Tina's May 2014 Movies

May was a good month for movies for me.  As usual, the numbering picks up from previous months, and the movies are rated on the basis of cans of tuna, with 5 being the best rating.  Movies I had not seen previously are marked with an *.

53.  The Astronaut’s Wife* (1999) – This movie may sound like it should star Don Knotts, but it is actually a suspense film that starts out like “Apollo 13” but morphs into “Rosemary’s Baby.”  Charlize Theron, sporting Mia Farrow’s short hairdo from the latter film, is Jillian, the title character.  Her astronaut husband Spencer (Johnny Depp) has an accident in space with his partner and loses contact with earth for two minutes so she, naturally, is relieved when both men are saved.  But something is a bit off with the almost-doomed astronauts.  Jillian begins having strange dreams that only get worse when she finds she is pregnant with twins.  The story takes on scary tones, with elements of the movies mentioned above and even a bit of “The Sixth Sense.”  This kind of drama is not my cup of tea, but I wanted to hang in there to see if we had lift-off.  I think I would have preferred if the real title was “Lost in Space.”  2 cans.

54.  We Could Be King* (2014) ­– I’m always amazed when documentaries start with a broken down whatever and the subject person or team triumphs in the end.  The filmmakers had no way of knowing the eventual outcome, and they spend a lot of time documenting something that could turn out to be useless for their dramatic purposes.  This movie is an example of the former, the story of an inner-city Philadelphia high school, Martin Luther King, that is forced to take in the students of nearby Germantown High School when budget cuts lead to the closing of the latter.  The two football teams, former bitter rivals, are now one, and are led by a volunteer coach since there is no budget to pay one.  Combine that situation with King’s recent record – no victories in two years – and it looks like a long season ahead.  The kids have their own issues.  Some have college potential but not the grades, and one is jailed after being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  In the end, they triumph, on and off the field, but it is never easy.  Sports and the arts have an important place in education, sometimes being the only things that keep kids in school at all.  So the winning here isn’t confined exclusively to the field of play.  3½ cans.

55.  All About Ann – Governor Ann Richards* (2014) – In 1988, Ann Richards made a name for herself with an unforgettable keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention.  The state treasurer of Texas, where she saved the state billions, Richards lambasted fellow Texan George Bush on route to becoming a national figure.  Known as a firebrand with a passion for women’s rights and education, Richards started off as a housewife and rose to the governor’s mansion, one of only two governors in the history of the state, and opened the doors for other women and minorities in the state and country.  This loving look at her includes plenty of memorable moments behind the podium, where she got her points across with wit and charm.  At her funeral, columnist Liz Smith said she had known Mother Theresa, Katherine Hepburn and Eleanor Roosevelt but considered Richards the greatest woman she had ever known.  High praise indeed.  3½ cans.

56.  Come Blow Your Horn (1963) – When I was 13, Frank Sinatra was the coolest guy around (this was before the Beatles nearly made him obsolete).  In this movie version of an early Neil Simon play, he is Alan, a swinging bachelor, complete with tricked out NY pad (that even features a remote control for the stereo) and multiple babes on his arms.  He is a disappointment to his parents (Lee J. Cobb as his blustery father refers to his unmarried son as a “bum” and Molly Picon) and barely holding up his part in the family’s waxed fruit business.  But to his young brother Buddy (an adorable Tony Bill), he is a hero, and when Alan gives refuge to Buddy when his younger brother flees the family home for life in the big city, Alan transforms the inexperienced young man into a younger version of himself.  Buddy adjusts quickly to his new life, but he’s cramping Alan’s style and Mom and Dad want him home.  Let’s just say that comedy and many hats ensue.  This is early Neil Simon, but with the family relationships and the stereotyped Jewish parents, you can see into his future as a playwright.  3 cans.

57.  Coming Home (1978) – When they say “war is hell,” that sentiment extends beyond the combat to its aftermath.  In this poignant drama, the Vietnam War is hell on the battlefield and on the home front.  Jon Voight is Luke, a Marine combat veteran and paraplegic, who meets hospital volunteer Sally (Jane Fonda), the straight-laced wife of Bob (Bruce Dern), a Marine captain stationed in Vietnam.   The two strike up first a friendship and then a way to deal with their loneliness.  Sally goes from pageboy hairdo to literally letting her hair down, much to the chagrin of her returning and visibly changed husband.  The tenderness of the scenes between Luke and Sally contrasts with the awkwardness between Bon and Sally.  There are plenty of people who still resent Fonda for her antiwar activities, but this movie is her best statement to decry the uselessness of war.  She and Voight won Oscars for their performances, as they dignify the physical, emotional and practical tolls suffered by those who serve their country and their loved ones.  The soundtrack here is one of the best, with Richie Havens, the Rolling Stones and the Chambers Brothers providing the contemporary work of the late 1960s.  4 cans.

58.  Where the Heart Is* (2000) — Not to be confused with “Places in the Heart” or countless other movies with the word heart in their titles, nor to be confused with “Anywhere But Here” (another Natalie Portman movie), this quirky comedy-drama has a lot of heart.  Natalie is Novalee Nation, and any movie with that name for the lead character doesn’t take itself too seriously, though there are serious tones and situations throughout.  Novalee is 17, pregnant, and abandoned by her boyfriend on a trip to California when she stops at a WalMart in Oklahoma to buy shoes.  With no money and no way out, she simply moves into WalMart, carefully noting everything she appropriates from the store.  She delivers her baby girl with the help of the erstwhile, handsome but odd town librarian, who falls in love with her.  The people of the town are a quirky but compassionate lot (Stockard Channing and Ashley Judd, among others) who take her in and help her with her child.  It is hard to imagine this sweet young woman as the tortured ballerina in “Black Swan,” since Portman pulls off sincerity, naiveté and strength all at the same time.  I always wanted to see this movie but never seemed to catch it until now.  You gotta have heart.  3 ½ cans.

59.  The Big Lebowski* (1998) — Take one laid-back, pot-smoking, bowling surfer dude named Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski (a paunchy and unkempt Jeff Bridges) and throw in a disabled millionaire with the same name, a best buddy with anger issues, kidnappers, thugs, erotic artists and a host of other bizarre characters and you have this Coen Brothers pastiche of a plot.  Picture Jeff Spicoli several decades removed from his fast times at Ridgemont High and you’ll see the Dude, as he seeks revenge for strange men ruining his rug.  This is a strange brew indeed, and while it hardly ranks in the pantheon of classic, crazy comedies (where “Animal House” and Blazing “Saddles” rule), I can see its appeal to a younger generation.  For me?  Not so much.  3 cans.

60.  Prisoners* (2013) — If you thought Hugh Jackman was intense as Jean Val Jean in “Les Miz,” you should see him here.  He plays Keller Dover, a husband (to Maria Bello) and father whose Thanksgiving with neighbors (Viola Davis and Terrence Howard) is abruptly disrupted when their respective young daughters disappear.  There is one local man who police think may have been involved, but when he is arrested and questioned, he refuses to talk so the charges are dropped.  Keller continues his pursuit of the young man and the search for the girls, taking drastic, desperate measures that put him at odds with his friends, family and the dogged detective (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is working the case.  Just when you think you know what is happening here, the music gets spookier and the direction changes.  This is an old-fashioned thriller, well played and plotted, that you don’t want to watch before you go to bed.  There is enough creepiness to give you nightmares.  3½ cans.

61.  The Pilot’s Wife* (2002) — Since I started off the month watching “The Astronaut’s Wife,” I figured this movie would be a good companion piece, although these movies have little in common.  The one thing they do have in common is mystery.  What really happened to the men these women married?  In this case, Jack, the pilot (John Heard) is killed in a plane crash as the movie opens.  His grieving wife, Katherine (Christine Lahti), is in shock and buttressed by a representative of the pilot’s union, played by Campbell Scott.  For all intents and purposes, the crash is just a tragic accident, but that wouldn’t give us much of a movie, would it?  It turns out that Jack’s life included much more than his wife and daughter, and getting to the truth will take time and courage.  Though many people have read the Anita Shreve book from which this movie is adapted, to say much more would spoil the plot.  It is safe to say you don’t know Jack. 3½ cans.

62.  Parkland* (2013) — This drama is an engrossing look at the events surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963.  Having recently visited the museum in the Book Depository in Dallas, I found it extremely compelling.  The actual assassination, filmed by amateur movie maker Abraham Zapruder (Paul Giammatti) quickly becomes central to the case.  The heroic doctors (Zac Efron and Colin Hanks) and nurse (Marcia Gay Harden) try to treat the president with dignity as they fight in vain to save him while his young wife, clad in that blood-stained pink suit, looks on.  The subsequent identification of Lee Harvey Oswald, his arrest and then his own assassination are all tastefully included.  The role of his brother was one with which I was not familiar (he knew nothing about Lee’s plans and tries to reel in their publicity-seeking mother).  The events depicted here, and the years of speculation that followed, are a time of demarcation for many of us.  Where we you when Kennedy was assassinated?  4 cans.

63.  The Horse Whisperer (1998) — Short version: Young girl and her horse have a horrific accident so mom hires a trainer with a unique approach to help the horse heal.  But there is nothing short in this languorous ode to time and patience, to allowing the healing process to play out for the young girl (Scarlett Johansson), her driven mother Annie (Kristin Scott Thomas) and the man who rescues them all (Robert Redford, who also directed).  This movie is visually stunning, replete with silhouette shots of riders against the big Montana sky, vistas of hills and creeks and not a 7-Eleven anywhere in sight.  The accident, shown in graphic detail, takes a part of the girl’s leg and breaks her spirit and that of the nearly dead horse, but Tom Booker (Redford, looking older but handsome with his blond hair still lit by the sun) has an unconventional approach.  He is full of subtlety and quietude, which, it turns out, heals more than the girl and her horse.  This movie has overtones of one of my favorite films, “The Bridges of Madison County,” and the growing relationship between the horse trainer and the NY-based (and married) magazine editor would seem to be dead on arrival.  Don’t watch this movie if you cannot sit quietly for 3 hours, because the pace reflects Tom’s approach.  Tom may be good with horses, but when he puts his hand on Annie’s back while they dance, it’s clear that he’s pretty good with humans, too.  4 cans.

64.  The Normal Heart* (2014) — This adaptation of Larry Kramer’s Broadway play is a searing look at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s.  Hedonism among the gay community gave way to panic, as young men started falling victim to what was initially called the “gay cancer.”  Many in society felt the deadly virus was retribution for a lifestyle of debauchery of which they did not approve.  But the men who lost loved ones realized that this disease — previously unknown — would result in countless deaths without government support of research, so they banded together to provide information and get the government involved.  Ned Weeks (Mark Ruffalo), the oldest and most vocal, presented a more radical, public view, attacking politicians and seeking as much publicity as possible to hold officials accountable.  His histrionics annoyed the politicians and his fellow activists, the other men who had formed the Gay Men’s Health Crisis organization in his living room.  The acting here is uniformly superb, with Julia Roberts playing the lone doctor who agreed to treat these men while collecting as much research as possible as the deaths mounted.  Matt Bomer as Ned’s lover transforms from a tall, dark and handsome young man to a gaunt, dying skeleton of a human, looking like a Holocaust victim.  The men won’t be dissuaded from giving up sex, as Roberts’ doctor urges them, even as they see their friends pass away.  With remnants of the classic “And the Band Played On,” this drama puts the crisis in perspective: It wasn’t just homosexual men who were afflicted, as the closing credits reveal that 36 million people have died of AIDs since it was identified 30 some years ago.  4 cans.

65.  Masquerade (1998) — I saw a lot more of the beautiful young Rob Lowe here than in his memoirs, “Love Life,” and I liked the view better.  He plays Tim, a young but accomplished yacht captain who in spending the summer in the Hamptons among the rich and toney folks as he gets his employer’s yacht ready for the racing season.  There he meets Olivia (Meg Tilly), a lonely, quiet young woman who just happens to be the wealthiest person in the area.  Who wouldn’t fall for young Lowe?  He’s gorgeous and charming, though we soon see him as a two-timing creep with plans that won’t end well for Olivia.  Doug Savant plays the local cop, Mike, who secretly loves Olivia.  Everyone knows everyone in this Hamptons town, yet nobody really knows who to trust.  This suspenseful film has plot twists that I won’t reveal here, and while Rob Lowe isn’t and will never be Robert DeNiro, he certainly carries off the charm.  4 cans.

66.  Office Space (1999) — Pete (Ron Livingston) and his fellow office drones sit in their cubicles thinking of ways NOT to work.  Pete hates his job, the 8 bosses he reports to, the memos, meetings and all the trappings of a big, impersonal office environment.  Pete and his buddies come upon a scheme that they figure no one will notice that will net them a little money by rounding numbers and depositing the difference in an account they set up.  Really, if these slackers put anywhere near the effort into actually working than they do into the scheme and not working, their lives would be noticeable better.  Oh, and Ron dates Jennifer Anniston, a waitress who hates her job, too.  I’m not sure why I watched this unfunny movie, but thanks, Mike Judge (writer and director), for reminding me how glad I am to be retired.  2 cans.

67.  Taking Chance (2009) — I thought it only fitting to watch this moving and patriotic movie on Memorial Day, a day meant for appreciation of the men and women who have served our country in the armed forces.  Kevin Bacon plays stoic Marine Colonel Mike Strobic, an analyst for the government who has missed out on his chance for real action.  When he learns about the death of Private Chance Phelps, a 20-year old Marine from Strobel’s home town in Colorado, he volunteers for the role of escort, the Marine who is assigned to bring the body home to the family.  Along the way, he encounters civilians and service people alike who pay homage — officially or in some personal way — to the young Marine and his escort.  Bacon is dignified and noble as he takes his assignment to heart, often fighting back tears as he recognizes the respect with which Private Phelps is treated and as he comes to know more about the young man.  This is a touching movie and a good reminder of the dedication of the members of the armed forces and how we all need to respect them and their families for their sacrifices.  4 cans.

68.  Broken City* (2012) — I only watched this movie because I like Mark Wahlberg and his stoicism (and his body, but you don’t get to see him shirtless here).  He is Billy Taggert, a disgraced former policeman who is hired by the Mayor of NY (Russell Crowe) to tail the mayor’s wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) to see who she is having an affair with.  The task is too easy — which only means Taggert got the wrong guy.  And the wrong guy, the campaign manager for the Mayor’s opponent in the election in a few days, is in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Turns out, the whole exercise is a cover-up for a power play by the Mayor in a construction deal.  Crowe is my idea of a bad actor.  He mumbles, putting forth some vestige of an American accent that is unidentifiable and unintelligible, and his bad performance is surpassed only by his bad wig.  I just thank God that he didn’t sing, since he ruined “Les Miz” with his inferior crooning.  I kept thinking this story would get better, but I was wrong. 2 cans.

69.  Tootsie (1982) — Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) is a pain in the ass.  A mostly unemployed actor, he is zealous about his craft.  The guy needs the right motivation and backstory to play a tomato, which is why his agent (played by Sydney Pollack, who directed the film) can’t get him work.  When Michael’s friend Sandy (Teri Garr) fails to get a part on a soap opera, Michael tries out for it, dressed as Dorothy Michaels, who may just be the most unattractive woman of all time.  The director (Dabney Coleman) can’t stand her, but her co-star, Julie (Jessica Lange, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress) builds a friendship with Dorothy that Dorothy, thinking like the Michael Dorsey that she really is, thinks is something more.  Like all cross-dressing comedies of stage and screen, comedy ensues.  Except here, Dorothy’s popularity grows as she makes her character into a strong woman who demands respect.  As Michael eventually comes to realize, he is a better person as a woman than he could ever be as a man.  This sweet and funny comedy is enhanced by the presence of Bill Murray as Michael’s roommate, whose droll sense of humor begins to fail as Michael decries Dorothy’s wardrobe and the things that make “her” look “hippy.”  Since Michael isn’t Dorothy, eventually the charade is bound to end, but how will his/her relationships fare?  Hoffman is manically good in the role, and Michael/Dorothy show us a few things about how to be better people.  Just not in Dorothy’s wardrobe.  4 cans.

Nothing But Random Thoughts

May 2014

A friend of mine (no names, please) is trying to lose weight for her daughter’s upcoming wedding.  She’s not trying to lose a lot of weight, just enough so that she doesn’t have to wear those dreaded Spanx, the torture device intended to make women look slim by crushing our internal organs just to hide the old muffin top.  Is this really necessary?  As she pointed out, if she has a little extra girth around the mid-section, it’s not as if someone is going to think a woman in her 60s is pregnant.  That ship has sailed.  So is it really worth squeezing our body parts to the point where we can neither breathe nor relieve ourselves without the use of the “jaws of life?”  Who wrote that song, “I Enjoy Being a Girl” anyway?

I just saw a promo for a new TV show that debuts in the fall.  Really, what makes ABC think I'll remember it by then? I can hardly remember it now.

If I even think about getting the car washed or watering the grass, we get rain.  I should be dispatched to drought-stricken areas.

Wouldn't it be better for the staff at the eye doctor's office to take my co-pay before the doctor dilates my pupils?  I have a tough time writing out that check AFTER my appointment is done.  Usually I just do it in advance and hand it to them as I leave the office, ready to drive myself home with one hand on the wheel and one hand on the road.

What with the dwindling supply of paper bags from the supermarket (whose existence has been superseded by reusable canvas bags), what am I supposed to use to recycle my magazines and junk mail?  Now I am hoarding paper bags and may have to break into the collection of paper shopping bags if this crisis is not averted.

I have a bit of a recycling obsession, I must admit.  Not only do I faithfully put it out, but my newspapers are bundled up so neatly that my sister once said it looked like I was gift-wrapping them.  My cardboard is cut to a manageable size, as if they won’t take it otherwise.  And I carefully put out the junk mail and magazines in paper bags (as we know, worried about securing the needed supply) and out at the curb – almost invariably on an evening when it rains. 

Just so you know, the elevator won’t come any faster if you keep pressing the button.  And my browser won’t open any sooner if I press the ENTER key really hard.

I hope I live long enough to watch everything I have recorded on my two DVRs and to read all the magazines I have put aside.  At this rate, I’ll live forever.

I hope I live long enough to read all the magazines I have piled up.  Obama won the last election, right?

Do me a favor:  When you are going down the aisles in the supermarket, please keep your cart in front of you.  Don’t walk down the aisle side by side with it, or you effectively block the entire aisle.  Don’t make me get all road ragey on you with a shopping cart.

In real life, do we ever need more math knowledge than how to calculate the tip in a restaurant or the 25% off at Macy’s?  Really, when was the last time you thought about sines, co-sines, tangents or algebra?  Apologies to my math teacher friends.

When I am folding the clean sheets, I’m always amazed to I think of them in their original plastic package.  I defy anyone to refold the sheets into the size the set came in when you bought it.

I wish I had a dime for every serving of chicken I have had at special event luncheons and dinners.  But why does the chicken always look pink?  I was at a dinner recently with a lot of red light in the ballroom, and I actually took out a small flashlight to inspect the chicken before I ate it.  A few people refused to eat it at all, but, according to my flashlight, it was the lighting, not the chicken.  Still, nobody wants to eat raw chicken, right?  And then there are the vegetables.  These banquet places can take one carrot and use it for the the entire room.  Could they make them any thinner or smaller? 

I attended one of these luncheons the other day and expressed my confusion over the place setting.  I never know which water or roll is mine, it seems.  Until now.  A woman at the table gave me a great tool to help me remember which is which.  Just think BMW (like the car) -- bread-meal-water, going left to right.  Let's hope I don't get it confused with Mercedes or Ford or I'll be searching under the table for something to drink.

Helpful household hint:  Keep the tops of the margarine containers and stick them under jars of pickles in the refrigerator to collect any spills, or use them under the dish detergent if you leave it on the counter to protect from drips.  The larger ones I use as mini cutting boards when I am slicing berries.  When they get ruined, they get tossed. 

You know you are getting old when you find yourself reading the column on senior activities in the local paper and it isn't about the high school.  And worse, you start thinking, "That sounds like fun."

What is it with the clock radios in hotel rooms?  There are so many buttons and no indication of how to set the time.  You can charge your iPhone or wake up to music or a buzzer, but if you can’t set the time, all is lost.  I carry my own little travel clock and it’s a good thing since the last few hotels had radios beyond my realm of technical competence.

I think all credit card machines should be required to be identical so I’ll know how to swipe my card, where to sign, etc.  Sometimes the glare of the store lights on the screen makes the content illegible.  While we’re at it, let’s address that issue, too.

Don’t you have a bunch of old keys lying around?  Chances are you don’t know what they open but you are afraid to throw them out because you might need them.  For what, you don’t know.

In preparation for spring, I took apart my gas grill and cleaned it to within an inch of its life, scrubbing and shining it so well that I hated to use it for the first time and mess it up again.

Meanwhile, speaking of grills, why is it that men consider themselves the kings of the grill?  My brother-in-law, who can barely make toast, loves to throw burgers on the grill.  Is it that men can only cook outside the house?  I can hold my own cooking over fire AND I can make toast, too.

I’ve heard a lot of bad things about the new Windows 8 operating system, but it turns out not to be so bad after all.  On my new HP, Windows 8.1 computer, I simply hit the box called DESKTOP on the lower left and see the same desktop I am accustomed to seeing.  Now the computer is set up so that I don’t even have to hit that box.  By the way, I bought my new laptop at Staples and for $100 they transferred all of my files at the store, then the technician came to the house and installed the new printer, set up the wireless network and showed me how to stream Netflix on my TV.  I made the poor guy earn that $100, but it was a good investment.  He left me with the old hard drive (which I guess I can hit with a hammer) but even got rid of the computer tower for me.  Well worth the money.

After the horrible winter we had, where there was so much snow on the ground that I couldn’t get out for a walk, I swear I won’t complain about the summer heat.  Unless, of course, my air conditioning goes on the fritz.

If you have ever had one of those little cubes of note paper, you will know that they last forever.  I have one that promotes a website and I know I acquired it before I retired at the end of 2006.  The cube will probably outlast the website.  I’m going to leave it to someone in my will, because I have a feeling there will still be paper on it.  I often will find little notes I have written myself, frequently with phone numbers but no names associated with the numbers.  I guess I thought I’d remember whose numbers they were, but I never do!

Tina's April 2014 Movies

April was not the cruelest month when it came to movies.  I saw a baker's dozen, some new ones, some old ones, some I liked and some I should have skipped.  Numbering picks up from the previous month and new movies are marked with an asterisk.  All movies are rated on my particular scale of 1-5 cans of tuna fish, 5 being the best.

40.  Big Night (1996) – Tony Shaloub and Stanley Tucci (who co-wrote and co-directed) are perfectly cast as Primo and Secondo, two Italian immigrants operating a restaurant.  Primo is an exacting and brilliant chef who will not compromise to give his customers what they want if he doesn’t agree with their choices.  Secondo knows the business is failing, and he proposes one big event to garner publicity and save the restaurant.  However, their friend fails to deliver special guest Louis Prima and all the people who gather for the best meal of their lives aren’t paying customers.  I viewed this film early in the morning, which was a good idea since my mouth watered just a little less watching the dazzling array of food included in this banquet.  There are plenty of names to drop here – Isabella Rossellini, Minnie Driver, co-producer/director Campbell Scott, Allison Janney, among others – but it is the relationship between the uncompromising Primo and his hopeful but desperate brother that adds to the recipe.  3½ cans, though Primo would never serve anything out of a can.

41.  The Lunch Box* (2013) – Well, here’s a topic about which I knew nothing.  For decades, hot lunches have been prepared in home kitchens in the suburbs of Mumbai and delivered by dabba wallahs – delivery men using bikes, trains and other forms of transportation to get the meals to office workers in the city (a very different Meals on Wheels concept).  The system is highly efficient and widely praised, but, once in a while, things go wrong.  In this drama, an older man, a lonely widower with a dull office job and a desire to retire, accidentally gets a delicious lunch that is not intended for him.  The young woman who is the cook and whose husband doesn't even realize he isn't eating her food begins corresponding with him.  Each day they put notes in the container used to transport the food.  They begin a relationship via these notes, building an intimacy that leads them to want to meet.  It is hard to provide more detail without revealing spoilers, so I'll just say that the movie reminded me of the lovely "84 Charing Cross Road" with Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins, but this movie is about food, not books. Both are about relationships.  Viewers will get a lot of insight into the Indian culture here, and the performances by the lead actors (Irrfan Khan as the office worker who really looks forward to lunch, and Nimrat Kaur as the unhappy housewife who can really cook) are winning.  Skip your fast food lunch and see this movie instead.  4 cans.   

42.  The Buddy Holly Story (1978) – Long before he posed for some notorious police mug shots, Gary Busey won wide acclaim (and an Oscar nomination) for his portrayal of rock ‘n roll legend Buddy Holly in this biopic.  Holly’s shot at fame was almost derailed by the prevailing notion that he should eschew rock in favor of the country, “hillbilly” music of his native Lubbock, Texas, but Holly marched to the beat of a different drummer. Together with his band, the Crickets (Don Stroud and Charles Martin Smith), he went from playing at the local roller rink to the height of fame before a tragic accident took his life.  His place in the pantheon of rock ‘n roll legends was often cited by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones as an early influence on their work.  Just listening to Busey perform Holly’s songbook reminded me of how prolific and talented Holly was during a tragically short career.  4 cans.

43.  Draft Day* (2014) – Kevin Costner in another sports movie cannot be bad, right?  After all, this is the man who brought us “Bull Durham” and “Field of Dreams” in baseball and “Tin Cup” from the world of golf, among many others.  Now he tackles football (pun intended) as Sonny Weaver, Jr., the general manager of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns, on the tensest day of the year – Draft Day.  No pressure:  Just draft and develop the best college players into top pros and win the Super Bowl.  Evaluate the talent, consider the proposed trades, check in with the owner and coach to make sure they are on board with your choices…well, maybe Sonny isn’t about to cede his power to anyone else.  The man has a gut feeling, and he goes with it.  The movie is visually intriguing, as director Ivan Reitman (“Ghostbusters” and other classic comedies) uses split screens and overlapping shots to show us conversations.  I loved the flyovers of all of the real NFL stadiums and the trash talk among the men in charge.  Jennifer Garner is aboard as Sonny’s salary cap expert, a lawyer whom he has been secretly seeing outside of work, a secret that everyone knows.  While she doesn’t have a great part, she does get the best line in the movie:  “Sometimes the correct path is the tortured one.”  This wasn’t a great movie, but it was worth a 3^rd round draft pick.  3½ cans.

44.  The Address* (2014) – This is a Ken Burns documentary, so you know that the address isn’t going to be “1313 Mockingbird Lane.”  No, this is about a boys’ school in Vermont, where middle school and high school boys have to memorize and deliver the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln’s two-minute oration from 1863.  This small school caters to boys with learning issues.  Many are ADHA or dyslexic or have speech impediments or emotional problems.  They have been bullied in many cases and feel either stupid or incapable of learning. Yet there are also musicians and Rubix Cube phenoms among the population, and, when challenged to do something they considered impossible, they rise to the occasion.  The impact of this exercise is significant in the boys’ lives, and it’s clear that Lincoln’s speech is as meaningful to them and to the thoughtful, skilled teachers who encourage them, than Lincoln himself could have imagined.  4 cans.

45.  The Remains of the Day (1993) – If you love “Downton Abbey,” this classic Merchant-Ivory production about an English estate and the staff that runs it is for you.  Anthony Hopkins shines more than silverware as Mr. Stephens, the butler, whose mission in life is to make everything at Darlington House perfect.  He is aided by Emma Thompson as Miss Kenton, the housekeeper, whose interest in Stephens goes beyond place settings.  Stephens is wedded to service, and carefully masks any emotions he may harbor.  The movie takes place in the decade prior to World War II, with Lord Darlington convening other gentlemen and political figures at the estate to discuss the changing political situation.  A virile and impossibly handsome Christopher Reeve is an American Congressman who realizes these men are amateurs when it comes to resolving world issues.  But the real story here is the relationship between Mr. Stephens and Miss Kenton, which is beautifully played out.  Rent it, borrow it – please, just watch it.  4½ cans.

46.  Made* (2001) – There is undeniable chemistry between director-writer Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn, both of whom starred in Favreau’s earlier “Swingers.”  There they were on the make for “honeys,” and here they are on a mission they know nothing about to get money for a mob guy in LA (Peter Falk).  The plot is minimal and the dialog is fast and furious.  Favreau’s Bobby is the responsible one, while Vaughn’s Ricky is a fast-talker who can be charming when he isn’t driving everyone around him crazy.  If you love the actors, you might like the movie, but I’ve had my fill of these two buddies.  2 cans.

47.  Inside Llewyn Davis* (2013) – I’m not sure I want to know Llewyn Davis.  A talented musician but an irresponsible man who crashes on the couches of friends, Davis is always broke and cannot get out of his own way.  He can’t even take care of a friend’s cat.  The story takes place in New York in 1961, just at the birth of the folksinger movement that Davis disparages even as he emulates it.  All he needs is one big break, but he’s doing so badly he’s resigned to going back into the Merchant Marines.  He can’t even succeed at that.  Unusual for a Coen brothers movie, this film lacks a sense of the absurd they do so well.  Oscar Issac is good in his thankless role as Llewyn, and I liked the music, though not enough to download it.  I was told I probably wouldn’t like this movie, and my friends were right.  2½ cans.

48.  The Way Way Back* (2013) – Poor Duncan (Liam James) is a misfit.  He’s 14 and stuck living with his divorced mother (Toni Collette) and her insufferable boyfriend (Steve Carell) for a vacation at the beach.  Sullen and lonely, he turns up at a local water park, where he is befriended by the wacky staff, particularly by Owen (Sam Rockwell).  This movie had shades of “Lifeguard,” “The Flamingo Kid” and “Stand By Me,” all coming-of-age movies of a sort.  Duncan is overlooked by his mother and bullied by her boyfriend.  But Owen is friendly and funny and makes him feel like a normal kid, or at least better about himself.  I wanted to love this movie because it had all the hallmarks of that kind of experience, but I will settle for slightly better than average.  3½ cans.

49.  Laura* (1944) – A film noir murder mystery, Laura is the story of a smart and popular woman (Gene Tierney) who is killed.  Her murderer could be any of the people in her life – Shelby, the man she is supposed to marry (Vincent Price, not looking at all like Vincent Price); Diane, her rival for Shelby; and her older friend, Waldo Lydecker (a great name, here played by Clifton Webb), a wealthy man who squires Laura around town.  Red herrings are everywhere as Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) pours through Laura’s letters and personal effects trying to establish a motive and nab the killer.  Everyone – including her maid – loves Laura, so who would want to kill her?  McPherson is enamored with her portrait and her life, and is determined to solve the crime.  Otto Preminger directed this slick and suspenseful film, and I’m glad I finally caught up with it.  4 cans.

50.  Goodbye Columbus (1969) – Ali McGraw plays spoiled Brenda Patimkin, a rich bitch Radcliffe girl enjoying her summer at home in Westchester.  She meets a boy from the Bronx, Neil (Richard Benjamin), who is decidedly beneath her social status – much to the dismay of her parents (Jack Klugman and Nan Martin).  He is unambitious, not impressed by money and totally smitten by Brenda, despite his utter disdain for her family’s nouveau rich lifestyle, where, if you don’t like your nose, you get it fixed, etc.  This comedy-drama takes on societal mores and class differences that you know ultimately will doom the Brenda-Neil coupling.  She’s rich, he feels inferior and insulted most of the time.  It has been a long time since I last watched this movie and I relished it.  The scenes from the wedding of Brenda’s dim-witted but good-natured brother are spot on: The crazy relatives out on the dance floor, the decapitation of chopped liver in the shape of a rooster, the uncles in the carpet business pacing off the size of the banquet room – all are priceless.  This was McGraw’s first movie, and she made a memorable debut.   Welcome back, Columbus.  4 cans.

51.  M*A*S*H* (1970) – As soon as you hear the opening verse of the song “Suicide Is Painless,” you know that this is no conventional war movie.  The irreverent surgeons, nurses and staff of the 4077 Army medical unit engage in a myriad of outrageous hijinks.  They aren’t there to fight the war but to stop the bleeding, to make fun, not war, and to try and find coping mechanisms that will get them through the blood and gore that they face daily.  Nothing is off limits for these far-from-regular soldiers during the Korean War.  The merry band of lunatics is led by surgeons Captain Hawkeye Pierce (Donald Sutherland) and Captain John McIntyre (Elliot Gould, sporting a mustache that should have gotten its own billing).  They like women, drinking and generally poking fun at anything or anyone who reeks of authority.  Director Robert Altman specializes in episodic movies with large casts, and he manages this talented group with aplomb (Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall, Tom Skerritt and the original and only Radar O’Reilly, Gary Burghoff).  Though I liked the TV show better, that is because it was on the air so long that we really got to know these people and see the value of human life in more depth.  4 cans.

52.  Leaving Las Vegas* (1995) – I’m not much of a Nicholas Cage fan (the only movie he’s made that I like is “Moonstruck”) but I’ll give him credit for being able to gulp down mass quantities of liquid in his role as alcoholic writer Ben.  Ben is lonely, horny and desperate enough to decide to leave Hollywood and drink himself to death in Las Vegas.  I’d be OK with his plan, but his progress toward that end is somewhat interrupted when he meets Sera (Elisabeth Shue), a prostitute with not quite the proverbial heart of gold, but who inexplicably (because they are both desperate and lonely) falls for him.  How she can get near him after he’s been drinking for hours is puzzling to me.  Shue looks too wholesome to be a hardcore hooker, but Cage looks desperate enough to do anything.  This movie was well reviewed when it was released, but there’s not a lot here that’s likeable, so I’ll give it 3 cans for the acting and not the distasteful story. 

April Bits and Pieces

Doesn't it kill you when you are sure you will remember something and you don't?  I used to buy chicken, use some, freeze the rest and I was certain I would remember when I bought it. Now I'm not so sure, so little notes go into the plastic bag before the chicken goes into the freezer.  And as for the folder I must remember to take with me to a meeting, that has to go into the bag the night before, and the bag has to be sitting in front of the door, so I have to move it to get out.  Whatever works, right?

I was writing a note (probably about the chicken) and looked down at the pen and found it was labeled "University of Kentucky Bookstore."  What?  I have never been to Kentucky, the RU Women's basketball team hasn't played Kentucky, so I have no idea how that pen found its way into my collection, alongside pens from law firms I don't use, financial planners I have never met, drugs I have never taken and an organization called "Help You Pay for College.com."  Strange.

I just read a book called “What Alice Forgot.”  Ironically, I kept forgetting the name in the title.  I think the sequel should be called, “What Tina Forgot.”

There are so many potholes on Willow Road near my house that I feel like a moguls skier when I drive down that road, moving from side to side and getting bounced around.  I’m afraid a cop will pull me over for driving erratically as I bob and weave down the road.

Just wondering:  When did World War I become World War I?  I’m guessing it was when World War II came along.  After all, it would have been foreboding to have it named World War I, implying that there would be a second one when the first was complete.  And who decided to number global conflicts instead of naming them?  Was there a committee of some sort formed to tackle this issue?  Or was there a groundswell of support via Facebook or Twitter to go for the WW I and WW II names?  Wait, I'm time traveling.

If there is ever a movie made of my life (and the odds on that happening are not good), I think it should be titled, “The Long, Hot Shower.”  I do love a long, hot shower to loosen the muscles and rid my body of that nasty chemical odor from aqua aerobics.

Doesn’t it seem like only yesterday we were fretting over Y2K?  A kid turning 13 this year wasn’t even born when Y2K occurred.  I was on the planning committee for my department at J&J, and people were in a panic that we might not be able to send out a press release if there were no power.  Relax, I told them, no one will be able to get it anyway.  The next time we change centuries, this will be someone else’s problem. 

I wish I had a dime for every time I have noticed the record light on the DVR and thought, “I wonder what I am recording now.”  With all of the TV I watch and movies I see, there is always something being saved for future viewing.

Do you realize that no child growing up today will have ever licked a stamp?  And what market is there for those little spongy things we had in the office?  For that matter, kids today may grow up wondering what actual mail looks like since most of it consists of bills (declining due to electronic distribution), birthday cards (declining due to Facebook and e-mail) and those annoying ads you get reminding you to get your chimney cleaned or encouraging you to replace your windows.  The post office will probably be out of business anyway.

I’ll admit it: I can’t bring myself to use just one space at the end of a sentence.  I was taught to use two spaces, and I will go to my grave using two spaces.  However, that sometimes means that the beginning of a line doesn’t appear flush left with the rest of the paragraph.  Either of those two choices is enough to drive me crazy.  So please, on the tombstone, TWO SPACES!  Thanks.

People, people, people:  I ask your help in eradicating the incorrect use of the word “unique.”  Something is unique if it is different, if it stands out in some way.  There are no qualifiers for the word unique.  Something is either unique or it isn’t.  It cannot be “very” unique.  Someone can be uniquely qualified, but not highly unique.  This is the stuff that drives me crazy, along with the use of single quotes where double quotes are needed.   For example, grammar expert Tina Gordon said, “I feel uniquely qualified to point out that ‘highly unique’ is a phrase that is incorrect.”  The single quote is used within the larger quoted sentence.  I realize that these pet peeves may be unique to me, but let’s work together to stamp them out!

I guess if I want the electric razor to actually shave my legs, changing the batteries more than once a decade helps.  The shaver I was about to throw away now works like a buzz saw, powered by those new AAs.

Just when I think my mind is as sharp as ever, “Jeopardy” throws in “Famous Mathematicians” or “Peninsulas” to remind me of how much I don’t know.

I took four years of French in high school (to go along with four years of Spanish) and never once heard any of the language used by people who swear and then say, “Pardon my French.”  I must have been absent the day they went over those words, which, by the way, don’t sound French at all. 

And speaking of Spanish, I cannot remember why I am standing in front of the pantry, but I can remember all those Spanish dialogs we had to memorize as kids:  “Carumba, se me olvido mi cuaderno.”  “No importa. Yo tengo papel.”  Come on, you know them, too!

I cannot stand that sticky stuff they use to attach coupons to cardboard.  Kohl’s and Macy's use it a lot.  It is tough to get off and it has the texture of snot.  Yuck!

Whenever I have to get an X-ray or some diagnostic test done and the technician says, “Don’t move,” my body feels like it goes into involuntary spasms, making me sure that the image will be nothing but a blur. 

I think when the cleaning service comes to the house, they walk around the house and make all of the pictures on the wall crooked so I’ll think they dusted them.  I think that trick is in the cleaner’s manual.

You know you’re a “fan”atic when you find yourself watching a 2009 women’s basketball game and you’re still thrilled with the ending.

Speaking of basketball, I was one of the lucky Cagers Club “Road Warriors” who used trains, planes and automobiles to follow the Rutgers Women’s Basketball Team as they captured the Women’s National Invitational Tournament Championship Trophy this month.  I calculated that those of us who went to all 3 road games (at Bowling Green, Ohio; the University of South Florida in Tampa and UTEP in El Paso, following 3 games at home), logged nearly 1,200 driving miles and more than 7,000 in the air, with flights from Newark or JFK to Tampa and Albuquerque, stopping and changing planes in Nashville, Chicago and Atlanta.  Eight days, 8 flights, 7 states and 3 victories:  Priceless.  Until the credit card bill arrives, that is.

After watching so much basketball, the slow pace of baseball is, well, kind of boring, I have to admit.

You may remember I recently wrote an essay on my sleeping problems.  After recently  falling asleep on my flights on the way to all those basketball games – once before we even had taxied to the runway (but it was a really EARLY flight) – I have decided to buy myself a seatbelt, strap myself into the recliner, sit in an upright position (and with my tray table up), put the neck pillow under my chin and get a good night’s sleep.  I realize that it might not work if no one is there to wake me and ask if I want a beverage. 

I have been watching “Revenge” since it started a few years ago on ABC, so I cannot abandon it now.  But I wish Emily Thorne would get her revenge already.  This influx of former wives, kids no one knew they had and other secondary characters makes for that “jump the shark” moment that spells doom for most TV shows when they abandon the original premise and cast and expand beyond recognition.  Also, I can’t take the whispering.  In real life, when people fight, we SHOUT.  We do not whisper.  Unintelligibly, at that.

Remember when coupons had expiration dates of two years?  Now I don’t even bother cutting some out because they expire in three weeks.  There goes 50 cents I could have saved.

I fear that in generations to come the name Paul Newman will only be associated with salad dressing and spaghetti sauce and not with the handsome and talented actor who made so many movies I love (“Butch Cassidy,” “The Sting,” “The Young Philadelphians,” “Cool Hand Luke,” among so many others). 

I was recently sick, which means I had to take medicine.  In my weakened state, it was almost impossible to extricate the pills from their stronger-than-steel blister packs.  And have you ever had a pounding headache, only to have to wrestle with the top of the medicine bottle to get it open?  I know these things are supposed to be “childproof,” but I’m telling you, that packaging works all too well on adults. 

And speaking of being sick, this is yet another time when I am happy I live alone.  I was making all kinds of disgusting noises, things that woke me up.  I cannot imagine how someone else could have gotten a decent night’s sleep in this house with that racket going on.

Here’s how to tell that I am really, really sick:  My bed isn’t made.  I faithfully make my bed every day, but, on the rare occasions that I am sick enough to know I’ll be spending the day in it, why bother to make it?  Of course, you could ponder the need to make it every day since you’ll be getting in it again that night, but I make mine anyway.

Don’t you hate it when you open the washing machine lid and see remnants of a tissue all over the dark load?  I live alone, so there is no one to blame for this transgression but me.

Does anyone actually read those inserts that come with the water bill or the PSE&G bill?  It’s not like anyone has ever said to me, “You know, I read a great tip on the insert that came with my sewer bill the other day.”

And who orders all that stuff the Bradford Exchange is always advertising with those annoying magazine inserts (I’m talking to you, TV Guide)?  OK, once I ordered a pair of B&W “I Love Lucy” sneakers – which I actually wear from time to time – but isn’t like I am going to order porcelain figurines of Lucy and Desi any time soon.  Does anyone?

A well-planned escape was thwarted today when I discovered my missing blue sock hiding in the sleeve of my sweatshirt.  Nice try.

YOU may think that blooming daffodils are the sure sign of spring, but when the Dairy Delite soft ice cream place on Hamilton Street in Somerset takes down the plywood covering its windows and puts out the OPEN sign, I KNOW spring has sprung.

Tina's March 2014 Movies

March Madness basketball severely limited my movie watching and delayed this monthly blog entry.  The numbering picks up from the previous month and, as always, movies are rated on a scale of 1-5 cans of tuna, with 5 being the highest rank.  Enjoy.

31.   Election (1999) – A young Reese Witherspoon is perfection as Tracy Flick, an energetic and ambitious high school student with her sights set on being Student Body President.   Matthew Broderick is a teacher in her school and a bit skeptical of her motives, so he persuades a football player (Chris Klein) to run against her.  Various hijinks ensue as this story skewers the brown-noser types like Tracy, high school life in general, laconic teachers, and, most of all, elections.  3 cans.

32.  In the Heat of the Night (1967) – This movie was named Best Picture of 1967, something I would dispute (see next review).  Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) is merely passing through a small Southern town when he is hauled in to the sheriff’s office merely because he is black.  While verifying his identity as a police officer from Philadelphia to local authorities, he is roped into solving the murder of a local businessman.  Tibbs must contend with discrimination and stereotypes while peeling back the layers of the crime, examining aspects that the local yokels have ignored or misunderstood.  Rod Steiger as the sheriff treats him with disdain yet recognizes he needs his expertise.  Tibbs manages to outwit, outplay and outclass everyone.  Nice bits from Lee Grant as the murdered man’s wife, and Poitier and Steiger play their parts with grit and relish.  4 cans.

33.  The Graduate (1967) – This, in my not-so-humble opinion, is the best movie of 1967.  In fact, it is my favorite movie of all-time.  The anti-establishment theme appealed to me as a 17-year old trying to understand the expectations of society for someone just coming of age – and I mean not just Dustin Hoffman’s Benjamin Braddock, but also me.  “Plastics,” “Oh, no, it’s completely baked,” “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me” are just some of the classic lines from this serious yet extremely funny movie.  It was very contemporary for 1967, and it holds up well after all these years.  Anne Bancroft is the ultimate cougar as Mrs. Robinson and Katherine Ross is the beautiful Elaine, her daughter, who meets Benjamin and gives him a purpose in life.  Kudos to Bancroft for deftly playing the seductress and the mother of Ross when she was only a few years older than Hoffman.  Mike Nichols directed this hit, and it helped establish him and Hoffman as major players in Hollywood.  I love this movie and always will.  5 cans for the film itself and another 5 for its legendary Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack.

34.  Moonstruck (1987) – This irresistible movie is more about moments than plot.  Loretta Castorini (Cher, who won the Oscar for Best Actress)) is a dowdy widow (who cleans up well) resigned to marrying her long-time boyfriend Johnny Cammereri (Danny Aiello) even though she feels she has no luck in love.  When she is told by Johnny to invite his estranged brother Ronny (Nicholas Cage) to the wedding while he flies to his dying mother’s bedside in Palermo, sparks fly between Loretta and Ronny.  There are great scenes with her parents in Brooklyn (Vincent Gardenia and Olympia Dukakis, who my friend Dy will insist to her dying day is miscast despite her Oscar for the role), with her confused grandfather, her aunt and uncle, her father’s secret girlfriend (Anita Gillette) and a would-be lothario professor (John Mahoney).  Why do men chase women?  Because they fear death, we learn.  But Loretta  declares that one day Johnny will die and she’ll come to the funeral wearing a red dress.  Throw in some table slapping, a night at the opera, a little Vicki  Carr music and you have a pastiche of life Italiano, oddly enough written by John Patrick Shanley.  The shot of Cher coming home on the “walk of shame,” kicking a tin can down the street with her red patent leather heels is priceless.  I love every minute.  4½ cans.

35.  Downhill* (2014) – This ESPN documentary focuses on the rise and fall of US Olympic skier Bill Johnson.  The brash Johnson won the US’ first-ever gold medal in the downhill at the 1984 Olympics.  An outsider to the ski team, Johnson was his own man.  When asked what winning the gold meant to him, the 23-year old said, “Millions.”   Alas, his outspokenness and penchant for partying did not sit well with corporations who love to lavish money on the athletes that have the golden image, and his endorsement prospects failed to materialize.  He made personal appearances and continued to ski, but ultimately was forced to find work to support his wife and children.  An ill-conceived comeback in preparation for the Olympics in Salt Lake City nearly killed Johnson, and his health has continued to decline.   Johnson was the golden boy of skiing, but while he was a whiz on the slopes, his real life is a cautionary tale of too much, too soon.  This is a sad story about a guy who could have had it all.  3½ cans.

36.  Indiscreet (1958) – There’s not a lot of substance in this Stanley Donen movie, but the enchanting leads (Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman) make it worth watching.  Bergman’s Anna is an actress in London who falls for diplomat Philip, who confesses he is married.  They are indiscreet anyway, though Anna wonders why he can’s just get a divorce and marry her.  Well, that’s because he isn’t married.  A confirmed bachelor, Philip has lied to the women in his life to avoid a long-term commitment.  In the last third of this stylish show, Anna finds out Philip isn’t married at all and tries to turn the tables on her paramour.  Worth watching just to see the clothes and sets.  Really, has anyone in the movies ever worn a tuxedo better than Cary Grant?  3½ cans.

37.  Apollo 13 (1995) – I think I watch and review this movie every year, and yet it continues to engage me.  So many things went wrong with the 1989 launch of Apollo 13, destined for the moon but crippled by an explosion.  As badly as the flight goes, that is how well the movie goes.  Having recently visited the Johnson Space Center in Houston, I felt even more connected to the story.  And although I know the ending, I still hold my breath until the capsule splashes down.  5 cans.

38.  The Bad & the Beautiful (1958) – Kirk Douglas is bad and Lana Turner is beautiful in this tale of an ambitious Hollywood producer who will ruin lives to achieve success.  In his rise to the top he uses an erratic actress with a drinking problem and cheats a writer who aspires to be a director from making the film he imagined.  Turner is well cast as the troubled actress with minimal acting ability and Douglass is cold as ice as the ruthless producer.  If you like to see Hollywood excoriated, tune in.  3 cans.

39.  About a Boy (2002) – Since I have now watched several episodes of the NBC TV program based on this movie, I thought I should go back and see the original.  The story is more about a man than a boy, a self-centered man who refuses to grow up and commit to anything or anyone.  Hugh Grant is Will, a skirt-chasing bachelor whose path crosses with awkward 12-year old Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), a fatherless child living with a mother who always is on the verge of a breakdown.  Will actually joins a group for single parents just to meet women, and the woman he is dating is friends with Marcus’ mother.  The kid keeps coming around, hoping for an adult friend who can be counted on, but Will’s not that guy.  Still, Marcus doesn’t fit in with the kids his age, and he can sit and watch TV with Will and avoid going home to the house of depression.  Their relationship blooms, and Will teaches Marcus to be more accepted even as Marcus teaches Will to let people become more than a passing part of his life.  Ultimately, Will comes to the rescue when Marcus needs him most.  Grant is at his befuddled and charming best and has never looked better, the kid is off-center but irresistible, and Toni Collette is the mother whose haircut alone would send me into a deep depression.  The TV show is amusing, but the movie is better.  3½ cans.