The Homesman is a dreary movie, but dreariness aside, it’s also a good movie. It shows the brutal and bitter side of frontier life, a life I cannot imagine how—or why—those brave souls in the past took on. But it shows too how that life destroyed not only lives but minds of some of those…
I saw Cake as more than a movie about a woman addicted to prescription pain pills. And it’s more than a movie about a woman recovering from a debilitating accident. That said, it could have been even more. I’m not sure how, but something was off. Jennifer Anniston was not one of those off things,…
The trailer for Inherent Vice made it seem that this movie would be a fun, quirky (albeit a little dark) movie with a fantastic cast. At the end of the film, the only word I really came up with, though, was “bizarre.” And bizarre is too far from quirky for me. Not that the movie…
Boyhood was a great film to watch, even if it wasn’t a particularly great film. The premise, filming a movie using the same cast over a twelve-year period, filmed to watch as Mason grows from the pictured six-year-old to a young man graduating from high school, is unique and makes the movie stand out. And…
This story needed to be told in this medium. This story needed to be told. I saw Selma today, on the first day of its wide release, needing to see it alone. I knew I could not tolerate seeing this film with anyone who cannot even try to understand the issues of voter disenfranchisement or…
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…
The Hundred-Foot Journey is a delightfully charming film that brought warmth and smiles. It’s cliché, sure, but it’s done with enough heart that I wasn’t bothered by the repeated-time-and-again story in the least. And Helen Mirren, of course, shines, from haughty to heartwarmingly enchanting. As a student of cooking, as a person who nurtures through…
I expected a predictable premise with plenty of Hollywood sap, a familiar plot, and a feel-good ending. I think with another cast, that might be all that St. Vincent did, fading quickly into the background of bigger, better, deeper movies. But this cast works together so beautifully, each also shining individually, that St. Vincent also…
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…