61. On Chesil Beach* (2018) – Just married couple Edward and Florence (Billy Howle and Saoirse Ronan) approach their wedding night with great trepidation. Neither has had experience in love-making, and neither seems particularly eager to get things going. She has been reading sex manuals to know what to expect, and she isn’t encouraged by what she has read. Both have family issues that weigh in on their relationship. His mother is a free-spirited artist who was in an accident that left her with some brain damage and the propensity to run around the house naked. She is an accomplished violinist with a very strict father who intimidates her, so their opposite sex role models are of no help. The action (if you can call it that) takes place in 1962, so it is safe to say times were a bit more chaste. They stall around through dinner, and when the big moment is about to begin, he can’t even unzip her dress. This couple seems so in love, yet distant and cold with each other. Can love overcome such reluctance and lack of intimacy? 3½ cans.
62. Adrift* (2018) – Young couple Tammy (Shailene Woodley) and Richard (Sam Caflin) set sail across the Pacific to the US. He is an experienced sailor and in his 30s; she isn’t exactly a novice, but at 23, she’s much less familiar with guiding a boat for thousands of miles. When a massive hurricane hits the area and practically capsizes their boat, Tammy wakes up and realizes Richard is gone, washed overboard. She somehow spots him in the ocean and determinedly swims out to rescue him and haul his injured body back on board. For the next 41 days, Tammy is forced to find a way for them to survive without much food or water (she does a very happy dance when it rains and she can capture fresh water). Tammy is resourceful, and – let’s face it – she has nothing to lose. She either saves the day or dies trying. The hurricane scenes are harrowing, loud and wild. There isn’t an abundance of dialog and let’s just say the costume changes are minimal. Will they get to Hawaii? Will a ship rescue them at sea? Or will the elements, the damaged boat, the injuries and lack of sustenance get them in the end? All I know is to cross sailing off my list of leisure activities. 4 cans.
63. John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls* (2018) – This HBO documentary about Senator John McCain solidifies McCain’s status as a true American hero. He not only survived five years in captivity in Vietnam as a Navy pilot, he survived 30 years in the Senate. According to this bio, McCain was one of the few politicians who stayed true to his beliefs – although he admits to making mistakes in his political career, the most serious one of which was naming Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate in the 2008 Presidential election that he ultimately lost to Barack Obama. I was most impressed by his admissions and his graciousness and generosity toward his rival in defending him as a fine man. So is McCain. 3½ cans.
64. Ocean’s 8* (2018) – This clever caper movie picks up from the Ocean franchise, but this time with an all-female cast, led by Sandra Bullock as Debbie Ocean, sister of the late Danny Ocean. Just released from prison after a 5½ year term, Debbie has had plenty of time to plan her next job and she promptly rounds up her former partner-in-crime (Cate Blanchette) to pull off a huge and complex plan to steal a $150 million necklace at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Gala. She gets a fashion designer (Helena Bonham Carter) to work with a megastar actress (Anne Hathaway) and recruits a tech-savvy Rihanna, jeweler Mindy Kaling and a housewife/fence (Sarah Paulsen) to the team. You have to watch closely to see the intricacies of their movements and to follow the plot. I like an action movie without crazy car chases and killings, and this one delivers. Just under 4 cans but more than 3½.
65. Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) – Diane Lane is Frances, a writer devastated by her cheating husband and subsequent divorce, who leaves San Francisco for an Italian getaway. She impulsively buys a broken down mansion, hires workers to renovate it and gets quickly acclimated to the culture in her small town outside Florence. Lane shines as Frances begins to come out of her shell, relax and enjoy her life. Sandra Oh plays her best buddy, who unexpectedly shows up and fits right into the new life. This movie is about relationships and family, however we choose to define them. 3½ cans (the scenery alone merits a 4).
66. Café Society* (2016) – I actually started boycotting Woody Allen movies years ago because of the rumors about his private life. I should have stuck with the boycott and avoided this lame Allen creation. Jesse Eisenberg, with the worst posture this side of Quasimodo (and at least he had a hump as his excuse), plays a nebbishy guy (a Woody Allen staple) who goes to Hollywood in the 30s to get a job with his bigshot uncle (Steve Carrell), an agent. He meets Vonnie (Kristen Stewart), the girl of his dreams. Too bad she is in love with his uncle. Even though he meets another Vonnie (Blake Lively), his love for the original lives on. Neither the story nor the acting was distinguished here, and with the exception of one great line, the movie is unmemorable. The line, you say? “Live every day like it’s your last because one day you’ll be right.” 4 cans for that line, 2 cans for the movie.
67. David Cassidy – The Last Session* (2018) – No one was hotter than pop star and teen idol David Cassidy in the early 1970s. His iconic TV show, “The Partridge Family,” thrust the young man into teenybopper heaven, his face on magazine covers and lunchboxes, his songs, such as “I Think I Love You,” playing on AM radio nationwide, his legions of fans swarming the stage at his sold-out concerts. The fledgling actor and musician chafed under the pressure of being a teen idol, touring and being Keith Partridge. He wanted to be taken seriously for his music. His relationship with his father – actor Jack Cassidy – only became more complicated as the fame of the son surpassed that of the father. In this TV documentary, an aging David Cassidy, sick, weary, in constant pain and initially diagnosed with dementia, tries to put together an album of songs his father taught him. I don’t want to give away the entire story, but it is sad to see the engaging and affable Cassidy in his final days. He really was more than a musical lightweight, and that smile was infectious. I admit I still sing along to “I Think I Love You” whenever I hear it on the radio. 3½ cans.
68. The Rise and Fall of Penn Station* (2014) – This PBS documentary (on Amazon Prime) traces the design and building of New York’s Penn Station by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in 1910. The private company constructed the neoclassical building as the last part of a massive project to link the rest of the country (specifically New Jersey) to the Manhattan by designing and building tunnels under the Hudson and East Rivers. The expansion of the suburbs and tremendous economic growth throughout the area was the result of this masterful feat of engineering and architecture. The majestic building proudly stood for more than 50 years, until the company that owned the public space succumbed to the realities of business and tore it down to build a new Penn Station and sell the air rights above it to Madison Square Garden, which opened in 1961. Soon afterwards, New York City wisely established a Landmark Commission to assure the protection of many of the special spaces that make New York a unique city, including the beloved Grand Central Station. This movie shows the arduous task of burrowing beneath the rivers to build the tunnels from both the Manhattan and New York sides and the design and construction of the landmark train station. When joined together, the tunnels were within a 1/16” of each other, a marvel of 1910 engineering. 3½ cans.
69. The Mountain Between Us* (2017) – You know you’re having a REALLY bad day when the airlines cancel your flight the day before your wedding because of an impending storm, so you and a complete stranger charter a plane with a flaky pilot who doesn’t file a flight plan and then proceeds to have a stroke and crashes the plane into a mountain. And it gets worse. Kate Winslett is a photographer heading home to her wedding and Idris Elba is a doctor scheduled to operate on a young boy when they find themselves injured and alone (except for the pilot’s dog) on a mountain with no civilization in sight. Generally, I like a good story of people overcoming impossible odds who triumph over adversity (see “Cast Away,” “Apollo 13,” and the more recent “Adrift,” among others), but this story was just too unbelievable. The couple is left with virtually no food, yet neither they nor the dog starve, and the good doctor is always able to start a fire (one of which was frighteningly close to the airplane, in my opinion). She can barely walk due to her injuries, and yet…Well, see the movie. Or don’t. 3 cans, some for the breathtaking scenery.
70. Brain on Fire* (2016) – Susannah (Chloe Grace Moritz) plays a young writer for a New York newspaper who suddenly starts missing deadlines, looking confused and hearing voices. It isn’t a drug problem and it is getting worse. This movie – based on a real story – is a medical mystery. Why is Susannah manic one minute and catatonic the next? What is causing her seizures? Sometimes the love of those around you just isn’t enough to ease your pain. Warm and moving, it is also confounding and scary for the young woman and her family, who wonder if they are losing her forever. 3 cans.
71. Losing in Love* (2016) – Ronny (Marty Papazian, who also wrote and directed the film) is a low-key, sad-sack kind of guy, a writer who once wrote a big commercial but has been looking for a breakthrough ever since. Recently released from prison, Ronny is in a prison of his own, unable to truly connect with a woman and living a lonely existence. He meets a waitress (Marina Benedict), at the diner in Los Angeles where he goes to write during the day and is immediately smitten – although you only know this because we can hear his thoughts. This is a love story, and so is what Ronny is writing, as he and the waitress become friends and more reliant on each other. This is also a sad story, and one where all of the characters have trouble dealing with relationships and society. A little slow-moving, but I’ll give it 3½ cans for its warmth.
72. Runaway Jury (2003) – This legal tale is from prolific author John Grisham and tackles a key aspect of any trial – the jury. John Cusack is Nicholas Easter, an average guy in his 20s who is called for jury duty in a case against a large gun manufacturer who lawyer Dustin Hoffman claims is responsible for the shooting death of his client’s husband. Going up against him in court is Bruce Davison, but he is actually controlled by jury consultant Gene Hackman and his team of investigators, aided by modern technology that traces every aspect of a juror or potential juror’s life to assure they will be inclined to support the defendant. But this isn’t the story of 12 angry men. Someone on the inside is attempting to sway the jurors and is asking for big bucks to deliver the verdict. How and why provide the intrigue here. The story is a contemporary one, as the lawyers either support the right to bear arms and blame the shooter for the man’s death or the claim by the plaintiff that the manufacturer makes it too easy to buy their products. Worth watching again after a long absence. 4 cans.
I read Brain on Fire when I came out some years back. It was really good. I plan on watching the movie too.
ReplyDelete