Category Archives: FilmReview

2012, Acceptable for children, Based on true facts, Conspiracy, Drama, Environmental concerns, Ethical struggles, Feel Good For All, Human spirit, Sad small town, Thought provoking

Promised Land (2012)

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From Netflix:

Taking advantage of hard economic times, two salespeople for a natural gas company come to a small town to buy drilling rights from the residents. To their surprise, a local schoolteacher mobilizes a campaign aimed at blocking the company’s plans.

Watching this film while sitting next to my daughter’s German boy friend Thomas made for some very interesting discussion afterwards. On the one hand, the film has an obvious agenda: FRACKING IS BAD! But my debate opponent, ever the pragmatist, came up with some really good reasons why FRACKING IS GOOD!

No matter which side you take, the movie is well-written, well-acted, and includes some unsuspected plot twists. Moreover, I am pleased to be able to say that despite any doubts I have had in the past, Matt Damon can act. He always comes off as Mister Nice Guy. And what’s wrong with that?

Don’t miss Frances McDormand (married to Joel Cohen the director) trying desperately and unsuccessfully to sing.

Frank Yates is played by the venerable Hal Holbrook who was 87 years old during the filming and very appropriately looked that old.

Suitable for the kids and could lead to some worthwhile discussion.

2012, Based on a Book, Car Chase, Clever Plot, Conspiracy, Crime thriller, Mixed Martial Arts, Murder Investigation, Violent

Jack Reacher (2012)

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From Netflix:

When ex-military cop Jack Reacher investigates an elite sniper charged with killing five people, he teams up with a beautiful defense lawyer — and they soon find themselves drawn into a dangerous cat-and-mouse game in this exciting thriller.

Of course you can expect car chases, beautiful women, sinister villains, and an omnipotent Jack Reacher who never loses a physical fight.

Tom Cruise was 50 years old when he made this film. Not bad! For such a film he need not be a great actor, more the strong and silent type. For those of you who read the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child, just be prepared: Jack Reacher in the novels is a BIG man, Tom Criuse is not!

At the very least the story is clever with a bit of mystery: who is behind all the shenanigans! Want to bet you suspect the wrong person?

Just a bit of the usual violent fun.

2013, Bullying, Cooking and food, Crime, Crude Talk, Lesbian Theme, Made For TV, Masturbation, Nudity, Prison, Race Relations, Revenge, Sex Scenes, Suspense, Transexual Theme, TV Series, Vulgar

Orange is the New Black (2013)

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From Netflix:

From the creator of “Weeds” comes a heartbreaking and hilarious new series set in a women’s prison. Piper trades her comfortable life for an orange jumpsuit and finds unexpected conflict and camaraderie amidst an eccentric group of inmates.

Prison life for a group of women characters, lesbian affairs, transsexuals, and more: sounds disturbing! Now I quote from the Boston Globe Critic’s Corner:

If you get Netflix, then you really ought to try this series. It’s thoroughly engrossing, as it follows a yuppi into a low-security prison for an old drug-related crime. Made by Jenji Kohan of “Weeds,” the show is funny but also dramatic, and all of the female characters are fully fleshed out, Taylor Schilling’s Martha Stewart-type heroine most of all. All 13 episodes are available right now, but I recommend spacing them out and savoring them across the summer.

As Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling as the lead character) first enters prison the warden tells her “This is not Oz”. In case you don’t know, “Oz” was a TV series that ran from 1997 to 2003. Oz took place in a hard-core men’s prison and was quite brutal at times. “Orange” is, as the warden said, NOT Oz. But “brutal” is relative. Bully guards taking advantage of fairly helpless women prisoners makes for tense viewing. Framing a prisoner for some offense so that their sentence is lengthened is all too easy.

Nevertheless, if you don’t mind suspense and some really explicit scenes and discussion, and if you came even close to enjoying “Oz” you will really appreciate this TV series.

2012, Animation, Black humor, Car Chase, Comedy, Crude Talk, Fantasy, Love Story, Medical Theme, Mental Illness, Motorcycles, Musical, Nudity, Satire, Senior citizens, Short Films, Suicide, Unusual, Vulgar

Oscar Shorts (2012)

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From Netflix:

This collection of Oscar-winning shorts from 2003-2012 covers works from around the globe, including “God of Love,” “The New Tenants,” “Toyland,” “West Bank Story,” “The Lost Thing,” “Logorama,” “The Danish Poet,” “Ryan” and “Harvie Krumpet.”

Live Action shorts are:

  • God of Love – Singer uses unusual methods (timed darts) to cultivate love affairs.
  • The New Tenants – Surprise! Vince D’Onofrio (looking really overweight and unhealthy) The new tenants have a series of crazy visitors.
  • Toyland – German with subtitles – Persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany. “Toyland” is a euphemism for a concentration camp. Little Aryan child wants to accompany his Jewish friend to “Toyland”. Grim, sad, beautifully done.
  • West Bank Story – Much effort went into making this satirical take-off on “West Side Story”. Kosher King versus Hummus Hut.

Animated shorts are:

  • The Lost Thing – Australian – On beach man finds incredibly imaginative “thing” that seems to be a giant almost-teapot with reptilian extremities. Priceless!
  • Logorama – Vulgar mockery of American products and their logos, complete with car chases shoot-outs, earthquakes, an oil flood, and the west coast under water.
  • The Danish Poet – A Danish poet visits Sigrid Unset
  • Ryan – Imaginative but grotesque people missing parts (e.g. missing half a skull) provide opportunities for digital distortions. Downright weird.
  • Harvie Krumpet – Claymation story of Polish Harvie born to insane mother and lumber jack father. Harvie escapes the Germans and flees to Australia where he lives a life full of funny misfortunes each of which lands him once again in the hospital. Meanwhile he continues to collect increasingly funny facts (misspelled as “fakts”). Explicitly vulgar and very tongue-in-cheek.

“West Bank Story” is probably famous. In fact, I think I have seen it in other collections. Well worth watching.

“Harvie Krumpet”, while funny, could also be a bit depressing.

“The Lost Thing” may well be one of the most original animations I have seen. To enjoy all its details you might have to watch it more than once.

2013, Abduction, Serial Killer, Suspense, Thriller, Violent

The Call (2013)

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From Netflix:

When an abducted teenage girl makes a frantic call from the trunk of a serial killer’s speeding car, she connects with a sympathetic 911 operator who’s dealt with the perpetrator in the past.

Hold onto your seats! Halle Berry leads us through one of the most suspenseful film trips I have ever taken. Trying to catch a serial killer who has just abducted his latest victim leads from one exciting episode to another. This panicked killer is not squeamish so there is a fair amount of ugly violence.

Poor Michael Imperioli (who played Christopher Moltisanti in “The Sopranos”) tries to help the abducted girl. Oops!

Morris Chestnut plays Halle’s police officer boyfriend. He played Ryan Nichols in the 2011 TV version of “V”.

Michael Eklund’s portrayal of the serial killer is one of the more original such portrayals that I have seen. He is anything but calm, cook, and collected.

Do not watch this thriller too close to your bedtime!

2012, Arab Culture, Drama, Feel Good For All, Israeli Palestinian Conflict, Jewish Culture

The Other Son (2012)

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From Netflix:

While preparing to enter the Israeli military for his compulsory service, young Joseph Silberg learns he was accidentally switched at birth with the son of an Arab couple from the West Bank — a shocking revelation that sends both families reeling.

Joseph Silberg has been raised a Jew in Tel-Aviv. Yacine Al Bezaaz has been raised a Palestinian Arab. To keep sanity in this discussion we have to use the characters’ names because these two young men (approximately 18 years old) were switched at birth due to the panic of a scud attack.

You can imagine the reactions of hurt, anger, and confusion. For example:

  • Joseph wrestles with “Am I a Jew?”
  • Joseph’s father is Israeli military.
  • Joseph has done nothing with his life.
  • Yacine is about to enter medical school in Paris.
  • Yacine and his brother Bilal have a dream of opening a hospital for their fellow Palestinians.
  • Bilal hates Jews.
  • Yacine’s family struggles with money.

Whether it is realistic or not, the hope of this story is to watch a rapport grow between these two distraught and very loving families.

If nothing else we can see visibly the enormous difference between the lives of the Jewish occupiers and the oppressed Palestinians.

Many languages are used, but the film is basically French with a choice of subtitles.

An adult drama well worth seeing.

2011, Alcoholism, Drama, Ethical struggles, Marital Infidelity, Mental Illness, Nudity, Optimistic, Quiet, Sex Scenes

360 (2011)

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From Netflix:

In this remake of the 1950 classic La Ronde, an all-star cast weaves through interrelated stories about love, passion and loneliness. From London and Denver to Phoenix and Vienna, people are haunted by their need to connect, despite the consequences.

Of course the coincidences of people’s lives interrelating as described in the film are contrived. But, so what? Not only are the individual stories interesting (and sometimes cliff-hangers) but the acting is excellent. There are successes, failures, disappointments, and people in and out of love. Call this medley of stories a “people pot-pourri”.

Whenever a character speaks in a language other than English (e.g. Russian, French, Slovakian) there are English subtitles.

In addition to many new faces there are some well-known actors: Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, and Anthony Hopkins.

Hopefully you will enjoy this optimistic well-done adult drama.

2012, Dancing, Drama, Hebrew, Jewish Culture, Quiet, Religious Theme, Slow, Small gem of a film

Fill The Void (2012)

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From IMDB:

A devout 18-year-old Israeli is pressured to marry the husband of her late sister. Declaring her independence is not an option in Tel Aviv’s ultra-Orthodox Hasidic community, where religious law, tradition and the rabbi’s word are absolute.

If you want to see a quiet (except when the men are singing and dancing), slow, thoughtful portrait of the ultra-Orthodox Hasidic culture, you will enjoy this film in Hebrew with English subtitles.

Spoken words are scarce enough that it can be difficult if not impossible to know what is motivating some of the characters.

To summarize the film is easy: Yochay’s wife Esther dies in childbirth. Yochay needs a wife for his newborn child Mordechai. More exactly, he wants to marry Esther’s youngest sister Shira. But Shira’s older sister Frieda is, to her great shame, not yet married. Mother, father, aunt, Yochay and the culture pressure Shira to marry Yochay. Unfortunately Shira is unwilling to do so. Her conflict is more or less the content of the entire film. More I will not say.

Whether love was ever an issue is not clear.

If nothing else, the film is a captivating peek into the lives of these aloof and separate Jews.

For more information on this worthwhile film see the Wikipedia discussion.

2013, Acceptable Trash, B-movie, Car Chase, CIA, Conspiracy, Crude Talk, Mayhem, Nothing special, Suspense, Violent

A Good Day To Die Hard (2013)

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From IMDB:

John McClane travels to Russia to help out his seemingly wayward son, Jack, only to discover that Jack is a CIA operative working to prevent a nuclear-weapons heist, causing the father and son to team up against underworld forces.

What can I say? You will see the usual car chase mayhem. Possibly the father and son theme adds a little (very little) something.

Jai Courtney, who plays the son Jack, played Varro in “Spartacus: Blood and Sand”.

There are at least two plot twists as a reward for actually sitting through this B film.

2013, Conspiracy, Crime, Depression, DO NOT MISS, Drugs, Lesbian Theme, Medical Theme, Mental Illness, Plot Twist, Psychological Thriller, Revenge, Sex Scenes, Suspense

Side Effects (2013)

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From Netflix:

Emily copes with her depression by taking antidepressant medication. But when her dire state apparently spirals out of control due to her husband’s prison release, she turns to a new medication that alters her life forever.

At first you may think this is a film about Big Pharma and its possibly controversial drug trials. Just stay tuned!

The fact that Channing Tatum is in this film is a red herring. He is practically a walk-on cameo. Instead, this show belongs to Jude Law who seems like a victim until he shows a resilience and cleverness not to be matched.

You could call this a “revenge” film and indeed the revenge is incredibly satisfying, especially since Catherine Zeta-Jones plays such a villainess and clever nemesis.

Hats off to Rooney Mara as Emily Taylor. In case you don’t recognize her, Rooney Mara was Lisbeth Salander in the American version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

In the category of suspense, intrigue, and conspiracy this film is a DO NOT MISS!