The tables are turned when straight-laced Bessie (Diane Keaton) —
who devotes her life to caring for her chronically ill father (Hume Cronyn) —
must ask her estranged, bohemian sibling (Meryl Streep) for help after
Bessie suffers a health catastrophe. The film is a first-class adaptation of
Scott McPherson’s play, with a young Leonardo DiCaprio holding his
own among a heavyweight cast that includes Robert De Niro and Gwen Verdon.
The ensemble work is good. I laughed out loud in spots. It’s amazing to see formerly
sexy red-headed Gwen Verdon (Damn Yankees!) as “dotty old Aunt Ruth”. The
character transformations (especially Meryl Streep) are convincing.
And yes, it was one of those “#$%^# Chick Flick Tear Jerkers”.
In this film based on a David Gerrold novel, John Cusack stars as a
recently widowed science-fiction writer who adopts a 6-year-old boy
to quell his loneliness. The catch? The kid ( Bobby Coleman) claims
to be from Mars. At first, the new dad doesn’t pay much attention to
the boy’s story, but when an odd series of events occurs, he begins
to believe his son may be telling the truth in this film co-starring
Amanda Peet and Joan Cusack.
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This is NOT science fiction. My all-time favorite movie about a child is “Dear Frankie”. If you have not yet seen “Dear Frankie”, I urge you to do so. However, “The Martian Child” is probably the most gentle movie about a child that I have ever seen. John Cusack plays a widower who does the most wonderful job trying to bring the boy into a normal interaction with the rest of the world. It is sort of a model about how to raise a sensitive and unusual child.
Aging detective writer Andrew Wyke (Michael Caine) squares off
against Milo Tindle (Jude Law), the struggling actor who stole Wyke’s
wife in this twisted — and twisty — plot of deception and double
crosses. Kenneth Branagh directs a gripping screenplay by Nobel
Prize laureate Harold Pinter, who stylishly updates the 1972
original — in which an Oscar-nominated Caine played the Milo
role opposite Laurence Olivier’s Andrew. Double feature anyone?
The movie feels like a play and is essentially talking heads. But what two heads !!!!!!! It is a pleasure to watch real time-honored acting. Michael Caine and Jude Law pair off in the most impressive performance I have seen in a long time.
Beware ! This is Harold Pinter and it doesn’t take long for things to get down and dirty. NOT FOR CHILDREN.
The plot twists are jolting. The ending is perfect. The updated 2007 setting works well.
Politically incorrect and relentlessly funny, Mel Brooks’s take on Hollywood Westerns follows the tortured trail of freed slave Bart, who’s elected sheriff of the racist town of Rock Ridge. He must foil a land-grabbing governor (Brooks) with help from a washed-up, pot-smoking gunslinger (Gene Wilder).
This might just be the best Mel Brooks satire. It features
a black cowboy teamed up with Gene Wilder. There are Jewish
indians (Mel Brooks himself), and Madeline Kahn as a tired protitute.
Probably not for children.
Food writer Julianne Potter (Julia Roberts) panics when she gets word that her longtime platonic pal, Michael (Dermot Mulroney), is finally getting hitched, to a debutante named Kimberly (Cameron Diaz). With assistance from her gay companion (Rupert Everett) — and to the accompaniment of Burt Bacharach tunes — she sets out to sabotage the wedding and make a last-minute play for her man. James Newton Howard’s score received an Oscar nomination.
Julia Robert’s classic effort to sabotage her friend’s wedding. Did you
ever see an entire restaurant break out into song ? Definitely a feel-good.
Director Chris Noonan’s tale of precocious piglet Babe’s (voiced by Christine Cavanaugh) struggle to fit in and become a champion sheepherder won the hearts of audiences and critics. Nominated for seven Academy Awards (including Best Picture), Babe won the Visual Effects Oscar, and everything from farmer Arthur Hoggett (James Cromwell) to the multitude of farm animals to the humble, edgy script is remarkably appealing for kids and adults alike.
One of those feel-good movies that everyone should see before they die.
At the onset of the Spanish Civil War, a sheltered boy (Manuel Lozano) in rural northern Spain forms an indelible bond with his kindly leftist teacher (Fernando Fernán Gómez), who imparts his love for nature to the young student. Director Jose Luis Cuerda gentle and nostalgic drama, based on the short stories of Manuel Rivas, was nominated for 13 Goya Awards (the Spanish Oscar), winning for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Beautiful, sad story of friendship between young boy and devoted teacher at time of Spanish civil war. Inspired by a book called “La Lengua de las Mariposas” (Butterfly’s Tongue). Shows the destructive split in Spanish society during the Spanish Civil War. The ending could be hard to take. But I call this a “feel good” because the interplay between the boy and the teacher is beautiful. Really a masterpiece.
When Frédéric (Bernard Campan) and his family meet a gay man named Hugo (Charles Berling) while vacationing in the Provençal countryside, their lives are irrevocably changed, as the two men develop a strong yet unconventional friendship. Although Frédéric is happily married to his wife, Frédérique (Léa Drucker), his bond with Hugo challenges the strength of his marriage and ultimately inspires him to reevaluate his life.
This film is French in many ways: language, culture, beautiful photography,
symbols, ambivalence, ambivalence, and more ambivalence. Don’t expect
a definitive ending. You have to be in the mood for this one. And if you do
last through this dreamy, slow movie, please tell me how you interpreted the
relation between the straight husband (who truly loves his wife and family)
and the gay man when everyone meets on an extended summer holiday.
In this fantasy adventure, the Dark Crystal — which served as the font of balance and truth — cracked 1,000 years ago, beginning an age of chaos. To restore order to the planet, Jen, the last of the Gelfling race, begins a quest to find a missing shard and heal the crystal. If he doesn’t complete his mission before the conjunction of three suns arrives, the evil Skeksis will rule forever. Muppets creators Jim Henson and Frank Oz co-directed.
Jim Henson, of muppet fame and now deceased, created this
puppetry masterpiece. The detailed scenes (especially the swamp)
were marvels to look at. It was NOT a popular success. It is not
animation. You have to be in the mood for a slow moving masterpiece.
In fact, watching the turtle-like wisemen lumbering along sets the tone.
I wonder if some of the scenes might not actually scare really small
children.
A pair of reformed crooks team up to pull one more heist. Their target? Master con artist Moctezuma Valdez (Saúl Lisazo), a popular television infomercial pitchman who’s gotten rich by swindling countless unsuspecting immigrants. The former thieves attempt to recruit some of their criminal cohorts to help pull off the plan, but when they refuse, the two turn to day laborers to participate in the elaborate robbery scheme
(Thieves robbing thieves). This is a C-film. When I was first learning
Spanish I watched telenovelas (Spanish soap operas) on Spanish TV.
Every different series featured the same set of actors and actresses
but in permutated roles. Here I am years later watching a film from CD
which again features many of those same actors (in more “mature”
roles). It is a Robin-Hood story in which a gang of people cooperate
to steal from a TV snake-oil saleman who deceives poor immigrants.
Bad robber keeps his cash in a vault in his palace. Good robbers
concoct an elaborate scheme (think “Oceans 17”) to tunnel into
his house, etc. But what is different is the Latino philosophy and
moralizing. It’s only C but I got a kick out of it. There are plot
twists, even in this wannabe.
