing, but for one of the finest (and almost last) performances by Peter O'Toole - Lawrence of Arabia, Priam...whatever part he took - he was the best. I liked very much the scene between Priam (O'Toole) and Achilles (Pitt) - memorable in every way.
Mammoth (2009)
Not really that good
Well, I like all of the actors but let's talk about their characters in this movie. While Michelle Williams as mother/wife/doctor is trying to save a boy's life in NYC...the happily married man - her husband - gets bored waiting for a business deal to go through and has a beach vacation with a young prostitute (and I note he fails to tell his wife he might be HIV infected by the prostitute). Also, I don't think the nanny would have left the girl Jackie alone without calling to tell her mother...you don't ask a 7 year old to do that. And the nanny's mother blew it by telling her grandson that the kids go at night and get money "sleeping" with someone. (What an unfortunate reminder that it is Westerners who keep the child prostitution going there.) And to add to the dreariness of the characters,the pace of the movie was horrendously slow. There was a heaviness, too...so on my list to never watch it again.
The Heart of Me (2002)
Moral Questions/Spoiler Alert
Rickie is a man who tells his sister-in-law not to marry (although she was ready to) a man with whom she is not in love. He does this - not particularly to save her from a loveless marriage but, as it turns out, to save her for himself. Unfaithful to his wife, he begins a long-term affair with his sister-in-law and then near the end of the film "rapes" (that's what it looked like folks) his wife, the result of which is a female child that somehow in the end is supposed to be very much like his sister-in-law (whose child by him died in childbirth). The characters are all flawed (which is interesting to see) but I found him - the husband, adulterer and rapist - the most challenging to feel any empathy with or compassion for (although I believe we are somehow supposed to). However, all actors were terrific in their roles and I definitely think the film is worth seeing.
W.E. (2011)
Amazing
I thought it would be crap (re: what the reviews I read had indicated), but I loved it. The actors are so pitch perfect for their parts - especially Wally and Wallis. An interesting take to see what Wallis gave up as versus what King Edward did(and the trap she ensnared herself in). The costume design - the clothes alone were worth seeing this film. Sometimes the going back and forth between different time periods can be disconcerting - but it worked in this movie. And I really loved the scene on the park bench where Wally hands Wallis the gloves she bought at the auction at Sotheby's. "M" (as all the actors address her in the behind-the-scenes) is a better director than she ever has ever been an actress (well, let's say "thus far" - as she is always reinventing herself). I think I have to own this film.
The Reef (1999)
You would have to be brain dead to like this ending!
The movie was a mildly entertaining "made for t.v." love story with a handsome leading man, etc., but Timothy Dalton's character is such a cad. He is supposedly on his way to see the woman he loves (played by Sela Ward) and then because of one note from her takes up with a young woman in difficult circumstances (does not deliver the letter she asks him to post for her, essentially making her dependent on him totally) - and then takes advantage of her situation (sexually using her and then packing up and leaving). He proves himself over and over again to be a liar, cheat and cad. Then we are supposed to be happy that Sela Ward's character decides to forgive him and take him back in the end (even though she seems to be getting endless images of old Tim in bed with young Sophie!). Since it is based on an Edith Wharton novel, we can be sure the "working class" girl will not do well (although in this one she goes off to India with the old biddy, unlike Lily Bart in "The House of Mirth" who essentially dies of the neglect of everyone around her). This is obviously set in a previous time with different standards and expectations...but one would think that women in those days had brains and if so, Mr. Dalton's Mr. Darrow would be out in the cold (a la the ending of "The Heiress).