King Arthur 2017

Loved this so much I immediately went home and downloaded the soundtrack. How could I not love it: it starts with elephants! Over 2 hours but never lagged. Another addition to takes on this story. The editing keeps it moving. The costumes, scenery, landscapes and special effects are eye-popping. Acting top notch. Disregard the various tomato-meters and reviews. Might have to see this one again in a 3D theater. (3D really helped it jump off the screen.) Great fun. Perfect film for Mother's day.

Queen of Katwe

So tired of the usual movie fare, hoped for something different. Queen of Katwe delivers. Not all sunshine and roses (despite being a Disney film), it does take place in present day Uganda, very different lives from anything I've ever known. Best part is seeing the real people who were portrayed in the film, how they are today, this one entire family doing extremely well. Very uplifting.

La La Land

Actually saw this last weekend and was so unimpressed wasn't even gonna mention it, but now it's gone and won a bazillion Golden Globe awards so I have to completely reevaluate my appreciate for the GG's.
Not going to go on and on but anybody who thinks this is a good representation of the genre needs to educate themselves on what real musicals are made of. Please see: Sweet Charity, West Side Story and An American in Paris for starters. You'll not only recognize several of the dance routines (almost step for step in some cases), but you'll notice that most of the leads can actually sing, all of them have long experience in dance and the dance numbers are not mind-numbing nothing-going-on that's tough to stay awake through.
Without the 2 stars here, nobody would bother with this film. No writing, barely a plot. The first half is so awe-inspiringly boring and dull I fell asleep 3 times. Ok, I just wanted to fall asleep. Almost no emotion on either of their faces no matter what obstacles were put in their way. And there was zero chemistry between the 2 leads. Clearly cast in order to beef up the box office on their name recognition.
I could go on, but to do so would indicate the faults and mediocrity of this weren't already self-evident.
Yup. It's gonna sweep during awards season. It's PG, it's milquetoast, not political in any way and so: easy to adore (for some). Blech. Complete disappointment.

2 Amy Adams films

Saw this one first. And for whatever reason, it really affected me. Loved seeing a smart woman being the center of the film, not torn down, respected for her work, and she had a child that informed her life. I didn't even see the big twist coming. Just a straight emotional film for me.














Nocturnal Animals, otoh wasn't just painful to watch, but filled to the brim with abusive, uninteresting, scummy low-life characters, and those were just the rich ones in NYC. Michael Shannon is always good, but dang, it started out ugly and proceeded to become hateful and ugly. Got a headache from scrunching my forehead up so many times wondering what was going on in Tom Ford's brain to choose this book to film (I think it was a book, unbelievable). Much like my initial reaction to Jim Thompson on film. Blech.

Now you See Me 2

Only reasonable film left at the dollar theater so we went for it. Mediocre. Pale imitation of first film (which I liked). Way too many "stars." Another 2 ½ hours down the drain.

Summer Movies - 2016

Summer is a notoriously crap time for films of value or distinction or even brains or heart. Since school has started back here in Tucson I feel OK about lumping the films I've seen in the last couple months all into one post.

Films I only went to because there was not much else playing and it was too hot to do anything other than sit in a theater, even if the entertainment was completely mindless:
Money Monster
Nice Guys
Conjuring 2
Secret Life of Pets
Jason Bourne
Ghostbusters

None of those films was memorable. All of them were released during the summer for the same reason: light on decent writing, big on big ideas, big action and big stars.

 The films that do stand out as being slightly more interesting:

Free State of Jones: I'm a sucker for a historical drama even if the main white guy is Matthew McConahay and even if the story skirts the old trope of the great white savior. Sigh.

Maggie's Plan: Fairly decent, although any film with Julianne Moore in it is bound to irritate me before I even walk into the theater and this one was pretty irritating in its theme of young woman hooking up with english teacher, teacher leaving older wife, blah blah blah. Actually this one was pretty painful.

The Infiltrator: Bryan Cranston is usually a good bet and this one was a respectable attempt at a true story. The fact that it wasn't released at Xmas time (like his last bio-pic about Dalton Trumbo) should have told us all something.

Theeb: Although released maybe even last year, it did play locally and I missed it so was able to see it on netflix.

 What this film had that none of the others had was amazing cinematography, good writing, surprising plot points, subtitles and a great soundtrack. Overall, simple enough story but it really stands out in the middle of the summer doldrums.

Station Agent

Mostly due to watching GoT again, went back and watched this again. Holds up. Mostly due to its quiet nature, slow rhythm, and unique screenplay. The characters are three dimensional and yet, get along and are kind to each other. Which, today, seems brilliant.

Game of Thrones

Almost don't want to admit I'm watching this season. Took season 5 off amid the bru-ha-ha of horrid violence against women. Sigh.
But it's pulled me back in.

London Has Fallen

Even though we waited until it was showing at the dollar theater, still, such a load of crap. Should have walked out. Most violence I've had to sit through in a long time. Not that it was gorey or bloody much, but it was just non-stop machine gun fire back and forth for like 45 minutes. Talk about a lack of imagination.
Come on.

Criminal

Also, in comparison to the crowd of absolute clunkers, this wasn't all bad. And I appreciate Kevin Costner's aging face and the fact he's kinda playing his age w/out a 20-something wife/girlfriend.

Jungle Book 3D

Given some of the absolute crap we've been sitting through lately, this wasn't all bad. 3D was fun. Went long after all the crowds. Mother's Day movie.

Papa Hemingway in Cuba

Thought, oh! A film about a writer. Cool.
Nope.
Horrid acting. Nonexistent writing. predictable. Bleh.

Hologram for the King

Went for the scenery which was just about all this had going for it.

Keanu

Nope.