Category Archives: Acceptable for children

Acceptable for children, British, Classical musicians, Feel Good For All, Love Story, Melodrama, Senior citizens

Quartet (2012)

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From NetFlix:

A trio of retired opera singers’ annual celebration of Verdi’s birthday sours when their estranged fourth member shows up but refuses to sing. Tensions rise and diva drama erupts — will personal problems prevent the show from going on?

Do not confuse this British film with the American film A Late Quartet.

Maggie Smith (“Downton Abbey”), Tom Courtenay (“The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner”), Billy Connolly (Thomas Bell in “House M.D.”), and Pauline Collins (“Shirley Valentine”) form the quartet of retired opera singers. Michael Gambon (Professor Albus Dumbledore in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”) is a self-appointed impresario.

They and a large group of retired musicians reside in a beautiful palace-like home for retired musicians set in glorious British countryside. In fact, the other aged actors are real-life retired musicians. Stay for the final credits in which you see for many of these characters a double set of photos: one photo from the present paired with a photo of them in their performing prime.

If nothing else, the scenery is gorgeous and well worth seeing the film on a large screen as we did in a movie house. Additionally the music is wonderful. Although the story is a bit melodramatic, it is still worth the watch.

Enjoy!

2008, Acceptable for children, Based on true facts, Feel Good For All, Flirting, Love Story, Wine culture

Bottle Shock (2008)

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From NetFlix:

France’s position as the world’s top wine producer went unchallenged until 1976, when the Montelena Winery put California wines on the map — a story delightfully told in this full-bodied tale about the heady early days of Napa Valley’s success.

In this comfortable, feel-good-for-everyone film Bill Pullman plays Jim Barrett and Chris Pine plays his so-far-nere-do-well son Bo. Montelena Winery is the struggling company run by the elder Barrett. When father and son disagree they enter their outdoor boxing ring and batter each other. Enter Alan Rickman as Steven Spurrier, the Englishman who travels from Paris to California seeking American wines good enough to challenge the French wines. Freddy Rodríguez plays Gustavo Brambila, a Mexican employee of Montelena Winery who is a wine expert secretly making his own wine.

Five years (from 2008 to 2013) can change faces. At first I did not recognize the son Chris Pine whom I first saw in Unstoppable. Freddy Rodríguez was the mortician in “Six Feet Under” who had a remarkable talent for making dead bodies attractive. Bill Pullman and Alan Rickman have been around forever.

Despite any historical inaccuracies, just sit back and watch a relaxed family film.

2007, Acceptable for children, Animated, FilmReview, Short Films, Unusual

A Collection of 2007 Academy Award Nominated Short Films (2007)

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From NetFlix:

This anthology features the nominees for the 80th Academy Awards Short Film category, including the live-action winner, “Peter and the Wolf,” and the animated winner, “The Mozart of Pickpockets.” Other entries in the collection are “At Night,” “The Substitute,” “Tanghi Argentini,” “The Tonto Woman,” “Even Pigeons Go to Heaven” and “Madame Tutli-Putli.”

Shorts in foreign languages are subtitled. Production values are good and not amateurish as are some collections of shorts. But it was not possible to skip around to various shorts on the DVD.

Contents:

  • “At Night” consists of the relationships among three young women cancer (?) patients in a hospital. [Sad] [Danish]
  • “Il Suplente” [The Substitute Teacher] Bizarre behavior of a substitute teacher and his students. [Funny] [Italian]
  • “The Mozart of Pickpockets” Two thieves teach a little boy to pickpocket. [Funny] [French]
  • “Madame Tutli-Putli” Sequence of bizarre, nightmarish sights during a train ride. [Animated 3-D characters] [Unusual] [No voices]
  • “Even Pigeons Go To Heaven” Priest sells old man a one-way space vehicle to heaven. [Animated 3-D characters] [French]
  • “Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf” Imaginative version of the classic. [Animated 3-D characters] [No voices]
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, Acceptable for children, Acceptable Science, Asperger's Syndrome, British, Could Be Sad, DO NOT MISS, Dog Story, Drama, Dysfunctional Lives, Feel Good For All, Love Story, Made For TV, School Teacher, Small British village, Small Town

Doc Martin (2004)

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From NetFlix:

Crippled by a sudden and inconvenient fear of blood, flashy surgeon Dr. Martin Ellingham abandons his bustling London practice and sets up shop as a country doctor in this medically minded British sitcom.

Are you looking for a warm, friendly, non-violent, comic, personal British sitcom? Look no further. Beginning in 2004 and extending over 5 years of wonderful episodes, you can relax and enjoy “Doc Martin”.

Doc Martin (played by Martin Clunes) is a very unusual character. For starters he is a family doctor who is sickened by the sight of blood (he looks away when he draws a blood sample). Most importantly he is completely hopeless in any social situation. My guess is that he is supposed to suffer from Asperger’s syndrome. Nowadays we would say that he “doesn’t have a clue”.

He has set up practice in a charming, small, British village on the sea. He is a brilliant diagnostician and much of each episode has him helping people in his impossibly brusque manner. In fact, part of the comedy in the series is his reaction (or non-reaction) to everyone, including his patients.

Do not misunderstand: the stories are not pablum. Some of the situations are harrowing. For example, we see his icy mother just once when she visits and explains that she never loved him because he “got in the way”. Along the way we see villagers afflicted with OCD, vertigo, psychosis, etc. Nonetheless the “cringe” factor is very low compared to today’s British TV plots.

All 5 seasons are available on DVD. NetFlix offers DVD or streaming for all the episodes.

In the area of family sitcoms I would rate this series a DO NOT MISS!

2011, Acceptable for children, British, Comedy, Crude Talk, DO NOT MISS, Feel Good For All, Fishing, Love Story, Optimistic, Politicians

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011)

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From NBetFlix:

A sheik with a love for the sport hopes to introduce fly-fishing to the Middle East and turns to uptight fisheries expert Fred Jones for help. Buoyed by the sheik’s enthusiasm (and his comely English aide), Fred sets out to achieve the impossible.

Ewan McGregor does it again. Somewhat of a rarity these days, this film is a feel-good that the entire family can watch. Good plot, good acting, good romance, good humor: what’s not to like?

Kristin Scott Thomas is perfect as a hard-nosed, ambitious, ruthless, and vulgar governmental communications maven.

Emily Blunt portrays Harriet well as a young woman caught between two loves.

Ewan McGregor carries off the role of a fishing geek (possibly with Asperger’s, but that is not completely clear) who agrees to try the impossible and bring salmon fishing to a desert.

Even though there is no sex and violence, DO NOT MISS!

2012, Acceptable for children, Based on a Book, Chase film, CIA, Mayhem, Medical Theme, Motorcycles, Violent

The Bourne Legacy (2012)

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From NetFlix:

Following the Jason Bourne debacle, the CIA finds itself dealing with a familiar threat when another estranged operative surfaces. Jeremy Renner stars alongside Edward Norton, Rachel Weisz and Joan Allen.

Cars chase motorcycles. Motorcycles chase motorcycles. At least this film is a notch better than Premium Rush.

We all cheer for the two real-life friends Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. But in my opinion Jeremy Renner (who played Sergeant First Class William James in The Hurt Locker) fits the role better than Matt Damon who strikes me as the nice kid next door. Notice in one quick moment we get a glimpse of a photo that is supposed to be a younger Renner. Of course the photo is of Matt Damon. There is no way Renner could be an older Damon.

Don’t worry if all those blue and green pills confuse you in the somewhat boring beginning of the film. Just hold tight and all will be explained.

Renner and Weisz play off one another quite well. This film was acceptable for kids because there is absolutely no sex, just tons of violence.

Seeing an older Edward Norton return to being the bad guy (remember him in “Primal Fear”?) worked for me. He is one cold fish. Why is the CIA often the villain in today’s new films?

If nothing else the special effects eye candy and the motorcycle stunts could be worth the price of admission. Once again I wonder how the stunts were filmed. Even the Wikipedia article does not talk about this aspect of the filming.

Let your inner kid just enjoy all the fun.

2012, Acceptable for children, DO NOT MISS, Docudrama, Dysfunctional Lives, Fantasy, Magic Realism, Medical Theme, Not Feel Good, Unusual, Violent

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

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From NetFlix:

This fantastical drama follows a little girl named Hushpuppy who lives in a dilapidated pocket of homes in the Mississippi Delta. When her father falls ill and natural disasters strike, Hushpuppy sets off to find her long-lost mother.

Netflix’s description above is misleading. Hushpuppy wants to find her mother but that is just a small part of this film, one of the most inventive and original films I have ever seen.

Quvenzhané Wallis portrays Hushpuppy as a defiant, curious, lonely little girl whose father Wink is an unpredictable, at times violent, alcoholic whose wish for his daughter is that she learn to live independently. We understand Wink more as the film progresses.

Even if the film were merely a travelog it would be acceptable. For me the area and characters were an eye-opener. As a city dweller I expect a home to be orderly, clean, and strongly constructed. But the homes we visit are disorderly pig-pens just about ready to fall down of their own accord. As a city dweller I expect people to be sober, hard-working, clean, affectionate persons. But the personalities in this film are hard-drinking, seemingly non-working, dirty humans who are, however, affectionate. Most of all they are determined to stay in their beloved bayou (which they call the “bathtub”) even after a relentless storm has almost completely destroyed their world.

Magic realism enters in the appearance of aurochs who were released by global warming from their prisons of icebergs. These giant beasts (like warthogs) in their roaming represent the violence wrought upon the earth by global warming.

Compare the acting here of Quvenzhané Wallis as Hushpuppy with that of the child Pierce Gagnon as Cid in Looper.

If you have a taste for the unusual, DO NOT MISS THIS FILM!

2012, Acceptable for children, Feel Good For All, Redemption

People Like Us (2012)

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From NetFlix:

When Sam flies home for his estranged father’s funeral, the reading of the will reveals a sister he never knew he had — and an order that Sam must bring his alcoholic sibling and her young son their inheritance.

If you like feel-good, wholesome tear-jerkers, do I have a film for you!

What’s not to like when Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks pair off as step brother and sister. He knows, she doesn’t know that they are siblings. Plot and acting are well done. Michael Hall D’Addario does a great job as her son, his nephew (although I hope someday the boy gets a haircut). And let us not forget Michelle Pfeiffer who plays the mother of Chris Pine (but NOT the mother of Elizabeth Banks). Olivia Wilde has a small supporting role as Chris’ girlfriend. In all of this the villain is the common deceased father that we never see.

Just think: no violence, no serial killer, no sex. How could anyone ever enjoy such a warm-hearted family film?

2012, Acceptable for children, Based on a Book, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

John Carter (2012)

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From Netflix:

One minute, Civil War veteran John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) is evading Apaches in a deserted cave. The next, he’s waking up on Mars, a once-Earthlike planet that’s devolved into chaos — and civil war of a different sort. Based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’s classic “Barsoom Series,” this sci-fi adventure finds Carter coming to the aid of Martian princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins) and pitching in to help protect the planet.

Just as for any film in the tradition of “Star Wars”, “Avatar”, “Thor”, etc., the story line and emotions are for kids whereas the special effects will please many an adult. We will make no comment about the acting.

Who wouldn’t want to be able to leap over tall buildings, be the victor in every sword fight, and marry the beautiful princess? But isn’t that why we watch such entertainment?

Even though according to Wikipedia the film lost $200 million, just sit back and enjoy the mindless fun.

2011, Acceptable for children, Basically Sad, Child Molestation, DO NOT MISS, French, Quiet, School Teacher, Suicide, Wonderful acting

Monsieur Lazhar (2011)

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From NetFlix:

When an Algerian immigrant seeking asylum in Montreal takes a position replacing an elementary school professor who committed suicide, he finds that his own secret, tragic background enables him to help the children with their loss.

As far as I am concerned, the major theme of this story is the cold adult-student separation enforced by teachers’ fear of being accused of something. You CANNOT hug a child student.

As you watch this quiet, thoughtful, well-acted film you will come to understand how this theme relates to the young woman who committed suicide and to the guilt felt by certain students.

Somewhat secondary as a theme is that life is just not fair. You must see the entire film to understand why I say that. This is NOT a feel-good film.

Relax as you watch this film in French with optional English subtitles. Nothing terrible happens. Expect to be charmed by the students’ interaction with Monsieur Lazhar and saddened by certain turn of events. Expect a wonderful, warm film.

Do Not Miss!