Tag: three sentence movies

I was hopeful that Catherine Hardwicke’s direction would make this a better movie than it seemed like it would be.  And then I was hopeful that Oscar Issac would do his usual thing and be amazing.  Both hopes were crushed and I spent the movie contemplating if it was so boring because I’m so familiar with the story.

Cost: free due to give subscription
Where watched: at home, while removing the unlikable yellow and putting on the very likable spring green.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2006/nativity_story.html

I’ve been watching enough women directors that I can differentiate their styles and Hardwicke is the rock star director*  So it’s good that she directed this tale of a rock star who has lost her way and is working her way back.  It was creepy and disturbing in a way that I did not at all enjoy,** but think it was well done overall.

Cost: free due to gift subscription
Where watched: at home

*I think she herself doesn’t have a tremendously rock star persona, but man, her films are balls-to-the-wall in that excessive way of the rock era with the huge caravans with the masseuses and the scores of backup singers and gaggles of groupies, not to mention picking out all the brown M&Ms and drinking Jack for breakfast.
**Physiological thrillers are not my deal.  It didn’t help that the DVD synopsis was so vague I had no idea it was a psychological thriller.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2013/plush.html

Thanks to the Next Picture Show Podcast, I finally took in this movie.  And I loved it, from the incredibly awesome hotel hallway to the performances, especially by John Goodman.  I can already tell that there are going to be scenes from this film stuck in my head for decades.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home while painting my toenails a color of yellow that I was not at all happy with and set outside with the also previously disliked Scandalous.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1991/barton_fink_ver2.html

This third viewing in the theater came about because Matt hadn’t watched this yet.  Which meant I got to enjoy it all over again.  And Matt got to enjoy it for the first time.

Cost: $4.00
Where watched: Laurelhurst, with the aforementioned Matt.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/intl/misc/2015/brooklyn_ver4.html

Very good performances all around, especially by Sophie Okonedo as May Boatwright.  It may have been that I was tired, but I found this movie to be a little slow. But it’s not often you get such a good cast, so it wasn’t the worst thing.

Cost: free (work-sponsored Netfix subscription)
Where watched: at home.

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

This was a second viewing for me, so I was able to breathe through the first half, unlike my initial viewing.  Regular air intake left me more room to be in awe of how well Larson and Tremblay are together, each actor strengthening the other.  This is a great movie that also manages to be frustrating because so many people will read the synopsis and decide it is not for them.*

Cost:  $3.00
Where watched: Laurelhurst with S. North.

*It is.  It’s one of the most beautiful films about being a mother that I’ve ever seen.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/intl/ireland/2015/room_ver3.html

The two male leads were both incredibly wooden in their performances, and neither one of them was good looking enough to draw attention away from their lackluster skills.  The story itself was interesting, so that was good.  And it was quite pretty to look at, what with the random spikes growing out of everything.

Cost: free due to work paying for Netflix
Where watched: at home with Matt.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2011/red_riding_hood.html

I was bracing myself for violence as depicted in Twelve Years a Slave, and was relieved that this movie’s violence was not on that level.  But the violence shown was horrible.*  Very good performances by all and completely worth watching.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.

*I kept thinking how the police officers on the bridge who attacked the marchers had to go home and eat their dinner.  And what did they have to say about their day?  And what do their now-grown children say about their father’s actions during the Civil Rights Movement.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/intl/uk/2014/selma.html
(A comment on the poster noted that on the four-color poster, Dr. King’s neck had been slimmed down.  I looked and it was true.  See for yourself. Another comment supposed that this had to do with this being the British version of the poster, and Brits being more familiar with actor David Oyelowo than Martin Luther King.  To that I say, “hmmmm.”)

I’ve seen this before,* and remembered loving it; and I’m happy to report that despite the passage of 16 years, this movie is still as fresh and as enjoyable as it was at the turn of the millennium. Partially this is due to Gina Prince-Bythewood’s ability to write and film a love story, and partially because Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps go above and beyond their acting duties and infuse their characters with so many levels of humanity, you can’t help falling in love with them yourself.** Overall, I think it’s a travesty that Prince-Bythewood isn’t directing a feature film every couple of years or so.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.

*In 2000, when I was in Lincoln, NE for a wedding and borrowed a bike so I could ride to the theater.
**I do have some problems with the “forth quarter” of the movie, but those quibbles are not for the three sentence movie review.

If you are in the mood for a longer review, I think Roger Ebert makes some good points about the kind of “sports film” this is.  Reading it, I’m reminded of how I miss his reviews.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2000/love_and_basketball_ver2.html