Category: Three Sentence Movie Reviews

Cedar Rapids is a Gentle, Funny Movie

The review:

It’s a gentle comedy, Cedar Rapids is, and Miguel Arteta does his best to make an amusing and sweet movie.* Ed Helms perfectly embodies the somewhat emotionally stunted, completely tight-laced, Midwestern,** small-town insurance agent suddenly tapped to travel to Cedar Rapids for the big insurance conference. John C. Reilly, Anne Heche and Isiah Whitlock Jr.*** make great mentors, and the rest of the cast is stuffed with a laundry list of, “Hey, it was that guy**** who was in that thing.”

The verdict: Good

Cost: free from the Multnomah County Library
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*It’s a Sunday Afternoon Movie—one that provides you with one last gasp of trouble-free weekend before the windup to the work week begins.
**In bearing, he very much reminded me of a co-worker.
***Who charmed me by describing himself as being married to his insurance business, but also that he takes part in community theater and enjoys the HBO program, The Wire.
****There are nearly no women in this movie.

Questions:

  • What’s your favorite gentle comedy that has more than one woman in it?
  • Which character had the best lines?
  • Of the “guys who were in that thing,” which is your favorite character actor?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Isiah Whitlock Jr.’s character Ronald Wilkes references the character Omar from the TV show The Wire. He played the character State Sen. R. Clayton ‘Clay’ Davis on the TV series. According to Whitlock, the Wire references were in the script before he was cast, and they decided to keep them in place as an in-joke for fans of both Whitlock and his former show.

On the Waterfront is a Classic for a Reason

The review:

Sixty-five years later, Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront remains a potent tale of doing the right thing. All the cast members, but Marlon Brando in particular,* excel at showing the choices that are made when there aren’t many good choices to be had. Aside from Brando being Brando (back when that was a good thing) Karl Malden is excellent as a priest determined to make a difference, and Eva Marie Saint was incredible—especially given the era-specific limitations of her role.**

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: free from MCL
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Most of my exposure to Brando has been after 1980, which is far from peak Brando, so you can image how different he seemed to me in this film. One interesting observation: how he presents as very uber-male, but at times, his movement and expressions also present to my 21st century viewing eyes as effeminate (or, to use the 80s term: faggy). I think it’s because of the placidity of his face, and the amount of emotion that rolls off of him. Actors today playing straight male roles are less fluid in both their body movements–probably because they carry a lot more muscle–and their facial expressions.
**I think of her in comparison to Grace Kelly in High Noon. Saint is a bubbling factory of emotion, while Kelly is wooden.

Questions:

  • Was it method acting by Brando and Saint that made this movie so good, or were they just amazing actors in general?
  • Who do you think had the toughest choice in this film?
  • Aside from Malden, Brando, and Saint, who was your favorite actor in this film?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Sam Spiegel forgot to pay for rear-projection equipment, hence the reason why the cab where Marlon Brando and Rod Steiger play out the film’s most famous scene has blinds.

American Beauty Hasn’t Aged Well

The review:

Despite excellent performances, Sam Mendes’ American Beauty has not aged well, thanks to a social movement that calls out how women have to live in the world* and its lead actor’s real life.** On the one hand, we’ve got someone who has a goal, knows why the goal exists, and is working toward a life that is good; on the other hand we have someone who is floating along unhappy and only inappropriate desire can rouse him from the slumber.*** The film was also quite slow; the line readings had me wanting to snap my fingers telling them to speed it up!

The verdict: Skip

Cost: free via Multnomah County Library
Where watched: at home

Consider watching instead:

Further sentences:

*#MeToo
**There’s a scene where Kevin Spacey threatens a sexual harassment suit against his male boss. Lo, nearly 20 years later Kevin Spacey would be the person being accused.
***Dude, you don’t like your life? Fine, change it. You think your wife is a phony? Examine why you are still with her and perhaps talk to her about it. You hate your marriage? Get a divorce or fix it. You feel sad that your daughter is so distant? Maybe ask her some questions. You want to sleep with your underage daughter’s best friend? You can’t. It’s illegal.****
****For the love of god, don’t blame everything on your wife. Have some agency. This movie was very much a last gasp (I hope) of the baby boomer mid-life crisis movie—right down to the cliched music.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

According to his Oscar speech, screenwriter Alan Ball was sitting at the World Trade Center Plaza when he saw a paper bag floating in the wind and was inspired by it to write the film, which was originally conceived as a stage play.

Questions:

  • Do you have a movie that you once loved, but hasn’t aged well?
  • What’s your favorite Annette Bening performance?
  • The teenagers in this film. Discuss.

Judy is a Great Movie About a Sad Time

The review:

Rupert Goold directs Judy, a tenderly sad movie—because what other kind of Judy Garland movie can there be?—with a masterful performance by Renee Zellweger. This movie got me thinking about what we expect of our performers—is it not enough to have the amazing singing voice?*—and how hard it is to reconcile those expectations with real life. This is also a film that captures the 60’s quite nicely, and not with the usual cliches.

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: $6.00
Where watched: Laurelhurst Theater

Consider also watching:

A star is Born (’18)
A star is Born (’54)
The Runaways
Love and Mercy

Further sentences:

*The answer was no when Judy Garland was a girl, and is still no today.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Renée Zellweger was born the same year that Judy Garland died: 1969.

Questions:

  • What’s your favorite Judy Garland performance?
  • What’s your favorite Renee Zellwiger performance?
  • What does a performer owe the audience, aside from the performance?

Top Movies: September 2019 (I went easy on a few movies this month)

(8 total movies watched)

Yesterday

The 2019 baby boomer nostalgia movie that’s actually good!

Annihilation

Five women attempt to figure out what the Shimmer is all about.

Hot Summer Nights

Not so much Good as it is “good” if you have a specific itch.

Hustlers

A story of friendship and family

Now and Then

Again, more of a “good” than a Good.

Downton Abbey

Assuming you know who all the people are, this is GREAT!

For Insiders, the Downton Abbey Movie is a Gem

The review:

Michael Engler creates an excellent two-hour episode* of Downton Abbey which will be enjoyable to all who have watched the show and which also will probably incomprehensible to newcomers.** While I wasn’t particularly pining for the Downton gang, the movie reminded me how much I loved the characters, and the movie—unlike, at times, the series—had a tight, comprehensive plot that touched on nearly all of the characters.*** Overall, a great movie, assuming you have done your background research.

The verdict: Recommended

(assuming you are already a fan)

Cost: $11.35
Where watched: Regal Tigard Stadium 12 (where they waste time making you pick your seat)

Consider also watching:

  • Downton Abbey Season 1
  • Downton Abbey Season 2
  • After that, the plot gets very soap opera-y
  • If you like the characters, the rest of the series is worth watching

Further sentences:

*It’s not really a movie, just a longer version of the show.
**Who are all these people? If you haven’t watched the show, this movie isn’t going to enlighten you.
***Bates wandered in an out and otherwise wasn’t present, but nearly everyone else was around.

Trivia:

The mansion that King George V and Queen Mary visit after Downton Abbey, where the ball is held at the end of the film, is Harewood House. Although the name of the village is pronounced as it is spelled (Hare-wood), the House and the title Lord Harewood are perversely pronounced Har-wood, as was correctly done throughout the film.

Here’s a bonus picture because I just love it so much

Now and Then Would Have Been Better Off Sticking with Then

The review:

In 1995, Lesli Linka Glatter directed Now and Then, a coming of age movie with a lot of young actresses who then were girls but now are grown up and still fun to watch.* The plot is a little thin, and would have been better without the grown-up story, but it was a fine palate cleanser on a Friday night. Plus, it’s a good 1995 time capsule.**

The verdict: Good

(Again, we’re not talking fine wine. We’re talking house red. Or possibly Two Buck Chuck.)

Cost: Netflix monthly subscription ($8.99)
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching/watching instead:

Further sentences:

*Gaby Hoffman is always a treat.
**And possibly a good 1970 time capsule, though that was before my time.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The movie (a.k.a. The Gaslight Addition) was actually written about a town in Indiana named Winchester, and its gaslight addition. The author of the story I. Marlene King grew up there, as did the director Robert Wise, in vastly different years. Winchester declined to have their name associated with the movie, so the name became Shelby, but later Winchester began to preserve areas mentioned in the movie.

Hostiles Does Go On

The review:

Scott Cooper’s Hostiles is full of good acting and is so very long it seemed as if a presidential administration had passed by the time I got to the last frame of the movie.* This was an interesting study of a quasi-kumbaya journey wherein an Army Captain comes to a deeper understanding of the treatment of American Indians and his part in it. I’m all for re-examining the many effects Westward Expansion/genocide had on the people who were already here, but I found this story to be mostly unbelievable.**

The verdict: Skip

Cost: Netflix subscription ($8.99/month)
Where watched: at home

Consider watching instead:

Further sentences:

*Good acting is good and all, but when the story is dragging its feet, good acting isn’t enough.
**Plus, it’s another Native American story told via the white people’s experience. Plus the body count was very high, and guess who made it to the final frame and guess who ended up dead? Plus, I didn’t believe the final arrangement of people. Not gonna work. Pretending so overlooks a lot of history.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The book Captain Blocker (Christian Bale) is reading at the beginning of the movie is Julius Caesar’s Commentarii De Bello Gallico (The Gallic War) in the original Latin. The page shown is from Book V, describing the social and economic structure of first century B.C. ancient Kent. In 55 B.C., Caesar invaded briefly the south of the England.
(Thanks, IMDB commenter who can read Latin)

Hustlers is Worth Your Dollar Bills

The review:

Lorene Scafaria has made my favorite kind of movie with Hustlers: that which seems to be about one thing, but which is, in fact, about another.* While you could get distracted (as those guys at the strip club did) by all that flesh, in Scafaria’s deft hands this is not a movie about women who remove their clothes for economic gain, it’s about women who game a system that puts them at the bottom of the billions that are made by exploiting women’s bodies. Excellent performances all around** and there’s a lot of heart in this film.

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: $6.70
Where watched: Studio One Theaters

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*I think it helps that it was a woman who wrote this story. Despite the various stages of undress, this was a film absent of the male gaze.
**Jennifer Lopez is such a commanding presence. The range of emotions on Constance Wu’s face was amazing. It’s great to see Mercedes Ruehl and I’m always happy when Julia Stiles is on screen.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Jennifer Lopez trained for pole dancing in preparation for the movie. She even had a detachable pole in her house.

Hot Summer Nights Gave Me What I Was Looking For

This is not a good likeness of Timothée Chalamet

The review:

Elijah Bynum gave me what I wanted with Hot Summer Nights* and also included a bonus side of 1991-era Cape Cod summer.** This is supposedly about a normal teenager who becomes a drug dealer, but really, it’s about showing how much money he and Hunter Strawberry (that was the local drug dealer’s name!) made selling drugs,*** falling in love with a girl, and making some not-great (though age-appropriate) choices. The part where I was supposed to be getting amped up came across as boring, and it’s one of those movies that I spent the next day thinking about all the things that didn’t really make sense,**** but it hooked me up with what I needed on a Friday night and thus was just fine.

The verdict: Good

(barely)

Cost: free via Kanopy, Multnomah County Library’s streaming service
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching/watching instead:

Further sentences:

*I had a hankering for a Timothée Chalamet performance, and Call Me By Your Name wasn’t handy
**Plus, I’m betting they didn’t have much money for the soundtrack so it features lesser known (a.k.a. not cliched) music of the time.
***There is not one scene of Mr. Chalamet actually dealing the large amount of drugs they were supposedly dealing
****The narrator is just the omniscient town observer, for instance. Was that just lazy writing? What about main character motivation? Why was Chalamet’s character wanting to continue to expand the business? The questions went on and on.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Part of the movie takes place around The Perfect Storm of 1991. William Fichtner (Shep), also appeared in The Perfect Storm (2000), a movie based on the true story of the Andrea Gail, a commercial fishing boat that was lost at sea during the storm.

I see you, typo. But I’m not going to fix you. Never trust the grammar on the IMDB quotes page.