Three sentence movie reviews: Ghostbusters

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I was so busy taking a stand against internet trolls that the first couple of jokes flew by me before I remembered, “Oh yeah, this is a comedy.”*  And I started laughing and didn’t stop, except when I was being scared, or enjoying that happy, glowing feeling when I realized just how much I’m enjoying a movie.  This was a big winner for me, from the name of one of the characters, to the hilarity, to the fact that a major kick-ass action scene was performed by a female wearing overalls.**

Cost: $10.00
Where watched: Bagdad Theater with Matt, and also AM and BM, who Matt happened to run into.)

*”Anti-Irish fencing” was the phrase where my brain woke up.
**I’ve listened with open ears to the critical responses (Filmspotting was particularly savage in it’s analysis in a way I don’t usually hear on that podcast) and I have to say, that I hear what you are saying, but I just don’t care.  This movie and I are friends forever.  I loved it.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2016/ghostbusters_ver2.html

Three sentence movie reviews: A Promise

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Slow-burn love story set before/during/after World War I. It’s an old fashioned kind of a love story, full of longing and denial and long separation.  I can’t say it lit me on fire, but it meanders along just fine and the acting was good, so take what you will from that.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/intl/misc/2014/promise.html

Three sentence movie reviews: 5 to 7

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That there quote on the movie poster is spot-on as this is a very classy film about falling in love.  I found the entire thing enchanting in the best movie way possible: where New York City is romantic, the people are pretty, the relationships complex and the ending well-earned.*  It’s always wonderful** when I find a perfect movie I’d never heard of.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.  Matt was playing a game and half-watching it and he really liked it too.

*Also, some amazing lines.  Here’s just one:  In New York, you’re never more than 20 feet away from someone you know, or someone you’re meant to know.
**It’s wonderful and disconcerting.  How many perfect movies I’ve never heard of are sitting there patiently, waiting for me to find them?  What if I never do?

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2014/five_to_seven.html

I will promise you this:  your favorite story, whatever it may be, was written for one reader.

Three sentence movie reviews: The Nice Guys

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Thank goodness Mr. Gosling has ended his acting hiatus, and thankfully he has starred in something that doesn’t require him to be silent and sad-eyed all the time.*  He and Mr. Crowe make a funny comedy team in this story that is mostly about the two of them being a funny comedy team and not so much about the big-three automakers colluding.**  The 70s details were nice also.

Cost: $4.00
Where watched:  Laurelhurst Theater, with Matt and a bunch of theater goers who were rather chatty.  Not off-topic chatty, but they reacted to what was going on in the movie very verbally.

*Though I did enjoy the Place Beyond the Pines.
**I felt that the whole plot motivation was shoehorned in at the last minute.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2016/nice_guys.html

Three sentence movie reviews: Keanu

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This suffered from comedy-sketch-gone-on-too-long syndrome, but was entertaining enough.  And the kitten was so cute!  Plus, you get to have George Michael songs stuck in your head for a goodly amount of time afterward.

Cost: $4.00
Where watched: Academy Theater with S. North.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2016/keanu_ver6.html

Three sentence movie reviews: Money Monster

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This was great!  Tense in all the right places with enough humor and outrage at needed intervals to release the pressure.  Clooney and Roberts were their usual solid selves, and I found myself wondering just what that Jack O’Connell had been up to prior to this.*

Cost: $4.00
Where watched: Laurelhurst Theater

*It turns out that he was in ’71 and Starred Up, both of which were reviewed on Flimspotting and O’Connell’s performance was enthusiastically recommended (possibly to a gushing level).

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2016/money_monster.html

Three sentence movie reviews: Girls Season 4

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Man, oh man do I love this show, despite not wanting to spend any moment in real life with any of these characters.*  I felt that this season was more logical in its character progressions and I particularly enjoyed the introduction of Mimi-Rose Howard into the Girls stew.  There were some awesome lines that I neglected to write down and some incredibly good scenes.**

Cost:  Free from library (after a long wait because I missed the appearance in the catalog by a week or so.)
Where watched:  at home. One episode per night at first and then probably the last four in one sitting.

*Even Shosh, my favorite and the most normal in her quasi-spectrum way, would massively annoy me after about 30 minutes.
**Just three: Ray telling off Dezi; someone trying to explain to Hannah about boundaries; the Mimi-Rose/Adam/Ace/Jess awkward dinner

poster from: http://www.target.com

Three sentence movie reviews: Grandma

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An excellent episodic film with solid performances by all.  I enjoyed Lily Tomlin’s Grandma to be something more complex than a kindly older lady.*  There was great reflection of life choices by women (and a few men) of all ages, which was interesting.

Cost: $2.75 from Videorama
Where watched: at home

*For most of the movie, she was the opposite of kindly.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2015/grandma.html

Three sentence movie reviews: Charlie Bartlett

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This was first in my post-mortem Yelchin catch-up viewing and I’m surprised I hadn’t ever gotten around to watching it given that I was a fan of Downey Jr, Davis and Dennings when the movie debuted.  I found that though the actors went all-in with their acting stuff, this movie did not really hang together.  For this I blame the script, which was random and sometimes dumb.

Cost: $2.00 from Videorama
Where watched:  At home.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2008/charlie_bartlett_ver3.html

Three sentence movie reviews: Central Intelligence

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Being a fan of both of the gentlemen on the poster, I was also a fan of this movie which I found amusing, even though some of the plot made no sense whatsoever.  I was quite surprised at the Rock’s portrayal of Bob Stone as a nerd in recovery, still shell-shocked from his high school experience.* There were some very good lines in this film.

Cost: $5.00
Where watched:  McMenamins St. John’s Pub with one other person who didn’t ever laugh, making me the crazy lady laughing alone in the room for a second day in a row.

*Like, he was acting.  Which I hadn’t realized he could do.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2016/central_intelligence.html