First Word

Rating: ***** Singing, dancing and a strong message -- you can't go wrong. First, the music was worth the movie, but the acting and themes stole the show, especially for young women and girls. Now the graphic moments (wish they weren't there) made the movie hard to show preteens and girls, but the message about self-love was way more important that I just covered my daughter's eyes when the moments were not appropriate. As a parent, though, measure your teen's maturity before you allow viewing. Young Bessie Smith is traumatized as a child by family members. As a strong girl she manages past the absence of her mother and abusive older sister, but it haunts her entire life. She scrapes and climbs to the top of the early vaudeville circuit and 20's era, and men and sex become symbols of her pain, sense of alienation, and low self-esteem and self-regard. Early on Ma Rainey, another famous singer, recognizes her lack of self-love and tries to help her by pointing i...

****1/2 Actually, I don't know why I gave it less half-a-point, but maybe it deserves five stars. Cake is yet another riveting, emotional and spiritual movie out in theaters. Chronic pain sufferer Clair is kicked out of a support group after she articulately, truthfully and in an unvarnished description goes through a "forgiveness" exercise and excoriates her friend's suicide. The group's stunned reaction leads to Clair being asked to leave. The heart of the story begins here with Clair's pain and addiction to pills spiraling out of control. She begins to hallucinate the woman who committed suicide and soon her obsession lands her on the woman's doorstep where she befriends her widower and son. While Clair is self-destructive and a self-proclaimed bitch, the audience slowly learns what happened that resulted in the physical and emotional scars. Outsiders are often unsympathetic to her situation, but Clair has bottled it all up and uses pills to numb...

*****Five Stars Yet another really well-done movie from the incomparable Clint Eastwood -- and another amazing film in the middle of some really great and new films just released. The movie is the true story of Chris Kyle AKA "The Legend" who shot down the most terrorists during four tours of the Iraqi War. The movie depicts a beautiful balance between Chris the man and Chris the sniper. In-between taut war scenes, we come to understand this is a man driven by intense personal integrity, humility, sensitivity and love of family and country. The movie begins with an authentic foundational scene where we discover Chris' gift with the rifle, but also what his father and mother taught him about life, bullies and heroism. The movie then shifts to right before the 9/11 and finally the war. As we watch Chris meticulously take out one insurgent after the other, we also understand the emotions behind the acts. While Chris might have made the "shooting" look almos...

*****Five Stars Walking and/or running to journey not out but within -- a theme of the year, especially with the 3L Publishing award-winner In the Footsteps of Greatness by Josh Mathe doing so well. Wild is more inward journey than outward exploration, but it is through the challenge of the physical world that Cheryl Strayed heals her inner wounds. After her mother dies and her marriage falls apart because of her infidelity and drug abuse, Strayed finds herself in need of change. After an unexpected pregnancy she cries out and asks herself, "How did I become this shitty person?" At that point she finds a book on the Pacific Crest Trail (1,000 miles from Mexico to Canada) and with no training or experience determines to walk to a new future. As her outward hike unfolds, the viewer watches her inward story and how she got to where she is on this trail. Her relationship with her mother who passed away is very inspiring. Her mother taught her important lessons at that th...

Rating: *** I like to focus my movie reviews on those films that something stood out in terms of storytelling. Nightcrawler starring Jake Gyllenhaal was a stand-out movie for its quirky characters and unorthodox story about a freelance video producer whose methods to capture the story are .... well -- questionable. The snappy, smart and very manipulative dialog just stole the film. Jake's young, driven and slightly autistic character is a sight to watch. Listening to him alone is a cross between every cliché self-help book and general business strategy plastered all over the Internet. If you've read these books or been inspired by them, Jake's character takes it to an interesting extreme. The movie was unique and different. Taking human actions to the ends of bad behavior, Jake's character is such a sociopath it's shocking. He descends into his power grab on the streets of LA and starts off innocent enough, but soon falls down into passionate greed to move to...

Rating: ***** Best movie of the year and best movie I have seen in years. The incomparable writer, producer, director Christopher Nolan delivers (again) in this mind-bending and exceedingly intelligent film (not movie ... movies are popcorn flicks and this is plain and simply film). The premise is complex while at the same time simple: a plague is turning crops to dust and the atmosphere is declining with eminent extinction of the human race at stake. Now comes the complex: pilot Copper, who has two adoring children, is "called" to navigate a space ship through a worm hole to investigate several viable planets to relocate the human race and/or colonize the surface (Plan A and Plan B). Leaving his beloved daughter Murphy (named after Murphy's Law) and his son, Cooper faces the epic challenge of getting through the worm hole to the other side and battling time shifts (Einstein's Theory of Relativity) and other very real situations on foreign planets. What I LOVE...

Rating: ***1/2 I always love an intricate story (since I'm a storyteller) and admire the writer's ability to keep it all straight. The Edge of Tomorrow , the new Tom Cruise movie and co-starring Emily Blunt, was one of those movies with extreme thoughtfulness to details to make it work. The movie begins right as the world is about to be conquered by aliens called Mimics. Tom Cruise's character begins as a cowardly spokesperson who gets suddenly thrust in the invasion on the beach of France (think D Day in World War II). With absolutely no combat experience, Cruise is thrust right into the "shit" and within moments is not only being dropped from an airplane with no experience, but also lands on the ground to face the enemy. He is (naturally) instantly killed, but before his demise he lays eyes on Emily Blunt's character and a look passes between them, and then she dies and Cruise dies ... or so we think. All of a sudden, he wakes up with a jolt back to th...

Rating: ***1/2 The Other Woman was a cute comedy with heart. The set up goes like this: Carmen Diaz's character unwittingly falls in love with a married man and one night decides to surprise him at his home in Connecticut. To her shock and embarrassment her man doesn't open the front door, but (a-hem) his wife greets her. Realizing her boyfriend is married, Diaz's character leaves, but his wife Kate (played by Leslie Mann) is suspicious. She looks on her husband's phone bill and is able to track down Diaz's character, a high-powered lawyer, at work. After realizing it's true that her husband is having an extramarital affair, Kate hyperventilates and causes such a scene that Diaz's character attempts to rescue her. From there, the real mayhem gets under way as the newly bonded women discover more than one mistress. As a divorced woman who also had a relationship with a man who cheated, I felt Mann's pain. They did not gloss it over and make it cute ...

Rate: ****1/2 The Grand Budapest Hotel was genuinely quirky, but I would expect nothing less from Wes Anderson, whose other films deliver on his unique film and storytelling style. Told from the viewpoint of the concierge on the eve of World War I, the story unfolds from the viewpoint of the author who is told the story by the hotel's current owner Zero Moustafa who recounts how he came under the tutorship of the concierge, who is played impeccably by Ralph Fiennes.  It's a complex story and woven together through the narrative provided by Moustafa to the author who is also narrating, too. I know it sounds confusing, but it's not. The basis of the story is how the concierge comes to own the hotel and how through his brotherhood and mentoring with Moustafa he comes to own the hotel. The film highlights a bygone era when the concierge and "service" meant something -- and good manners. Loaded with scandal and intrigue, the film is compelling and utterly strang...

Rating: ** This movie got great reviews by both viewers and critics, but in my review I would give it a mediocre thumbs down. The primary problem with American Hustle is it's a story loaded with unlikeable characters. You couldn't root for any of them -- not the conman or women or the FBI agent. It's always okay to have villains or bad people, but someone in a film needs to have some redeeming traits to make you root for someone ... anyone. The story is about a con-couple whose crimes get them roped into Abs-cam to get them off the hook. They are forced to con politicians in an elaborate scheme that eventually involves the mafia. The central couple's love for each other is muddied in the casting. The comb-over head conman is unattractive, and the girlfriend is very pretty. It becomes unimaginable why this beautiful woman would get involved with a married, unattractive guy with a kid. Maybe that mirrors real life in some respects, but really if he had been likable...

Rating: ***1/2 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is about one simple theme: don't day dream about living life, live life. The movie is about a "negative review" guy named Walter Mitty who works in the photo archives of Life . The magazine is about to close and go strictly online, and Walter is charged with the keepsake of the final cover image. Walter, who has forged a bond with the photographer, is upended when he realizes that negative 25 has gone AWOL. With the threat of losing his job, Walter finally comes to that all-important fork in the road: are you going to do it or day dream about doing it? Realizing that he hasn't truly lived his life and wanting to impress his love interest, Walter embarks on an adventure across the globe to retrieve the photo. Since I never give away spoilers, all I will say is the movie takes a few interesting and unexpected twists. I saw the movie on Christmas Eve, and it was inspiring and a nice way to invite the new year. Walter...

Rating: ***** I'm not a huge fan of animated film, but I take my nine-year-old daughter to the ones I think I can actually sit through and not get too bored. Frozen was one such film. My daughter begged for weeks in advance of its release, so I obliged. The misleading perception is that it's a film about a talking snowman named Olaf, but it's really about two princesses and their relationship. A friend of mine scoffed, "The snowman looked stupid so I didn't want to see it," and while the snowman is a part of the film he doesn't even show up until about halfway through it. The film opens with the two sisters playing together and enjoying the older girl's magic powers to create snow and ice through her hands. Upon an unfortunate accident that nearly kills her little sister, the older girl is moved into isolation (her powers are predicted to grow) to protect the other sister. This results in the older sister "colding" herself off from the...

Rating: **** Another adult film released amidst the usual holiday popcorn flicks worth seeing. I'm just not a fan of the mega popcorn flicks unless they're just so great like Avatar you can't miss it. So with that thought I passed on Hunger Games and went for 12 Years a Slave . This film is like the 20th century version of Roots . It does nothing to glamorize slavery and takes a realistic perspective on the brutal reality of being a "free" man who loses his freedom when he's kidnapped and taken south to New Orleans and forced into slavery. As an educated man, he is self-aware and knows the difference between enslaved and being free. The film realistically walks the viewer through the emotional and physical breakdown of the man forced into degradation. The film is not uplifting. It's brutal and sad. Even at the end, you're not feeling inspired to do much more than hope slavery is ended forever everywhere in the world. The movie addresses the human...

Rating: **1/2 Bad Grandpa is one of those juvenile delinquent comedies you can't help but laugh, but mostly about the expressions and reactions of those around the offending characters. Please note, I am no Polyana and I knew going into the theater exactly what the movie would most likely involve -- a lot of base potty humor. I was naturally right, but my teenage son wanted to see it, so I obliged. Do you know the type of movies where you laugh, and in the back of your mind you're thinking, "I shouldn't be laughing." Yes, Bad Grandpa qualified for this category of movie. I have to admit, though, I like a belly-ache laugh every now and again, and whether my higher sensibility was chastising me or not, I still laughed. For the record, though, I never enjoy watching children turned into little foul-mouthed versions of adults, and Billy, the little boy, became the subject of some jokes I didn't enjoy. The big one was the beer-drinking scene where he chokes...

Rating: ***** Just to show the movie studios a little something important -- grown-up movies done right still rule the box office. Two very grown-up films Captain Phillips and Gravity dominated the box office ticket sales in a refreshing change since a summer onslaught of terrible movies. After seeing Captain Phillips , I actually noted how refreshing it was that we weren't be subjected to films targeted toward 12-year-old boys and pre-teens. This gritty, realistic and action-packed movie is filmed in that handheld camera style that has become popular that gives it a sense of frenetic realism. Now I am not a fan of this style and find it hard to follow and a little annoying, but I soon got over it. The film has a documentary-style to it and creates such a normal everyday feel about it. Any stars in the film are hidden behind their average, everyday appearances. Hanks' Capt. Phillips comes across as a normal family man who runs his ship with a stern, polite manner. Then ...

Gravity Rating: ***** This film is the best of the season -- and one of the first films I've seen in months that I gave a perfect rating. Starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney (yes, only two actors), Bullock's Dr. Ryan Stone's character carries most of the film. On one hand, the film is a typical struggle-to-survive tale, and on the other hand it's a spiritual metaphor about the will to live and take action in your life. The story opens with our astronauts out on a routine space walk and mission. Light banter ensues and a notation that Dr. Stone isn't feeling well up in weightless space. The story quickly moves to a life-or-death challenge as space debris from a destroyed satellite unexpectedly hurls at destructive speeds toward the shuttle and its passengers. The plot point is how are Clooney's character and Dr. Stone going to survive after their ship is destroyed? (And I'll leave it at that as to not spoil the fun.) What is captivating is how...

Rating: ***1/2 Avid readers of my blog know I have a "thing" for Alexander Skarsgard of True Blood fame. So, pretty much any movie he stars in catches my attention. So I did a little research and looked up when What Maisie Knew was coming out (it passed right through the movie theaters). It got great reviews, so I figured putting down the $13 for the DVD would make a great evening of movie-watching. Down my money went and the DVD was popped into my trusty player. I already knew the storyline might be depressing, so I wasn't revved-up for some humorous foray into laughter land. Yes, readers this movie was a downer, but a really good downer (does that count?). Our small child Maisie is trapped in the tug-of-war between her two extremely damaged parents. The movie is told from her point-of-view, which gives the sadness a greater palpability. The squabbling adults don't seem to notice this child or regard her like any normal parent should. But the "moment...

Rating: **1/2 Set in 2154, the movie Elysium is another future doom's day movie where the Earth is over-populated, trashed, and in ruins. Only the very rich get to live in luxury on a space station aka a "habitat" called Elysium. The movie takes an extreme look at a world full of have-nots whose populace gazes upon another world full of the "haves" who have abandoned them. Not only does Elysium offer its "citizens" nothing but the very best, but also they have the best medical technology that saves lives -- and here is where the plot falls apart for me. It made zero sense that Elysium politicians would not share this revolutionary technology with the rest of the planet below. But it then again, without this plot device the movie would simply become, "I want to live there not here." And who wouldn't want to live in paradise compared to what Earth has become. I kept wondering, where did they find such great sets? The squalor was well d...

After the awards season, I always love it when the nominated films start to be released. I know I will have have some wonderful movies to enjoy -- and one such movie is the mind-blowing, inspirational film titled The Impossible . I had so many people recommend this movie to me. I was sitting on an airplane, and a woman was watching it and said I should see it. Taking heed, I decided to pick up a copy this weekend. Of course, it turned out to be just an incredible film. On just a technical level alone, the CGI was truly impressive. They were able to recreate what it would really be like to be hit by a tsunami with such true-life accuracy, I started wondering how the heck they did it. But the technical aspect wasn't the impressive part -- it was the story itself. The movie is the true story of the Bennett family who were swept up in the tsunami that hit Thailand's coast and destroyed it. It's a tale of survival, human perseverance, and family love. The filmmakers take ...

Every now and then a great film comes out in the off season (meaning Hollywood saves the "popcorn" flicks for Christmas and summer), and Oblivion snuck right in. I'm not sure why Universal didn't save this one for the popcorn fun, but it sure is a great "summer" movie anyway. It's not what you think, and the trailer doesn't give away the slightest hint. At first you think maybe it's like the other great Tom Cruise film Vanilla Sky (loved that title), but I can assure you it's not. It's more twisted and bends your mind a little more, but not quite as deep as Vanilla Sky . Let me say, I love a great mind-bender -- and Oblivion didn't fail my expectations. Right when you think it's one thing, it's another thing altogether -- and you don't connect the dots. I had no idea what was the twist, and it had several great twists. The movie is set 60 years after an attempted alien invasion that involved the aliens destroying ou...