A Different Set of Stories

Really it was Movie Weekend. We watched Three.

The Sum of All Fears. In which we affirm that Ben Affleck cannot act. However, the movie did have Morgan Freeman. James Cromwell played the President. I like Cromwell, but he is NOT a convincing President. On a scale of 1 to "Hunt for Red October," This movie is a zero. I would not have made it to the end if it where not for Morgan Freeman.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. Really? Just plug this device into an electrical outlet on the same wall as the office we can't break into and we will steal information off a super locked-down computer. Really? That would be the quality of this movie from opening credits to closing credits. Made it all the way through only because I starting playing games on my laptop and reading reddit. This one is also a zero on the Red October scale.

Two movies that just screamed "Fuck You" to audiences everywhere.

And then there was an independent titled "If I Were You." We debated what to give this on our normal 1-5 scale. Not quite a four because it was a touch slow in a couple of places. And I am not fond of adolescent relationship drama played out by middle-aged people. But there are plenty of twists and turns, dark humor and fine performances. I was really entertained by this offering. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who is not longer stuck in childhood morality.

Blow Dry.

This went on our list for exactly one reason: Alan Rickman. We were not expecting much, though, as the synopsis strongly suggested that we would find this movie to much like a brainless, adolescent romp. How could Alan even be in anything that looked this bad.

Turned out to be very, very good. Funny, prancing premise that gives us a framework on which the actors hang wonderful performances of love, hate, betrayal and forgiveness.

Without Alan, I would have given this movie a 3 out of 5. With Alan, it gets a 4.

Saving Mr. Banks

Emma Thompson. Tom Hanks. That alone makes it worth watching. The story is somewhat true as it is based on a true story and underpinned by hours of recorded conversations. Obviously, it has a predictable outcome. But it is really fun watching havoc caused by PL Travers. Disney was portrayed, for the most part, as kindly fellow who had the best interests of his customers in mind. In reality, he was one of those geniuses that it is difficult to work for. That bit of whitewash took some of the grittiness out of the story.

On the strength of the acting, the movie gets a three.

Inside Llewyn Davis.

I adore the Joel and Ethan Coen films. But this one, though certainly one of theirs in tone and tempo, was not their best effort. I want to feel there is some possibility that the main character has some shot of redemption even though I know it will never, ever happen. I felt none of it. More than that, I really didn't want to see this guy win.

The era was perfect. He is a mediocre folk singer when the Beats where gone and before the rise of protest music. The early sixties where not kind to folk singers. Failing after a serious struggle for success would be more interesting that a guy who seems to think that something magical should happen to him just because he's a folk singer.

In the entire movie, there was only one character who didn't seem like a total shit. The owner of a club in Chicago talked straight. Everyone else was either an ignorant git, a manipulative asshole, or a righteous twit. I can only take so much of that.

I watched it through which means a 2 at minimum. It jets a bump for being a Coen movie. So, reluctantly, it gets a three.

Would have been a lot better if any of the music was decent. It wasn't.

First up was Europa Report. I have read the synopsis on that movie ever week for several weeks. Netflix's lowish rating and the "B" movie plot line put me off over and over and over. Then a righteous ass on reddit suggested it was decent, underrated SF. Watched it. The space science was on par with 2001: A Space Odyssey which this movie gave a tip of the hat to. Just before they played Zarathustra, I told Stacey they were going to find the obelisk. The special effects were pretty damn good. The acting was good. It was good. Right up to the end. A solid 3.

Last night we watched Enough Said. This movie did pretty good with reviews everywhere. The lead makes here living as an out-call masseuse. She has the right table. She has the right moves. Completely believable. That was fabulous attention to detail! We thoroughly enjoyed this movie and as it neared the end, I was sure I was going to give it a 4 out of 5. A great love story with people in their 40s. Then it came to an end, then it started up again and came to a second end. And lost a point. Doesn't anyone in the movies every have to suffer the consequences of their actions? If you want a great movie, turn it off when the daughters leave for college. If you want a good movie, watch it to the end. Your choice.

I like Jodie Foster. I like Matt Damon. And they both seemed to do about as well as could be expected with the material at hand. This movie was HORRIBLE. Really, really bad. Gut wrenching bad. And embarrassment.

( spoilers )

This isn't worst SF movie I've seen, but it is close. I did watch it to the end (I don't really know why), so by the rules of my scoring system, it gets a 2 out of 5. I really should have been a 1. I guess I like Matt Damon well enough to endure the rest of the cast and the script. Really low grade script with ridiculous characters on both side of the morality war.

Finished Star Trek: Into Darkness

Wow. Did I hit the nail on the head with my starter review. Recycled old plot with long references to and one entire scene from one of the original series movies. Cute, but not satisfying. It gets a 2 out of 5. And had I known the plot line, I wouldn't have watched it at all. Between my starter review and this one, I have thought about the Star Trek Franchise. I realize I have a romanticized vision of it because the original series was very important to me.

However, the original series was pretty damn bad. TNG was, in my opinion, the best series although several characters where really horrible. Deep Space 9 could have top honors for me except that after season 3, I think, they were in a war. Got boring very, very fast. Didn't make it through season 4. The rest, Voyager and Enterprise, were just pitiable at best and laughable in general.

So the franchise hasn't a good track record for being good. I'll watch the next one, but I really don't expect much.


The other movie we watched, entirely for nostalgia, was the 1963 "Move Over, Darling" romantic comedy. I've always loved James Garner (fell in love as a boy when he was on Maverick in the 50s). And I have a special place For Doris Day. It has a wonderful cast of character actors that I love to watch work. One of the most interesting things about the movie is the morals assumptions. The laughable morals of tv and movies in the 50s and 60s. Those assumptions were not in the movies of the 30s and 40s and certainly gone again by the 70s. It was fun, but so seriously dated that it was fun in ways not intended. And like many movies of the era, it didn't really have an ending. They just slapped on a 2-minute happy ending. It didn't fit well. We watched it all the way through, so it gets a 2. Not recommended for anyone under 60 years of age. :)

Reminded me of an earlier movie "Cheaper by the Dozen." That movie didn't even have the slapped on ending. It just stopped. As much as I am a fan of Clifton Webb, that movie really sucked. He best work was the fantasy biography of the March King, John Philip Sousa.

Stacey and I have had Flypaper in our streaming queue on Netfix for quite a long time. I kept being a no to it because it stars Patrick Dempsey. I didn't like his character on Grey's Anatomy and I have not liked any of the interviews I've seen him in. So I don't like the man and I don't like the one character I've seen him play.

Finally decided to try it just to get it out of our queue.

Loved it. Even liked his character.

I'll probably watch it again. 3 out of 5.

I really like William Macy. I also really like Donald Sutherland and Tracey Ullman. So, we watched Panic. The plot synopsis sounded promising. It was slow and predictable.

Macy's character was not particularly well written, though. At least, it seemed to me that he was really two different characters. One written for a mid-life crisis movie and one written for this movie.

This was a very heavy-handed movie that failed entirely to fit its "dark comedy" genre.

A bright spot was John Ritter's portrayal of the psychologist. Very believable. I miss him.

( spoilers )
And we knew that we would going to give it a 2 out of 5. Because the rule is that if we watch it all the way through, it gets at least a 2. But if it weren't for the principle actors, we would not have made it through the movie.

I could never get through the Great Gatsby when I was in school. It was assigned more than once, but I just couldn't stand the book. Then I tried to watch the 1974 movie. Walked out of the theater after 15 minutes. Tried to watch the new one. I really, really like Toby Maguire. Lasted about 30 minutes. I still hate the story. But this movie added seriously discordant music.

I have serious reservations about people who think it is one of the "great American novels." Must be the same people who put "50 Shades of Grey" on the NYT Best Seller list.

So, even with Toby, the new GG gets a solid goose egg on entertainment value.


And there there is TV. I discovered this weekend that Netflix is filming a second (and final season) of House of Cards. JOY.
I knew that Orange is the New Black didn't do as well with critics as HoCs, but I was not prepared for just how ridiculously bad the first episode was. The premise isn't too bad, but the lead character is being sold to us as a brainless valley-girl stereotype. I'm sure the story arc is her toughening up and getting "street smart" as her 15 month prison term stretches on. I just DON'T CARE about this character or her idiot BF. And lots of naked women and pretend sex and none of it sexy in the least bit. And most of it unnecessary to the story. Guess it is there to draw in the all important 15-30 male demographic.

And the rest of the inmate/guard population are also stereotypes. I'll give the actors some credit for trying to turn this characters into full fledged people.

I should look up the show and see if there is even ONE woman on the writing staff. That first show seemed filled with the kind of humor that floated around the boys locker room in junior high.

Well, watched the whole episode, so it gets a 2 out of 5. It is a very weak 2. I spent most of the episode glancing up now and then will I played Sudoku on my iPad.