Category: Movie

Bill I’s Review – 3 out of 5

I am going against the grain here, where Rotten Tomatoes rated it an 87, I was underwhelmed and left wondering where all the laughs are. Ultimately I see this as another typical latter-stage Woody plot centered on infidelity among the upper class, in this case embodied by Alec Baldwin as a Madoff-like financial manipulator and Cate Blanchett as the ultimate society climbing wife. Actually, Alec has has his comeuppance by the first scene, so his story is told in flashbacks, while Cate has to move in with her blue collar sister (a very watchable Sally Hawkins), who tends to gravitate toward “loser” boyfriends, played very well by Andrew Dice Clay (first husband) and Bobby Carnavale (current lover). The most fascinating aspect of the film is Cate Blanchett’s tour de force of this unstable, narcissistic character. The plot is unsurprising, the characters are mostly cliches (oh wow, Dice Clay and Canavale talk this “dis” and like simple things like watching football on TV with their beer drinking buddies). And the ultimate second husband material Cate finds, played by Peter Sarsgaard, is too good to be true: a diplomat with political aspirations, he’s single, super rich and needs a wife to move to Vienna with him. The most subversive scene that p-d me off is when Cate finally figures out that Alex has been cheating on him (for years). Like Woody must have been confronted by Mia over his Soon-yi affair ( remember “the heart wants what the heart wants”), Alec is confronted by Cate. She’s a hysterical mess, screaming, mascara running, while he’s super cool, calm and civilized, asking to talk it over and figure out how to divorce so they can move on with their lives. Oh really, Woody, is that how it was? Yuck! Anyway, if you want to see Cate Blanchett do her thing, have fun. But there’s not that much that’s actually funny to see.

Bill C’s Review – 3.5 out of 5

While I agree with much of what Bill says I liked this movie more than Bill did.  Possibly I was helped by Bill’s review and was not expecting a comedy and view this more as a drama.

I thought both Cate Blanchett and Sally Hawkins were great.   Cate is able to show an amazing variety of emotions in a single scene.  I also like the performances of Canavale, Louis CK and Dice Clay.  Clay was sort of playing the stereotypical version of himself but he was good at it.  I agree with Bill on Peter Saarsgard – he was ok but the character was too good to be true and too convenient for the the story.

I liked the way the story wasn’t told in a straight linear fashion and for me there were enough surprises in the plot for me to find this interesting.  I liked this and recommend it although there’s a lot of other interesting movies worth seeing right now as well.

IMDB

Rotten Tomatoes

Bill I’s Review – 3.5 out of 5

I had no intention of seeing a film about the Israeli Arab conflict, focused on a terrorist attack. But I listened to one of Bill and Bill’s faithful readers (my mother!) and went to The Attack, and was very glad I did. It is centered on an Arabic surgeon (Amin) who’s living a fairly easy life in Tel Aviv, with a wife he loves (Siham) and the respect of his peers. In fact the film opens with Amin’s winning the local medical equivalent of an Academy Award, but pretty soon a suicide bomber blows up a restaurant and Amin’s in the OR pulling shrapnel out of the bodies of child victims. The gruesome scenes are held to a minimum, while the movie turns into a whodunit and why-done-it, with Amin at the center. We have his point of view as he navigates the multiple levels of secrecy and conspiracy in the various entities. The story walks successfully in a fine line, hearing perspectives from real people on each side of the conflict, and I never felt manipulated to one or the other side’s point of view. Amir’s journey is tortourous but necessary, and he angers both the Israeli’s and the Muslims equally. I don’t think this is a spoiler to tell you that ultimately Amir declines to help propogate the endless cycle of revenge-motivated violence. This is a terrific film, not a tear jerker at all, and I highly recommend it!

Bill C’s Review – 4 out of 5

This is a really good movie on a couple of levels.

From a personal perspective, it’s the story of Amin whose seemingly perfect life – great career, great friends, loving wife –  is literally blown to bits when a terrorist commits a totally unfathomable act. He goes on a quest to Nablus and to understand how such a thing could happen and learns some truths about himself and what his life has in store for him.

This movie also does a really good job of showing both sides of the conflict and how a solution is nowhere in sight. You can see the total lack of trust and common ground.

This movie is definitely worth seeing.

IMDB

Rotten Tomatoes

Bill I’s Review – 3.5 out of 5

It’s a pseudo documentary in that it’s based on real life events, but it’s scripted and performed by excellent actors, including an award-worthy performance by Michael B. Jordan as the young protagonist (Oscar) who is  struggling mightily to get on the straight and narrow and raise his young daughter and earn a living so he can marry his long-time girlfriend. Octavia Spencer and Melonie Diaz are outstanding as well as Oscar’s mom and lover respectively. The ending is shown first, so you know it’s ugly, and gives you a feeling of dread throughout the daily comings and goings of this family. You get to admire and hope for Oscar, knowing all the time that he’s doomed. The incident is reminiscent of many real-life cases of police shootings, and by the closing credits we learn how justice is meted out once again.

Bill C’s Review – 4 out of 5

I also liked this movie a lot although this will be tough to watch for a lot of people.  This is a very timely movie with the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin story in the news recently.  While our society has made a lot of progress we still have a ways to go and this movie definitely makes you think about that.

The scene at the beginning that Bill talks about is actual video from a phone camera leading up to the shooting.  Michael B. Jordan is excellent (he played Wallace on The Wire) as are the others in the supporting cast.

This is a very powerful movie and is worth seeing.

NY Times article about director

IMDB

Rotten Tomatoes