Still Mine

— “Still Mine” (DVD) is a good look at an aging couple dealing with the complexities of Alzheimer’s and concerned children, in a world with increasingly inflexible local regulations and codes. The husband is stubborn and stoic, remarkably capable, and hiding a strong heart. There’s something celebratory about the film in spite of the fairly realistic look at the interactions between young and old, and between tradition and progress. This is a good film and, although it probably only appeals to a small audience, it appealed to me. James Cromwell and Genevieve Bujold are both incredible.

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[2012. 102 min. Directed by Michael McGowan. Starring James Cromwell and Genevieve Bujold.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/19/movies/in-still-mine-a-couple-in-their-80s-resist-aging.html?_r=0

Snowpiercer

— “Snowpiercer” is a solid sci-fi film in a summer of superhero and robot films. Chemical efforts to cool the globally warmed earth have turned it into a global wasteland and everyone who’s survived is on a train that constantly circles the earth. A class system exists with luxury cars where everyone’s pampered at the front of the train while the riffraff in the rear cars live in squalor. We join the train 18 years into the trip, and another coup attempt is about to take place. This is a ride worth taking, with action and quirkiness and social conscience. Chris Evans proves he can be more than Captain America and Tilda Swinton is perfectly cast. It’s Joon-ho Bong’s first English feature but if you saw either “Mother” or “The Host”, you know he’s more than competent. If you like science fiction films, see it.

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[2013. 126 min. Directed by Joon-ho Bong. Starring Chris Evans, Kang-ho Song, Ed Harris, John Hurt, Tilda Swinton, and Jamie Bell.]
http://www.indiewire.com/article/review-was-snowpiercer-worth-the-battle-for-the-directors-cut

Jersey Boys

— The music carries the film version of “Jersey Boys”, as you would expect, and thanks to the Four Seasons’ hits, it’s an enjoyable film…but it could have been better. The stage play tells the story from each person’s point of view, providing a collage of truths, and the film does the same thing, with characters talking directly to the audience, but with inconsistent success. The story focuses on the squeaky clean public persona juxtaposed with the real, behind-the-scenes truth. Throughout the film, you get the feeling you’re watching from afar and are too much an outside observer. When songs are performed, we sometimes see them from the perspective of a television camera alternately viewing the studio audience and the performers—the impact a live, stage version would have had loses its intimacy and is reduced to a flat and distant rendition. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the film’s music and was tapping my toes and mentally singing along with every song, but this film isn’t among Clint Eastwood’s best efforts. If you go, stay for the credits since they play over the final number which seems to come much more to life than any of the previous songs.

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[2014. 134 min. Directed by Clint Eastwood. Starring John Lloyd Young, Vincent Piazza, Eric Bergen, Michael Lomenda, Mike Doyle, and Christopher Walken.]
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/jersey-boys-20140619

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