Obvious Child

— The audience for “Obvious Child” was 95% female, but I knew I wasn’t in for a “chick flick”. These were mostly middle-aged and older women who had grown up on “Our Bodies, Ourselves“ and “The Feminine Mystique”. I was decidedly uncomfortable for the first minutes of humor about bodily functions, having assumed young boys had the corner on jokes about flatulence and underwear stains. For that matter, I’m not used to vagina jokes either, but eventually I was smiling too, even if I was groaning at the same time. Jenny Slate does a great job as a stand-up comic dispensing “real world” humor, and when her boyfriend dumps her, she loses her job, and she finds out she’s pregnant, we laugh uneasily at every awkward moment and comment. Even her decision to terminate the pregnancy walks a line between poignancy and shtick. There’s something very honest about the film and it’s the first film I’ve seen to depict abortion as an option that may not leave psychological scars for life. Half of the film fits in the romantic comedy tradition, but the other half—the part that seems to me to go a little too far past the line of good taste—sets it apart and probably makes it worth seeing.

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[2014. 84 min. Directed by Gillian Robespierre. Starring Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, and Gaby Hoffmann.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/obvious-child-2014

3 Days To Kill

— “3 Days to Kill” (DVD) was vaguely worthwhile, but it seemed to work a little too hard at keeping a broad audience, sprinkling an action thriller plot with too many tender moments as a dying CIA agent tries to reunite with his wife and daughter. Luckily, Kevin Costner can still pull off moments requiring vulnerability, wit, machismo, seduction, or humor, but there’s just not much for him work with. The director, McG (yes, that really is the name on the credits), has directed for television, but that has clearly not prepared him for the task of directing a feature film unless it’s destined to quickly be picked up by TNT or USA. Be glad you didn't pay to see this in theaters because it's really mediocre.

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[2014. 117 min. Directed by McG. Starring Kevin Costner, Hailee Steinfeld, and Connie Nielsen. Story by Luc Bresson. Screenplay written by Adi Hasak and Luc Bresson.]
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jun/22/3-days-to-kill-review-cinema-shallowest-auteur-surpasses-himself

Elizabeth I

— Yesterday I redeemed my stream-watching ways by choosing HBO’s “Elizabeth I”. Helen Mirren’s Elizabeth was amazing. It’s nice to have missed seeing something so well done when it came out 8-9 years ago so I could have the pleasure of seeing it yesterday. If you missed it too and have an interest, it's one of the HBO titles now available to Amazon Prime subscribers.

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[2005. 223 min. Directed by Tom Hooper. Starring Helen Mirren, Hugh Dancy, and Toby Jones.]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/21/AR2006042102016.html

Playing for Keeps

— The problem with streaming is that it makes a large number of bad movies easily available. Yesterday I watched “Playing for Keeps” (Netflix). Worse, I watched it from start to finish. It really should have been a made-for-Lifetime movie and only having Gerard Butler as the star reminded me it was originally a theatrical release. Don’t bother watching this story of a retired and broke pro soccer reconnecting with his true love and becoming a superdad. This film is embarrassing on almost every level.

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[2012. 105 min. Directed by Gabriele Muccino. Starring Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, and Dennis Quaid.]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-2256928/Playing-For-Keeps-review-Rotten-soccer-romcom-deserves-red-card.html

Before Midnight,
Before Sunset, and
Before Sunrise

— In 1995 I missed seeing “Before Sunrise” so, when “Before Sunset” was released in 2004, I missed it too. When “Before Midnight” appeared in theaters last year, I struggled to try to get a copy of “Sunrise” and “Sunset” on DVD but failed. About a month ago, I finally watched “Sunrise”—Jesse and Celine (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) meet on a train and spend a night walking around Vienna. The film was mostly walking and talking, but the characters thoughts were fascinating as they revealed a lot about themselves, knowing they’d never see each other again after he flew back to the US the next morning. I was hooked and watched “Sunset” a few days later, where Jesse and Celine meet nine years later and spend an afternoon together in Paris. Again, it’s most walking and talking but I couldn’t stop watching. (This time, director Richard Linklater shared screenplay credit with Hawke and Delpy.) This morning I watched “Before Midnight”, and another nine years has passed. It’s the last day Jesse and Celine spend on “vacation” in Greece. Watching the same cast and director in three films over the course of twenty years is fascinating. There’s a lot of ad libbing and the conversations reflect the changes in the lives and ages, their successes and failures, and the spark that carries throughout. Each film has its own perspective and I really liked all three films.

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[Before Sunrise: 1995. 105 min. Directed by Richard Linklater. Starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Written by Richard Linklater & Kim Krizan.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/before-sunrise-1995
[Before Sunset: 2004. 109 min. Directed by Richard Linklater. Starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Written by Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, & Kim Krizan.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/before-sunset-2004
[Before Midnight: 2013. 109 min. Directed by Richard Linklater. Starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Written by Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, & Kim Krizan.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/before-midnight-2013

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jun/23/before-midnight-delpy-hawke-review

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

— I had gum surgery yesterday so I’m taking it easy with a liquid diet. During my sleepless night I watched “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” (DVD) with apprehension. A film based on characters from a best-selling series seemed likely to fail, but it didn’t. After a somewhat slow start it moved into international-espionage high gear. Chris Pine’s version of Jack Ryan worked well and Keira Knightley was more than up to the task as Ryan’s wife. Ably rounding out the cast are Kevin Costner, as Ryan’s mentor, and Kenneth Branagh, both acting and directing. The film was evidently less successful with younger viewers than hoped (it received AARP’s "Movies for Grown-ups" seal thanks to Branagh, 53, and Costner, 59, and over a third of the audience on opening weekend was over age 50 ). With $134M worldwide gross, the rebooted Ryan franchise may still have some life in it, even though earlier Jack Ryan films grossed $178M to $215M. The fact that there’s something both familiar and different about the film and its characters played well with me—I’d see the next installment if there is one. 

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[2014. 105 min. Directed by Kenneth Branagh. Starring Chris Pine, Kevin Costner, & Keira Knightley.]

http://entertainment.time.com/2014/01/15/jack-ryan-shadow-recruit-plain-and-clancy/

Edge of Tomorrow

— “Edge of Tomorrow” with its “Live, Die, Repeat” tagline seemed like it would fit right in with the rest of the summer blockbusters. It does, but it’s also a decent story with good acting (Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt) and good direction (Doug Liman) that’s a cut above many fast-paced films. It falls into the "sci-fi, time loop" genre and I liked it a lot—just the escape I wanted on a hot and humid summer day.

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[2014. 113 min. Directed by Doug Liman. Starring Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, & Bill Paxton.]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/edge-of-tomorrow-movie-review-tom-cruise-shows-that-hes-still-got-it/2014/06/05/b3ac5bd6-eb29-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a_story.html

Chef

— Friends suggested “Chef” as a movie worth seeing so I did see it. It’s hard not to like this feel-good film about a chef who gets a bad review, goes a little bonkers, learns a valuable social media lesson, and finds happiness in a food truck. Although the first half wasn’t quite as pleasant as the second half, the entire film was enjoyable with a perfect soundtrack and an extraordinarily capable, A-list cast (Jon Favreau, John Leguizamo, Bobby Cannavale, Scarlett Johansson, Dustin Hoffman, Sofia Vergara, Oliver Platt, Robert Downey Jr….). There’s not a lot of meat to this meal and it won’t challenge or offer much enlightenment, but you’ll still be smiling when it’s done.

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[2014. 113 min. Directed by Jon Favreau. Starring Javreau, John Leguizamo, Bobby Cannavale, Emjay Anthony, Scarlett Johansson, Dustin Hoffman, Sofia Vergara, & Oliver Platt.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/chef-2014