Oscars Report 2015

Because I am a dedicated movie buff, the Oscar telecast is must-see TV in my house. As I watched last night, I kept a running compendium of comments. Here are my observations:

It is the biggest night of the year here at the Gordon household as well as in Hollywood - it is time for the Oscars. I finished eating, put on my comfy clothes and am starting with the pre-game. Robin Roberts is hosting the Red Carpet on ABC and she looks stunning. All those actresses in their pale gowns will pale in comparison to the majestic, burgundy, sparkly Robin tonight.

I just saw Julianne Moore and my first thought was: "That's the dress she decided to wear to win the Oscar?" She's the closest thing to a shoe-in tonight, and I personally think she could have made a better choice.

Dakota Johnson is in scarlet (fittingly) and being interviewed with her mother, Melanie Griffith. I haven't seen "50 Shades of Grey" -- except when I look at my hair in the mirror -- but I hope her mother hasn't seen it either. I'd die before I'd let my mother get a glimpse of me in soft porn. She'd have a better chance of seeing me with soft-serve ice cream.

Benedict Cumberbatch has a distinctly un-Hollywood name.

Lupida Nyong'O could wear a volleyball net and look good. Oh, wait, that IS what she's wearing. But hers is made of pearls.

Michael Strahan is officially no longer a former football player. Any NFL guy who goes on the Red Carpet, even as a reporter, must be drummed out of the league.

I wonder if Neil Patrick Harris will order Chinese food or sushi for everyone to try to top Ellen's pizza order from last year. How come she's just Ellen but we have to use all three names for Neil Patrick Harris?

It's easy for men. Just put on a tux and show up and you will look good. Women have it so much worse.

I just caught a glimpse of Miles Teller from "Whiplash." I doubt anyone else would have identified him in the crowd. Such an intense movie, and his co-star, JKSimmons, better win. His performance was stunning. And if he wins, maybe he can stop doing those Farmers Insurance commercials.

Jennifer Lopez is wearing a flesh-colored dress with the usual plunging neckline. She should have worn that one to the Golden Globes.

It is 8 PM and I'm going on record to say I think “Boyhood” will win the Oscar. Personally, I thought it was as exciting as watching paint dry, but there were enthusiastic reviews (not mine) and it looks like either “Boyhood” or “Birdman” might take the little golden guy home. I'm picking “Boyhood.”

I just saw the commercial for “The Second Best Most Exotic Marigold Hotel.” Sign me up for that one. It will play at the old folks' theater in Montgomery, and I'll be there for sure. This version has Richard Gere, in case I needed any more enticement.

Emma Stone has a surprisingly deep voice, and she's on the Red Carpet with her mom, which is a nice touch.  

Ethan Hawke is finally growing up and looking not exactly old, but no longer Boyhoodish. He's also speaking haltingly, making me wonder if he has already imbibed or is just better scripted.  

The Red Carpet lighting is really harsh. Lots of the stars look like they have lines in their faces or just bad skin.

Too bad about the rain in Hollywood tonight. Don't let it rain on your parade, Oscar!

Let's hope John Travolta is introducing someone with a difficult name again this year. Adele Daseem, anyone?

Tim McGraw looks so small. Must be the lack of the cowboy hat.

What are those huge red gloves on Lady Gaga? Is she here to clean the oven?

Patricia Arquette might have tried to do something with her hair besides pull it back in a ponytail that doesn't look all that neat.

OK, folks, let's start the show!

Neil Patrick Harris rises from below the stage (at least he isn't doing the hopping that Hugh Jackman did on the Tony's). The stage is very glittery. Ah, a song. Something Ellen couldn't do...

Really cool images in the opening number. Not Billy Crystal, but well done with Jack Black and Anna Kendrick helping NPH. Borderline too long, however, which is probably a harbinger of things to come.

It's hard to believe that Clint Eastwood directed “American Sniper” this year and “Jersey Boys” last year. Aside from the fact that they are both movies, they have nothing in common.

Lupita is rocking that Oscar envelope like an accessory. And she can do it.

Best Supporting Actor -- Has to be JK Simmonds, please. Not Robert Duval or Ethan Hawke. Yes! I'm one for one. Simmonds is lucky he's the first winner. He won't make the show drag on past its stop time. He thanks the wife and kids effusively. Tells the kids to call their parents. Good idea. Are you watching, Brandon Tillman (no way he’s watching)?  

NPH does a little song with the Farmer's Insurance jingle. Clever.

The bit on Neil's Oscar picks locked up in a box is going too long. I love Octavia Spenser, however.

First Best Picture nominee is “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” a movie I watched for 20 minutes for free on HBO and then bailed.  And “American Sniper,” which I thought would be best seen in a theater. I was right about that.

First song is from “Begin Again,” a movie I watched on a bus. I wouldn't even remember this song was in this movie. I may need to watch it again.

It is great watching the award shows on the DVR. If you miss anything or want to see it again, you just hit the instant replay button.

Jenny from the Block and Chris Pine. Two very good-looking people presenting the award for costume design. JLo knows a lot about this topic. Someone please tell the winner to get up from her seat and head toward the stage. We don't have all night. Or do we? And what is that outfit she is wearing? A trench coat and sparkly pants? She's a costume designer, so she should have come up with something better than that!

A groaner of an introduction for Reese Witherspoon, who looks magnificently simple. Classy broad, and better than she looked hiking through the mountains in “Wild.” They gave her a minor category with make-up. That’s Oscar disrespect.

Lady Rose shows off her new hat. Oops, I switched to “Downton Abbey” during a commercial. Back to the show...

Nicole Kidman always looks peaked to me, and then she wears non-color dresses which only accentuate her lack of color.  

Tell the best foreign picture guy that his speech is longer than his movie. He's had play off music twice now.

Shirley Maclaine comes out to the music from “Terms of Endearment,” one of my top 5-10 movies. I wonder if anyone else notices that. She's introducing three of the Best Picture nominees and wearing a choker that I am afraid will do just that.

“Birdman” was one of the few movies I didn't see this year. I might rethink that choice.  But only if Michael Keaton stops chewing gum.

Marian Cotillard seems to be wearing a dress from the 60s and she's introducing a song nominee from the “Lego” movie, another one I somehow missed. Everything is Awesome, according to the song.  

I wonder how long the short subject documentaries are. And I wonder why the presenters always sound so pleased when they announce the winner of this kind of category when there is probably no way they actually saw or even heard of the movie that won.

The walk-off music is being disregarded by these minor winners. Somebody missed the briefing...

What is that hideous outfit with the giant fur balls that the winner of documentary short subject is wearing? The movie is no doubt better than the fur balls. NPH comments on it too, with a certain degree of snarkiness.

It is disappointing to get so dressed up and be on stage for such a short time, Viola Davis said under her breath.

I used to like the fawning over the Jean Hershhold Humanitarian Award, which is now done in a film clip from months ago.

David Oyelelo either has a vest on or he's wearing Pee Wee Herman's high pants.

Someone in the back but visible over NPH's shoulder is wearing a baseball cap. I hope there is a medical note for that fashion don't.

Gwyneth Paltrow has the boniest shoulders I have ever seen. And that dress is a leftover from another time, I think.

Thank God Tim McGraw is wearing a cowboy hat. He was unrecognizable on the Red Carpet without it, even with wife Faith Hill at his side. He's singing a song from the documentary about Glen Campbell, who is in the last stages of Alzheimer's. This is a real pick-me-up moment.

NPH, who are you wearing? Hanes? This is the Oscars, put on some clothes. I know this is a salute of sorts to “Birdman,” where Michael Keaton runs around the street of New York in his tidy-whities, but this is the Oscars, man. Show some respect. Highly inappropriate!

I’m pretty sure I have never seen a movie with Chris Evans. He's not Chris Pine, I'm sure, because I saw that movie about the train with Denzel Washington and he was in that. This guy is in one of those superhero films that I'll never see.

“Whiplash” just won an Oscar for sound editing, and I know from seeing it that it was well-deserved. Not that I know anything about sound editing, of course. These technical people need to get off the damn stage BEFORE the music starts. 

Why is Bradley Cooper at the Oscars with his mother yet again? Can't get a date? Or is his mother so tough to deal with that she insists on going with him? Here’s my number, call me maybe, Bradley.

Jared Leto, in a light blue tux and white shoes -- say what you want, he is his own man. He says that there is a state law that Meryl has to be nominated, which may well be accurate. But I think Patricia Arquette is our winner for Best Supporting Actress. Let's see if I called this one right. Yup. Two for two tonight. On a roll. She is reading her speech. An actress who doesn't know her lines. Not uncommon in Hollywood. She's pushing equal rights and wage equality for women and still finished before those tech and doc guys. You go, girl. Maybe they didn't pay her enough for 12 years of filming “Boyhood.” Or was it 12 Years with Slave Wages?  

Meryl and BFF JLo jump up in approval for Norma Rae’s moment.  Well, at least Meryl jumped up and JLo, sitting next to her in what should have been MY seat, figured she better get up too, because you don’t want to look bad when you’re with Meryl Streep

I must confess I have never heard of any of the nominated songs, even though I saw at least one of the movies (“Begin Again”) they were in.

Rita Ora would look better if they stopped the laser lights projected all around her. My vertigo challenged sister must be going blind during her Best Song performance.

I am getting old. I don't know who some of the presenters are (Chloe Grace Somebody, who has her hands in her pockets).

We are still making “Planet of the Apes” movies? The next one I see will be the first one I see.

They had to put Kevin Hart with Anna Kendrick, someone who is his size, to give out the animated short Oscar. Again, nothing here I've seen.

So many categories. So much time. Get to the good stuff while it is still Sunday.

So the Academy President is an African-American woman. She must be THRILLED that no black people were nominated, and I doubt Kevin Hart's going to break the color line in 2016. 

Wait, there's Chris Pratt, Chris Evans and Chris Pine? I'm gonna need a program with pictures to tell them apart.

Oh, boy, production design category. At least we're talking about major movies again.

Oh, goodie, it's time for Meryl. But they gave her the Dead People's Scroll? Is this list worthy of the Great Meryl? I know she could read the phone book and get an Oscar nomination, but she isn't reading out loud. We are reading to ourselves. Lots of big names on this list. Robin Williams, Mike Nichols, Lauren Bacall, Ruby Dee, Mickey Rooney, James Garner, and people I didn't know had died or didn't know were still alive. But where is Joan Rivers? I’m pretty sure I saw “Rabbit Test,” and, besides, she was as much as part of Hollywood fashion as the costume designers. Shameful omission, Academy.

Jennifer Hudson sings for the dead people. What a voice! But could they have saved some time and had her sing during the Dead People Scroll?

Film editing is up next, and I'm guessing 12 years of editing “Boyhood” should win it. Wrong –“Whiplash” wins, and I’m OK with that.  Those drumming scenes needed plenty of editing. But so does this Oscar telecast -- and it's live!

Guessing that the teleprompter failed as Terrance Howard was trying to remember the names of the Best Film nominees. He couldn’t have been that moved by just the first one he named.

The director of “Selma” is probably still wondering why she wasn't nominated. And the Big O is probably pretty pissed off about that.

David Oyelowo's suit is really ugly.

Documentary category. Here I actually saw one. But not the winner.

The Dowager Countess is entertaining that Russian Prince again, and it looks like she's about to get a proposal. Go, Granny (long commercial break). Back to the Oscars. I love John Legend, and there is nothing common about Common. Cameras desperate to show show biz folks crying after the “Glory” song from “Selma.”

NPH is in his third suit of the night, not counting his birthday suit.  

Good joke about John Travolta -- if he had to introduce Ben Affleck it would come out as Benedict Cumberbatch. Now Travolta is on stage with Idina Menzel, pandering to her about last year’s puzzling Adele Dazeem slip-up and touching her face like a Jewish mother. She can’t be happy or comfortable about that. They are announcing best song, which has to be “Glory.” And it is. And Hollywood goes all righteous. And John Legend becomes one, just like that. Good job.

ScarJo looks ravishing in a green dress and killer necklace.  

Why are we doing a salute to “The Sound of Music” but not including Julie Andrews? Lady Gaga ditched the oven cleaning mitts and sounds magnificent. She really can play it straight when she wants to. I honestly didn't know her voice was so good, but it makes me sad for Julie Andrews, who can't sing anymore. But now I’m wondering if Gaga is going to sing the entire SOM score?  It's getting pretty late here and I still have to finish Downton. Fantastic performance by Lady Gaga.  Oh, there she is!  Welcome, Julie Andrews. We know she can't sing anymore, but just hearing her talk is a pleasure. Classy move, Academy.

Adrien Brody has a huge nose! Don't let them shoot you from the side, Barbra - I mean Adrien.

I wonder if Eddie Murphy will be on stage here longer than he was in the SNL Reunion (70 seconds, I think I read). He may not exceed that here. Best original screenplay is up. “Birdman” wins, which is an indicator of Best Picture. I thought it would be “Boyhood,” just because it was 12 years in the making.

One of the “Birdman” guys has a red stripe on the back of his shoes.  

Oprah's up. She looks important. And her booty should have its own area code. Best adapted screenplay, you know, the category where somebody takes somebody else's hard work and makes it into a movie. “The Imitation Game” wins. Seems logical, since they took the story ... you get it, right? The winner says he tried to kill himself because he was different. You've come a long way, baby, and you have a powerful message.

This telecast is interminable. Open that box, Neil. Something good must come out of it.

Ben Affleck always looks so smug to me. But I did like “Gone Girl”. His job tonight is to present Best Director, and he's got one of those. So the Oscar goes to “Birdman,” which I didn't see. I guess I have no choice now.

Nupita's brother is her date again this year. I wonder if he brought a selfie stick...

About now, Michael Keaton is thinking, hey, I've got a real chance here. I sure don’t want to be the star who's left out of the winner's circle after my movie wins lots of Oscars.

Cate Blanchette is presenting the Oscar to the Best Actor and has strange threads all around the armpits and shoulders of her black and beautiful dress. What's up with that? 

Michael Keaton swallowed his gum (I bet) when Cate read Eddie Redmayne's name for Best Actor. He was my choice until I started leaning toward Keaton from the way the Oscars were going. He's making a case for ALS victims and the Hawking family.  Well done.

At least the losers get a great swag bag that's worth more than $125K (saw that on CBS Sunday Morning).

Matthew McConaughey is up to present Best Actress. He looks dirty and unkempt, with long hair. He is not driving a Lincoln. Major upset if the winner isn't Julianne Moore, who was fantastic in “Still Alice” and is long overdue for Oscar. Right again. So we have a win for ALS and for Alzheimer's. Interesting.  

OMG, NPH is still talking about his stupid Oscar predictions and keeping them secure. Not funny and too long.

Four, count em, four outfits for Neil.

Best Picture goes to: “Birdman.” I didn't like “Boyhood” that much anyway.  

Big night here and in Hollywood. Let's do this again next year. 

The (Thin) Red Line

The (Thin) Red Line
February 2015

You know you’ve seen them.  They are called Fit Bits or Jawbones or, in my case, the Garmin Vivo.  They are those plastic-banded, cheap watch-like looking gadgets worn on the wrist that keep track of your activity levels.  They cost about $100.  They track your mileage and steps.  They can even track your heart rate and monitor your sleep.

Or they can nag you to get off the couch and do something (other than grab a snack).  Now that I have strapped one on my wrist, at least part of my exercise consists of turning my head and glancing at the thing to make sure I don’t fall into the dreaded “red zone.”  Let me explain.

These gadgets not only track what you do (and you wear them all of the time), but if you don’t do ANYTHING, they like to give you a nudge.  Some do it by vibrating.  In my case, that would scare me to death.  If I’m watching a movie, I don’t want what feels like an electrical charge interrupting the plot line.  Luckily, the Garmin just displays a solid red line halfway across the screen with no good vibrations.  But if you don’t get up and walk around for at least a few minutes, the red line creeps across the entire screen with a series of red dashes, kind of like your mother yelling at you once, twice, three times to put away your shoes and, when you don’t, coming after you with a wooden spoon.  OK, that might be an exaggeration.  But that red line reminds you to do something.  For someone with inbred Jewish guilt, this device is the ideal way to be nagged – I mean encouraged – to be more active.

Recently I took a trip to Penn State to watch my beloved Rutgers Women’s Basketball team play.  It’s a 4-hour drive, and while riding on the fan club bus, I noticed the red line creeping across, taunting me.  I immediately got up and walked back and forth from the front to the back of the bus to make it disappear.  That exercise was witnessed by the other fans on the bus, most of whom rolled their eyes and silently wished I had traveled by car.  When we arrived at the arena, I took advantage of pre-game time to run up the many steps and do laps around the concourse to keep the red line at bay.  I knew I wouldn’t be active during the game or on the long ride home, so I made sure I got my exercise done as best I could.  When I traveled to Maryland for a recent road game, I noticed the specter of the red line around halftime, so up the long steps I ran, and down, and over, and through seats, and around the Comcast Center concourse until I had done enough to keep the red line from distracting me from the game.  I can only imagine the mileage the players must record while racing up and down the court.  Of course, most of them are charter members of what I like to refer to as "the No Bodyfat Club," with their young and athletic physiques.  I somehow missed that stage of life, but I am trying to make up for that now.

The device keeps track of the date and time, your miles, your steps, the calories you have burned (I think it is way too generous in that department), and how far you have to go to reach the goal it sets for you (based on the information you have entered on your age, weight, etc.) and by how many steps you have exceeded the goal for the day, assuming you did.  I think that is more likely to happen in the summer, when I can get out and walk more.  You even enter in a period of sleep, which I optimistically defined as 11:30 PM to 7:30 AM, an amount of sleep I can only dream about.  Since it kind of sleeps when I do, I’m not sure it tracks the steps I take on any of my trips to the bathroom, and even I haven’t checked it during the night, obsessive as I may be.  You can synch it on-line with your computer or phone and keep track of your activity level over a period of time.  I’m just taking it one day at a time and not creating a diary of every time I get up and move.

One of the benefits of using this device is that it will keep track of all activity – even in the pool.  Three times a week, I go to an aqua aerobics class, followed by an exhilarating hour of water volleyball, where I keep moving the entire time, even when I am not jumping up to hit the ball or slogging through water to retrieve an errant shot.  But my friend Angela and I have noticed that about 45 minutes into our volleyball game, the red line sometimes starts creeping across.  Are you kidding me?  This is non-stop action (except when you rotate to the left back position, which seems to be forgotten).  We both cry out, “No red line, no red line,” and begin to move furiously, coaxing the line to retract.  Instead, the dash shows up, heading to the side of complete inactivity, which confounds and aggravates us to no end.  Finally, by the time we are done playing and taking down the net, the line is solid.  So that’s when we do laps around the pool.  And by that I mean AROUND the pool.  Since we have no confidence that the line will go away IN the pool, we WALK AROUND the pool until it disappears.  It takes about two laps to make it go away.  Sure, we could try SWIMMING laps to see if that helps, but then I’d have to get my hair wet and that would never do.

So here’s the conundrum:  How can this thing say we need to move more when it actually records steps we take in the pool?  I mean, either we aren’t moving and no steps should be recorded, or we are moving, with steps increasing and red lines nowhere to be found.

One more thing:  This device is something that is intended to be worn continuously.  Since it has a watch and a date built in, that’s not a problem. I wear it in the shower, in the pool, on dry land – wherever I go.  The challenge for me will be to take it off.  Seriously, I can’t budge the thing.  I may have to have it surgically removed.  In the summer I’ll have a thick white line where the device will block the sun from hitting my left wrist.  Angela wisely found bracelets we can order on line to disguise the band if we are getting dressed up, and I can see why that would be a good thing to have.  I only hope if I get a bracelet, I can get THAT off, or I won’t know if I have the thin red line.

Tina's January 2015 Movies

I started the year off with a bang, seeing 18 movies in the first month.  With the Oscars coming up, I knocked off a few of the nominees.  Movies I had not previously seen are marked with an *, and all movies are rated on a scale of 1-5 cans of tuna, with 5 being the highest rating.

1.  The Paper Chase (1973) – The first year of law school is challenging enough, but having to contend with Contract Law under the intimidating Professor Kingsfield (John Houseman) is enough to send even the most diligent student over the edge.  Add the complicating factor of a girlfriend who happens to be the daughter of the iconic prof (Lindsay Wagner) to occupy what would otherwise be a life devoted solely to studying and an occasional swim, and James Hart (a perfectly cast Timothy Bottoms) seems in over his head.  Hart must find a way to reconcile his fear of the dominating professor and his respect for the Harvard Law School legend.  It was ironic to see Edward Herrmann in a part as a classmate of Hart’s on the day after his death was announced.  He was a very fine actor.  4 cans.
2.   The Imitation Game* (2014) – Imagine being brilliant enough to invent and build a computer to decode German messages during WWII and then being smart enough to realize that it must remain a secret or the Germans will know you are on to them.  And then imagine having to fight an overwhelming prejudice against you just because you are gay.  Britain’s Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) faced all of those challenges, from being bullied at boarding school to be persecuted as an adult.  A noted mathematician, Turing is recruited for this secret squad to crack “Enigma,” the German code used to send messages about the war.  His partners are identified by their ability to do crossword puzzles, including one brilliant young woman (Kiera Knightly) who is nearly dismissed strictly because she is a woman.  This movie is based on a true story that remained a secret for 50 years.  It will probably end up in my list of the Best Movies of the Year.  4 cans.
3.  Strangers On a Train* (1951) – Tennis player Guy (Farley Granger) is on a train when he is recognized by friendly but odd Bruno (Robert Walker), who seems to know a lot about the athlete’s life.  He knows he is unhappily married and trying to get a divorce so he can marry someone else.  So Bruno, who is the son of a very wealthy man he abhors, makes a proposal: I’ll kill your wife and you kill my father.  Guy is aghast, and politely demurs, trying to brush off this aggressive stranger while still on the train.  But Bruno is a cagey and determined guy, and after their time on the train ends, he tracks down Guy’s wife and kills her, kicking off a chain of events.  This movie is a Hitchcock murder mystery, so there is plenty of suspense – and lot of fedoras are worn.  The title is apt not just because of the initial encounter, but because Bruno is one strange guy.  3½ cans.
4.  Good Morning, Miss Dove (1955) – I remember being so enamored with this movie about a dedicated teacher in a small New England town when I first saw it – probably on “Million Dollar Movie” (remember that?) – about 50 years ago.  I’ve aged, it has aged but it is still an earnest tale of a prim and proper teacher (Jennifer Jones) whose influence on the children of her town is profound.  Many of us can recall teachers who were very strict, the taciturn and tough figures of authority who initially terrified us and later whom we came to appreciate (the exception being one Moose Malefsky, Somerville Junior High, a mean and nasty man on a power trip whose classroom antics resembled those of Captain Queeg).  That’s Miss Dove’s impact, and, when she becomes ill and is cared for by one of her former students (Robert Stack), we see through flashbacks how she helped her students gain self-esteem with her encouragement.  Like “Remember the Day,” this movie is corny and dated, but if it is on TCM once a year, I’ll probably watch it.  3 cans.
5.  Rush* (2013) – This movie about race car drivers James Hunt and Nikki Lauda is not your typical Tina choice.  In fact, the last racing movie I can recall seeing is  1969’s “Winning,” and that’s largely because it starred Paul Newman and Robert Wagner, pretty poster boys of the 1960s.  This movie offers the same eye candy in the form of hot and hunky Chris Hemsworth as the Brit Hunt, a brash and confident driver who lives the high life.  His arch rival is the more methodical and professional Lauda, played by Daniel Bruhl, and neither approves of the way the other lives.  They go head to head in many races, but none as important as the 1976 race that will determine the World Championship of Formula One racing.  The action scenes are heart-stopping and probably would have been even better seen in a movie theater instead of on a 35 inch, non-HD television.  But much of the drama is the relationship between the two drivers and the mutual respect that somehow develops after the initial disdain.  The fact the Ron Howard directed this movie was a factor in my decision to watch it, but it will probably be another 45 years before I watch another movie on this topic.  3½ cans for the movie and 5 for just letting me look at Chris Hemsworth for two hours.
6.  Life Itself* (2014) – It feels a bit ironic to offer a review of a movie about the man who was no doubt one of the two best-known movie critics in this country, Roger Ebert.  I started reading his story in his autobiography of the same name but found it ponderous in detail.  Watching this meticulously made documentary by Steve James, director of “Hoop Dreams” (a film Ebert himself lauded greatly), brought Roger’s story to life.  He was a beautiful writer, taking over as film critic for the Chicago Sun Times while in his early 20s and he won a Pulitzer Prize for his work.  Opinionated – and isn’t that the job of a critic, after all? – a bit full of himself (so says the wife of his late partner, Gene Siskel), but really someone who spoke for the people, Ebert gained national acclaim and celebrity when he teamed with rival critic Siskel first on the PBS series “Sneak Previews” and later in the syndicated series, “Siskel & Ebert at the Movies.”  Both were appointment television for me.  Ebert didn’t hesitate to speak his version of the truth, even when he was disappointed in the work of directors like Marin Scorsese, whom he admired greatly.  The iconic show could make or break a movie and Ebert acknowledged its limitations compared with lengthy critiques offered by print writers (see Corliss, Richard).  This movie covers Ebert’s Chicago background and career, his late marriage and love of his wife Chazz, his relationship with sparring partner Siskel and the bouts of cancer which, in an ironic twist, resulted in surgery that rendered him unable to speak at all.  This is a sad story, but all of us who love movies owe a great debt to Roger Ebert for helping us decide which films to see – whether independent movies or studio spectacles – and which to avoid.  In the end, thumbs up – way up – for Roger Ebert.  4 cans.
7.  The Family Stone* (2005) – Why did it take me 10 years to finally see this movie?  Sarah Jessica Parker is Meredith, a buttoned-up, humorless, self-centered woman who is dragged to the home of her soon to be fiancé, Everett (Dermot Mulrooney) to meet the family at Christmas, and the tension is as tight as the hair pulled back on her head.  The family is a big, laid-back group, headed by mother Sybil (Diane Keaton) and father Kelly (Craig T. Nelson).  Everett’s sister Amy (Rachel McAdams) takes a quick dislike to Meredith, who is clearly the square peg here (extra points to any of you who get THAT reference), but brother Ben (Luke Wilson) wants to help her out.   Complicating matters is the arrival of Meredith’s sister Julie (Clare Danes), the friendly and fun sister of the two, who hits it off bigtime with Everett.  The plot doesn’t thicken as much as it slides toward the inevitable, but it is worth the ride.  Parker is particularly good as the uptight guest.  4 cans.
8.  Begin Again* (2014) – Director John Carney apparently felt that “Once,” his previous movie about singers trying to succeed, was not enough.  Here talented songwriter but reluctant performer Gretta (Keira Knightly, who actually can sign) arrives in New York as her long-time boyfriend Dave (Adam Levine) hits it big.  His success leads him astray, causing Gretta enough angst that she pens a tune and performs it at a club frequented by music producer Dan (Mark Ruffalo), a married man who falls for Gretta’s songs.  The music is good, the romance between Dan and Gretta never gets past first base but there is plenty of chemistry between the two leads, and Levine, in his acting debut, makes a good start.  I liked this movie better than “Once,” which was made in Scotland or Ireland and so I never understood the dialog.  Ruffalo is good in pretty much anything he does and Knightly (see “The Imitation Game” above) is growing on me.  I liked the music, the NYC settings and the story, but not enough to give it more than 3 cans.  Maybe if I hadn’t seen it on a moving bus with a bad sound system I could have enjoyed it a bit more.
9.  Jersey Boys (2014) – I love “The Four Seasons” and really enjoyed this movie when it was released last year despite my hesitation about Clint Eastwood’s role as the director of a musical.  I gave it 4 cans then and I’m sticking to that now.  For the full review, please go to http://randomthoughtsbytina.blogspot.com/2014/07/tinas-july-2014-movies.html.
10.  Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid (1969) – If a movie about gunfights and bank robberies can be charming, this is the one.  The ultimate buddy-movie, this George Roy Hill classic pairs the laconically charming Paul Newman with a largely untested but ascendant Robert Redford, and the chemistry is palpable.  Whether Newman is showing off for Katherine Ross on a new-fangled bicycle to “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” or Redford is informing Butch that he can’t swim, the appeal of this pairing more than makes up for long sequences where they are being chased by a posse for once again robbing a train.  The sequence of our boys trying to learn to how to say “This is a robbery” in Spanish so they can succeed in their newly adopted country, Bolivia, is comical.  True confession: A poster of Redford as Sundance hung on the wall of my bedroom even in college.  Loved it then, love it now.  4 cans.
11.  The Theory of Everything* (2014) – This movie is to Eddie Redmayne (who plays renowned real-life physicist Stephen Hawking) what “My Left Foot” was to Daniel Day Lewis – enough to get an Oscar nomination and a chance to take home the statue itself.  Despite being stricken with a severe neurological disease that robs him of his ability to walk and get around without a motorized wheelchair and the help of his devoted wife Jane (Felicity Jones), Hawking nonetheless teaches, writes and expounds on his theories of the origins of the universe.  When he gets pneumonia and has to go through a tracheotomy to emerge from his coma, he is no longer able to speak.  However, with the advent of voice technology, Hawking can use a small device that speaks words for him.  Though confined to a wheelchair with his body contorted, he thinks his family of three children and a wife is perfectly normal, while she is charged with the responsibility of his care until she gets help first from a handsome choir director and later from a paid assistant.  If you think you’re having a bad day and life is too challenging, think about a brilliant mind trapped in a useless body and a man who thinks that those conditions are just another day.  My theory is that with the success of this movie and the popularity of TV’s “The Big Bang Theory,” physicists have become the hot guys in Hollywood.  Redmayne triumphs, as does Hawking.  4 cans.
12.  My Left Foot (1989) – And speaking of actors who give dazzling performances, Daniel Day Lewis won the Oscar for his portrayal of true-life Irish artist and writer Christy Brown.  Brown was born with a severe case of cerebral palsy, and though his large family was so poor that he didn’t have a wheelchair until his late teens, they were a loving lot who treated Christy the same as the rest of the brood, except for the physical care he required.  They loaded him in a cart and let him play in the street with the rest of the neighborhood kids.  Early on they discovered that he could use his left foot to write, paint, draw and later, even type.  He won wide acclaim for his work but he wasn’t an angel.  He drank and cursed and could deftly manipulate others to assist him.  This virtuoso performance was matched by Brenda Fricker, who plays Christy’s mother (and reminded me of Mrs. Patmore on “Downton Abbey.”)  4 cans.
13.  Narrow Margin (1990) – Talk about a bad blind date!  Carol Hunnicutt (Anne Archer) meets a lawyer on a blind date and is in the bathroom of his hotel room when two men enter the suite and murder him.  They don’t know she’s in the room, but the deputy district attorney Robert Caulfield (Gene Hackman) finds out, and he tracks her down in a remote cabin in Canada to bring her back to Los Angeles to testify against the underworld boss who is responsible for the murder.  No one knows where she is except Caulfield – and the bad guys.  Hunnicut and Caulfield somehow manage to evade the helicopter with the gunman firing at them and make it onto a train bound for Vancouver so she can get out safely. This suspenseful drama uses a convention I have always liked but not always been able to reconcile – trying to evade someone while in a confined space (think of “Air Force One,” which took place on – well, you can figure that one out, right?).  Can Caulfield protect his star witness and get her to testify?  Where do you hide on a moving train?  Hackman is convincing as the lawman and I’ve always wondered why Archer didn’t have a bigger career (I’ve liked her since the TV show “Family Tree,” and, of course, as Michael Douglas’ wife in “Fatal Attraction”).  I saw this movie 25 years ago and have wanted to see it again for a long time.  It’s a bit improbable, but I liked it regardless of the need to suspend my sense of reality.  3½ cans.
14.  Gleason* (2002) – Physically imposing comedian Brad Garrett takes on the role of larger-than-life comedian Jackie Gleason in this biopic of Gleason’s good and bad times.  Born poor in Brooklyn, Gleason yearned for something more, especially after his father abandoned the family when Jackie was a kid.  The film traces Gleason’s forays into stand-up comedy – where he freely appropriated other comics’ material – his unsuccessful stint on a movie for Warner Brothers, who fired him, and his habit of chasing women even while married to his first wife.  But Gleason had a rare gift for understanding the audience and gracefully performing physical comedy, even for a very large man.  He created the classic sitcom “The Honeymooners,” which quoted lines directly from his own life.  His problem was control.  He wanted to control all aspects of his work but couldn’t control himself. He represents the classic sad clown aspect of a comic’s life.  Garrett was born to play this role.  3 cans.
15.  American Sniper* (2014) – If you like your movies intense, run, don’t walk, to see this one.  A bulked up Bradley Cooper plays real-life Navy Seal sharpshooter Chris Kyle, who served four tours in combat and was responsible for killing countless enemies while protecting legions of servicemen in combat.  His precision with a rifle and his instincts led his comrades to refer to him as “The Legend.”  Blessed with a beautiful wife and small children, Kyle had less success in between tours of duty, trying to adjust to civilian life as a husband and father.  Sienna Miller plays his anxious wife – worried about the effects of combat and frustrated by his outward lack of emotion.  Cooper does an excellent job in a role that doesn’t have a large amount of dialog, so he has to convey his thinking through his body and face.  I don’t normally go for action-type movies, but this one was worth experiencing in a theater.  4 cans.
16.  This Is Where I Leave You* (2014) – And this is exactly the opposite of the movie above, except for the shared dysfunction.  Judd Altman (Jason Bateman) finds his wife in bed with his boss, so when his sister (Tina Fey) calls to say their father is dead, he’s really not having a good time.  Judd returns to the family home, where his author-mother (Jane Fonda) insists he and his siblings (Adam Driver and Corey Stoll) sit Shiva for seven days despite the fact that their father was an aetheist.  The ruse is to get them to spend time together, but these sibs, along with their significant others, cannot stay in a room without arguing over something or revealing confidences.  Despite the fact that I like Jason Bateman and Tina Fey, there is nothing truly likeable about this movie.  For the rest of the plot, see it – on don’t.  I’m just glad I saw it for free, thanks to a Redbox coupon, because that’s about what it was worth.  2 cans.
17.  Get On Up* (2014) – Chadwick Bozeman gives a bravura performance as the dynamic entertainer James Brown in this biopic of the life of “The Godfather of Soul.”  He’s got the moves, the swagger, the barely controlled rage – call it passion if you wish – that define a man who grew from an impoverished and abandoned boy to one of the world’s funkiest and foremost entertainers.  Along the way, there is a stint in jail, living at his aunt’s brothel, getting into music via the church, and the women, the songs and the sidemen who Brown liked to control.  Nearly everyone had to call him “Mr. Brown,” and he was clearly in charge of the show, even imposing fines on his band members if they didn’t play to his standard of excellence.  Bozeman – who was equally effective as Jackie Robinson in the movie “42” – is in just about every scene, and he really delivers, whether pulsating with spins and splits on stage or bullying those around him.  I’ll give the movie 3½ cans, but Bozeman gets 4½.
18.  Still Alice* (2015) – Actress Julianne Moore is getting well-deserved praise (and an Oscar nomination) for her portrayal of a vibrant 50-year-old woman who experiences early-onset Alzheimer ’s disease.  A noted linguist with three grown children and a devoted husband, Alice notices that something isn’t quite right when she starts forgetting words or gets lost in familiar territory.  A trip to a neurologist and a few tests and months later, she is diagnosed with a disease that promises only to get worse, robbing her of her memory and her ability to perform the everyday tasks she could once do without thinking.  This sensitive and moving story shows how she begins to deteriorate, having good days and days where she puts the skin cream in the refrigerator.  The scene where she records a message for herself to view in the future is especially touching.  Alec Baldwin as the loving husband does a nice job but Moore is the one who stands out in the crowd, going from a sharp-eyed woman to one with a vacant look on her face, as the cloud she lives in settles in more and more.  By the end, you’d have to say that Alice doesn’t live here anymore.  4 cans and a likely Oscar for Moore.