First, I should note that I did not read the book Unbroken. And unlike my norm, I heard a bit too much about the film before seeing it. Whether that colored my perception of the movie, I’ll never know for certain, but it is a factor to consider in understanding the various views of the…
For many (if not most) people, watching Wild will be a view from the outside of a woman on a journey to heal her soul as she hikes the Pacific Crest Trail. For me, it was a journey of my own as I tested the fortitude of the healing scars of my own path. Wild…
If you know me, then you probably could guess that I had fun watching Into the Woods. And you’d guess correctly. Others might want more of the movie than mere fun, but to me, that’s what I expected. And I enjoyed the time watching the film. I’d not seen the stage production or any other…
Benedict Cumberbatch delivers a stellar performance in The Imitation Game. Although I’ve not seen him as Sherlock, after watching this movie, I want to. This is more than just a great performance. This is a great movie—one that provides Cumberbatch the prime stage on which to shine. As the story about Alan Turing, the genius…
In the world of narcissists, Walter Keane is the poster child. Christopher Waltz’s portrayal of him, while seemingly obscenely overdone, is probably spot on. That’s the sort of person it would take, after all, to be that much of a con—and a con who not only convinced those around him of what he wanted, but…
Dark and gritty, Nightcrawler takes viewers on a ride with Jake Gyllenhaal at the wheel. Buckle up: it’s a wild one. I was tired the night I saw this film, having not slept well the previous night. And alas, the theater we planned to visit changed its schedule, so we had to change plans from…
Families are complicated. They’re often messy. Those messes can devolve and destroy and devour some. Too often people stay in a bad relationship with family members simply because of shared genetics, allowing abuse and hurt to fester and spoil. But sometimes those bad moments are misunderstood and need to be worked out. Sometimes time does…
Confession: physics is my least favorite science. (Least favorite. I do like science. Consider, I’ve my minor degree in biology.) But physics….eh. Add “astro” to it, and it doesn’t improve. Black holes. Eh. These are things I do not understand, and I again confess: I don’t really care to. And Stephen Hawking? Well, I didn’t…
Whiplash is a movie about passion. And although passion can be a wonderful quality, at times, it can also take someone too far. It can grip too tightly. It can create an irrational justification for behavior. It can sever humanity from the human. It can hurt. Having seen the trailer for Whiplash a few times,…
If you’ve read many of my movie reviews and impressions over the past, you know that this is the time of year my visits to the theater increase as those Oscar-worthy movies start gracing the screens. I seek lists on the web for what movies might make the cut come nomination time. Birdman was on…
I rarely see a movie on opening day, so to see one three days *before* opening day was quite a treat. We had yummy Corner Taco before hand. We had a pitcher of local pale ale poured and cold. We had a large bowl of the best popcorn in Duval County. And we had two…
It had been some time since I read the book, Gone Girl. I talked briefly with a friend or two about it before seeing the movie, only then remembering the depths of the diabolic nature of the characters. Worried, as we often are when a great story from print is brought to cinema, I went…
I wanted to see The Drop as it was James Gandolfini’s last film. (I was utterly charmed by him in Enough Said, and I wanted to see this side of his acting, as I have yet to watch The Sopranos.) While Gandolfini was fine, I was wonderfully surprised by and captivated by Tom Hardy and…
There was great build-up between my friend and me to the new film about the great lizard (100 meters tall, according to my movie companion, whom I teased for using the metric system). Said companion sat next to me for our last giant-monster movie, as I giggled and rolled my eyes at the silliness. So…
Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film, The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza from Italy) is, well, different. As my movie companion and I left the theater, we shared our perplexity over what, exactly, the movie was about. I’ve sat with it for several days now, but still, I’ve not much more than questions and…