LAWLESS

 Crime drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS

Tom Hardy: Forrest Bondurant

Jason Clark: his older brother Howard

Shia LaBeouf: their younger brother Jack

Dane DeHaan: Jack’s friend Cricket

Bill Camp: Sheriff Hodges

Jessica Chastain: Maggie Beauford, an exotic dancer

Guy Pearce: Special Deputy Charlie Rakes

Mia Wasikowska: Preacher Minnix’s teen aged daughter Bertha

Gary Oldman: Chicago gangster Floyd Banner

REVIEW

This telling of how things were in Franklin County, Virginia, the bootlegging capital of the USA during the Depression era has a lot going for it: high production values with particular attention to detail (except for a few items noted below) coupled with some fine acting and a strong story line.

But all that is mired in blood: this has to be the goriest movie I’ve seen in years as I purposely go out of my way to avoid that kind of thing. I get no pleasure in watching people being beaten to a pulpy mush, of seeing in close-up the blood spurting out while the victim struggles to survive, gasping and thrashing about. But the retribution enacted upon the instigator of the slashing is even worse. And we get to see it in detail.

The point being, this grisly depiction of violence is not just an incidental aspect of the film you could ignore. No, it starts with the very first scene when we see the older brother dispatch a corralled pig with a shotgun. I need not describe the result as cruelty offends most people’s sensibilities. And so it should.

  

CLASSIFICATION

for strong, bloody violence, language, some sexuality and nudity.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY

Jack shows Bertha his new camera, a Brownie Target Six-20. Trouble is, Kodak only began selling that model in 1946, some 15 years after these events took place.

When Maggie is talking with Forrest her pink bathrobe is on or off her right shoulder depending upon the camera’s point of view, from behind or in front of her.

THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN

 Fantasy drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS

Jennifer Garner: Cindy Green, tour guide

Joel Edgerton: her husband Jim, plant employee

Shohreh Aghdashloo: Ms. Onat of the U.S. Adoption Services

Dianne Wiest: Cindy’s boss Bernice Crudstaff

CJ Adams: 9-year-old Timothy

Emmet Walsh: Cindy’s Uncle Bub

Lois Smith: Cindy’s Aunt Mel

David Morse: Jim’s father James

Rosemarie DeWitt: Cindy’s sister Brenda

Odeya Rush: a young girl

Ron Livingstone: Jim’s boss, Bernice’s oldest son Franklin 

REVIEW

Promoted as a Disney film, one movie-goer was heard to say “Walt Disney would turn over in his grave if he saw this one”. Unlike the great classic movies such as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, this one straddles the line between fantasy and reality. That’s a poor mix: it’s got to be either/or to make for a story we can buy into. So this one leaves me detached, just an observer thinking “why did they spend all that money to wind up with this?”

Another thing: three quarters of the people we get to see are either odd (the young girl Timmy meets once in a while) or nasty unpleasant folk (Bernice, grandpa James, Brenda, Franklin to name but a few) so it’s a pleasure to see them disappear from the screen with every scene change.

I should have walked out but I thought “maybe it will get better?” It never did.

CLASSIFICATION

 for mild thematic elements and brief language.

HOPE SPRINGS

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS

Meryl Streep: Kay Soames, a retail shop employee

Tommy Lee Jones: her husband Arnold, Senior Partner in an Accounting firm

Steve Carell: Marriage Councillor Dr. Bernie Feld

REVIEW

Brilliant. No other term comes close to describing Meryl Streep’s portrayal of a woman who is unhappy with her marriage of some thirty-odd years. Not that the other two principals are slouches, it’s just that she is so much better than they are.

The story will resonate with anyone who has been (or still is) in a long term relationship. There is a ring of truth about it and it does not feel fake. Perhaps one of the writer’s went through this or knows someone who did?

Clearly geared to the more discerning viewer, one moviegoer so succinctly put it this way: “an interesting movie that caters to a more senior demographic although parts of it made me cringe” because of the explicit and graphic nature of some scenes. Most people will feel the same, being uncomfortable hearing others talk about their intimate personal sex life. However, like me, you can always look away if it becomes too much. But more often than not there is some comic relief, either a titter or a chuckle from someone.

CLASSIFICATION

 for mature thematic content involving sexuality.

P.S.

By splitting the screen during the showing of the end credits I feel I got gypped having to focus on the continuation of the movie with no opportunity to read the credits as they roll by. I hope this does not become a trend in the movie industry because some of us enjoy staying to the end reading these things.

ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT

 Animated action\adventure

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS

Ray Romano: Manny, a mammoth

Queen Latifah: his mate Ellie

Keke Palmer: their teenage daughter Peaches

Aubrey Graham: Ethan

Josh Gad: Louis

John Leguzamo: Sid the sloth

Wanda Sykes: Sid’s Granny

Denis Leary: Diego, a saber-toothed tiger

Josh Peck: Eddie

Peter Dinklage: Captain Gutt, a primate

Jeffifer Lopez: First Mate Shira, a saber-toothed tiger

REVIEW

The fourth in a series (and hopefully the last) overstays its welcome by at least 90 minutes, with only Scrat the saber-tooth squirrel providing any original and/or funny material. The rest of the film comprises recyled themes and images seen at least once in the preceeding three installments amidst lame jokes (groaners at best) and slapstick frantic action.

This mayhem will no doubt please the kids but the rest of us will find it trite. As for the splitting apart of the earth it is too frightening for the young ones (under 5 I’d say) but that does not seem to be of any concern of the producers. And the thrashing dealt upon poor Granny shouldn’t be witnessed by anyone, much less by the target audience.

CLASSIFICATION

 for mild rude humour and action/peril.

TO ROME WITH LOVE

 Comedy

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS

Alison Pill: Hayley, an American tourist

Flavio Parenti: Michelangelo, an architect

Lynn Swanson: his mother Ellen

Fabio Armiliato: his father Giancarlo

Woody Allen: retired music producer Jerry
Judy Davis: his wife Phyllis

Alessandro Tiberi: newly married Antonio

Alessandra Mastronardi: his school teacher wife Milly

Penélope Cruz: Anna, a prostitute

Roberto Benigni: Leopoldo, an office clerk

Alec Baldwin: John, a retired architect

Carol Alt: his wife Carol

Jesse Eisenberg: Jack, an architectural student

Greta Gerwig: his girlfriend Sally

Ellen Page: her friend Monica

REVIEW

What a disappointment: after his wonderful Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen comes out with a stinker. Supposedly a comedy, the first inkling of hilarity is Jerry’s reaction to shaking the hand of a mortician, and that after a half hour has transpired. The next hilarious bit is Jerry’s mispronunciation of Michelangelo’s name, not just once but three times. It doesn’t get any better than that so set your laugh expectations low, real low.

But unfortunately that’s not the worst of it: the story is about four couples who have no connection with each other and these interlaced vignettes are supposed to be of some interest. Well they aren’t, in large measure because the dialogue is infantile. For example Leopoldo is interviewed on television and asked what he had for breakfast that morning to which said “toast and coffee” then this is followed up with “and what did you put on your toast?” to which he replied “jam”.

No longer able to contain myself from laughing so much (and not wanting to waste any more time) I walked out.

CLASSIFICATION

 for sexual content and profanity.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY

Anna slips off her shoes and tosses them on the bed, each one landing on a different pillow. When she retrieves them they are both together conveniently on the side of the bed so she doesn’t have to reach for them.

Leopoldo tries several times to hurriedly unlock the front door but in his haste never gets the key in the lock yet the door magically opens when he pushes on it.

P.S.

Once more Ralph’s Rule of Redundancy applies:

“Any film where one person takes on more than 2 key positions (Woody Allen is Writer, Director and Star) has a major shortcoming: the absence of independent critical judgement that results in something less than it might have been.”

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

Comic book superhero

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Andrew Garfield: high school student Peter Parker
Martin Sheen: Peter’s Uncle Ben
Sally Field: Peter’s Aunt May
Emma Stone: 17-year-old Gwen
Rhys Ifans: research scientist Dr. Curt Connors
Denis Leary: Gwen’s father NYPD Captain Stacy

REVIEW
Amazing? Not to anyone who has ever seen or read anything about this comic book character. He does just what you expect from a superhero including flying around amidst tall buildings and saving people in distress. There’s nothing amazing about that so the title is a bit of an exaggeration. But that’s Hollywood for you.

Unless you’ve seen some of the marketing publicity it will come to you as a surprise that the film is about the creation of Spider-Man and the first hour is devoted to just that. Only then do things pick up with the result that the movie that is far too long at almost two and half hours. The trouble is, there is hardly anything original in the storyline after the prologue and as a consequence it is so déjà vu.

CLASSIFICATION
for sequences of action and violence.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
The police dispatcher requests that the officer respond to a 10-30 then goes on to give a description of the suspect. A 10-30 police code is for an emergency at the station. The correct code in this instance should have been 10-27 for a suspicious person or vehicle.

SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED

Romantic comedy

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS

Aubrey Plaza: Darius Britt, intern at a Seattle magazine

Jake Johnson: Jeff Schwensen, one of the magazine's writers

Mary Lynn Rajskub: Jeff’s boss Bridget

Karan Soni: Amau, another intern

Mark Duplass: grocery store clerk Kenneth Calloway

Jenica Bergere: Liz, one of Jeff’s old flames

REVIEW

Although it’s not going to win any awards, this whimsical tale about people connecting with others (or reconnecting) is a pleasant enough outing. Promoted as a romantic comedy the humour is of the chuckles variety rather than all-out laughter. In fact pretty much everything is low key including the budget.

CLASSIFICATION

for language including some sexual references. That classification is way out of line: this is a PG-13 movie nothing more.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY

While sitting in front of the fire, Darius has a sweater around her shoulders. From the front it’s on both shoulders but viewed from the right hand side it is only on her left shoulder.