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Flash Movie Review: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
I felt I was interrupting a prayer service as I stepped into the train car. The majority of the passengers had their heads bowed. They were all looking at their cell phones, though there were some with earbuds dripping out of their ears who stared off into space as if they were witnessing a vision. For whatever reason as I sat amongst them I wondered what the future would be like; would there be mobile apps to take care of all our needs? I have already witnessed the deterioration in our ability to communicate, I just wonder as we grow old will we be tucked away in our own tiny spaces having little contact with the outside world? Though I like my alone time, I find comfort in being part of a community. I may not see some of my neighbors for weeks, but we are well aware of each other’s routines and activities. It may be their car is in a different spot or their dog is out in the backyard; there is an invisible bond that connects all of us. Just this past weekend I was chipping away the melting ice from my walkway and my neighbor came over with an ax. Granted until I recognized him due to the sunlight shining in my eyes, I had a moment of fear spring up. WITH only one room left to rent in his hotel Sonny Kapoor, played by Dev Patel (Chappie, The Newsroom-TV), had his eye on a second property. It would already be a challenge; but with the added stress from the approval process and his upcoming wedding, Sonny would need a lot of things to go right if he was going to realize his dreams. This sequel saw the original cast like Maggie Smith (Quartet, Harry Potter franchise) as Muriel Donnelly and Judi Dench (Philomena, Skyfall) as Evelyn Greenslade mingling with new cast members such as Richard Gere (Brooklyn’s Finest, Amelia) playing Guy Chambers. I enjoyed seeing the cast again but there were parts of the script that I found unattractive. What I mean is I felt some of the writing came across as cheap and easy, not giving the actors enough to fully develop their characters. Sure there was the same mix of comedy and drama, but I did not find this film as entertaining as the first one. It was as if the writers did not know whether to make the story more like a madcap ensemble comedy piece or go in a more serious vein. I really hoped this would have been a better film because I was fond of the idea to have a group of people coming together as a family of choice, a real sense of community.
2 1/4 stars
Flash Movie Review: The Last Five Years
As far as I can tell there is no price one can put on love. It is not something to barter or negotiate; I consider it an all or nothing proposition when it involves being in a relationship. True love is unconditional, where you accept everything about your significant other. In other words one cannot go into the relationship hoping to change something about their loved one. I remember this one guy a good friend of mine was dating who would make comments anytime we would go out to dinner and order dessert. After she would order something he would look at her for a silent moment then say, “Do you really think you should get that?” I do not know how she put up with it because I found it offensive. There was another couple I knew where one of them was the major wage earner while the other had a long string of bad luck in trying to keep a job. The breadwinner was always making not so passive aggressive comments like, “I’ll have to put in more overtime for us to afford it” or “I’m not spending my money on that.” To me this was simply another form of abuse. Relationships cannot survive without communication, respect and acceptance; trust me, I am well versed in this type of situation. DIFFERENCES in religion, backgrounds and job status had little importance as Cathy Hiatt and Jamie Wellerstein, played by Anna Kendrick (The Voices, What to Expect When You’re Expecting) and Jeremy Jordan (Joyful Noise, Smash-TV), fell in love. While Jamie’s dream of becoming a successful novelist started to take hold, Cathy was still trying to land that one big role that would change her life. No matter, they were in love and they were going to get married; everything would work out in the end…or would it? This film festival nominated dramedy based on the musical from Tony award winning composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown (Parade) was lucky having Anna and Jeremy. The two were so well suited for each other, though I will say Anna was the stronger of the two. The entire story was done in song which I did not mind; however, except for a couple of the numbers the majority of songs sounded similar to each other. Also, there was not one song I could recall once the movie was over. The hardest part of this film for me was the order of the scenes. It took me forever before I realized the scenes with Cathy were going from the present to the past while Jamie was going from the past to the present. I found this totally confusing, diminishing the enjoyment in watching this picture. I previously mentioned the importance of communication in a love relationship; it also is for telling a movie’s story.
2 1/2 stars
Flash Movie Review: Wild Tales
Anger is not something that leaves by its own free will. It does not get swept out of us like grains of sand with the evening tide. One needs to acknowledge it and devise a plan where it can safely leave the body. There are some people who are able to devote only a small amount of energy to their anger. They are able to sidestep the land mines that anger places before them. Then there are other individuals who store their anger in what they believe to be a reinforced tough vault deep inside of them, thinking they will come back to deal with the brooding anger at a later date. However, what tends to happen here is at some point a new flare-up of anger will spark the vault of stored anger into such a fireball that it will burst out of the individual like a volcano blasting through its cap, covering anyone close by. I am more familiar with this type of anger having experienced it in both my work and personal life. As a passenger in the backseat of a car I witnessed the driver exploding into anger when another car coming from the opposite direction knocked off their side mirror. In the middle of traffic our driver did a U-turn that forced the back end of the car to clip the retaining wall as oncoming traffic tried to veer out of the way. If you cannot relate to the anger I just described then there may be a possibility you will not get as much out of this hilarious comedy. EMOTIONS that got out of control fueled the characters to do irrational acts in the separate short stories of this Oscar nominated and film festival winning film from Argentina. With part of the cast including Dario Grandinetti (The Dark Side of the Heart, Talk to Her) as Salgado, Maria Marull (The Bottom of the Sea, Antes del estreno) as Isabel and Monica Villa (The Holy Girl, I Don’t Want to Talk About it) as Profesora Leguizamon; I was enthralled by each character in the multiple stories. There were so many scenes that were charged with outrageous behaviors that it would be hard to say if I enjoyed one story more than another. Each of them took an everyday occurrence and because of circumstances blew it out of proportion. I was thoroughly entertained by this Oscar nominated film for best foreign language with its wicked sense of humor. If by chance you are dealing with any anger issues presently, then this picture may be the perfect antidote for you. And if you are not, you still will get a kick out of this crazy movie. Spanish was spoken with English subtitles.
3 1/2 stars
Flash Movie Review: Focus
I became more aware of my wallet’s whereabouts after my aunt yelled an expletive at a man who had his hand in her purse. She had taken the subway to go downtown. When she got off at her stop and was waiting to step onto the escalator to take her up to street level, she felt a tug on her purse that she had slung on her shoulder. Turning to look down at her purse she saw a man who had his hand in it, looking for her wallet. With no time for thinking, she immediately yelled out in her sternest voice, “What the #%&@ do you think you are doing?” The man was so stunned he withdrew his hand and took off down the station to the exit on the opposite side of the platform. Once I heard what happened to her I started becoming more aware of my surroundings. No matter where I went I would periodically check to make sure my wallet was still in my back pocket. Now granted all I had in my wallet was a couple of pictures and my week’s allowance; but the idea that someone would stick their hand in my pocket to steal my wallet made me angry. After seeing this comedic drama I now am more paranoid. WILL Smith (After Earth, I Am Legend) played lifelong con artist Nicky. Admiring the gutsy moves Jess, played by Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street, About Time), tried to pull on him; Nicky agreed to teach her some of his tricks. However, just as one of his biggest jobs was about to play out, could Nicky really trust her. This crime story had a variety of twists in it; some were predictable, others were surprises. I will say the story did not seem that much different from others I had seen before. The clear standouts for me were Margot Robbie and Gerald McRaney (The A-Team, Major Dad-TV) as Owens. Also, Adrian Martinez (American Hustle, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) as Farhad and Rodrigo Santoro (The Last Stand, 300 Franchise) as Garriga gave good performances. I understood this was supposed to be Will’s vehicle back to box office gold after his flop After Earth; but I have to tell you I did not think his performance was anything new. He seemed to be playing himself more than his character to tell you the truth. There were a couple of times where I thought the story dragged. To be fair one of my favorite movies was The Sting, so for me this film did not have any sophisticated nuances in the script. The worst part of this is I now have a bigger fear of getting my pockets picked than I had before.
2 1/4 stars
Flash Movie Review: McFarland, USA
Sometimes it takes a different set of eyes to show you what you are capable of doing. Imagine you were born on a farm where you grew into the capability of throwing 50 pound bales of hay onto a flatbed truck. Since it had always been part of your life it would never occur to you that you were strong. However if you compared it to someone who did not have early strength training, you would be considered strong. The key fact in the equation has to do with the comparison aspect and it is something that I find very few people use when commenting on themselves. When someone tells me something about themselves such as they are overweight or too tall let us say, I ask them compared to what? Most of the time I find such statements to be very subjective. Though I have lost a great deal of weight I do not consider myself a thin person because I’m using a warped comparison of what I believe thin looks like. This is one of the reasons it is beneficial to have someone else show you what you are or what you can achieve. If my first aerobic instructor did not nurture and encourage me to choreograph routines, I do not know if I would have ever become a group fitness instructor since I previously flunked high school gym classes. OUT of a job as high school football coach due to anger issues Jim White, played by Kevin Costner (Black or White, Man of Steel), was forced to leave and take an assistant coaching position at a small high school with a dismal football record. Looking at the students, it was obvious to Coach White the kids were not cut out to play football; however, he did think they could do something that had never been done at the small high school before. Based on a true story, the script to this sports drama was written in such a way that allowed the viewers to tear up. There were parts of this movie where I had to wipe the tears from my eyes. I thought Kevin and Maria Bello (A History of Violence, Prisoners) who played his wife Cheryl were well suited for each other, coming across in a believable way. The actors like Carlos Pratts (Coyote, Counterpunch) as Thomas Valles and newcomers Sergio Avelar and Ramiro Rodriguez as Victor Puentes and Danny Diaz were quite good. The issue I had with this film concerned the script; it was contrived and written like a fairy tale. It needed more details and less manipulation. I found it upsetting because I really liked the story. Whoever was in charge should have shown the writers the true story would have been enough to tell.
2 1/3 stars
Flash Movie Review: Two Days, One Night
Where some departments are inviting and welcoming to fellow employees, there are others that are structured like secured fortresses to keep away all outsiders. Working in an office means you acquire a pseudo family, quirks and all. I have worked for a few companies and I have found the larger ones mirror the globe. Depending on the department managers, it can feel like you are traveling to a different country when entering their fiefdoms, where employees never mingle with those from a different department. I worked for an individual who treated all the employees as if they were his personal assistants, from washing his car to picking up his laundry; I could not wait to get out of there. Luckily I have worked at places where all the employees in the department felt like family. We would always celebrate each other’s birthdays and be there for each other during the sad occasions. Like any family there would be disagreements and spats; but when you think about it, most employees are together 8 hours a day. For some that can be more time together than with one’s own blood relatives. I will say one of the negatives to having a family environment at the workplace is when one employee’s work is dependent on another employee. It can be hard to separate the lines between employee and pseudo family member. SANDRA, played by Marion Cotillard (Inception, The Immigrant), discovered her boss offered her fellow employees a choice to either keep her as an employee or receive a cash bonus upon her termination. With her husband Manu, played by Fabrizio Rongione (The Kid with a Bike, Rosetta), pushing her to fight for her job, Sandra would have to confront each of her fellow workers to ask them to vote for her to stay on the job. This Oscar nominated and film festival winning drama was an interesting viewing experience. The movie started out slow; at first I was not sure what was going on since it seemed as if the story had started in the middle. Gratefully Marion was outstanding in the role so I was able to stay interested. With her acting I could easily feel her pain and discomfort as she went from employee to employee. Written and directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (The Kid with the Bike, L’Enfant), I found the story’s idea compelling. There was however a few slow parts in the film and one scene in particular did not ring true for me. If this makes sense, this picture was more of a cerebral experience since there was not much action. The thing that rang true about the script was the way the employees interacted with each other. French was spoken with English subtitles.
3 stars
Flash Movie Review: Fifty Shades of Grey
The only reason I started listening to their conversation was because I thought they were talking about Russian royalty. As I stood in line to check out my groceries, two women in front of me were talking about someone named Anastasia. Since it was the title to one of my favorite Ingrid Bergman films, my ears perked up upon hearing that name. I quickly realized they were not talking about the movie so I lost interest in their conversation. Some time shortly after I was in a store and while in the shoe department I heard some people nearby talking about Anastasia and Christian. What were the chances I would hear the name Anastasia twice in one week? It was not long before I kept hearing about these two individuals everywhere I went, from the office to the health club to any retail establishment; it was unreal how many people were talking about them. Feeling like I hadn’t been invited to the party I asked a couple of coworkers to explain to me who were these two people, Christian and Anastasia. After getting acquainted with these characters from author E.L. James’ 2011 book, 50 Shades of Grey, I became even more fascinated by their ability to draw so many people into their world. AFTER all this time I have finally been introduced to the infamous couple in this dramatic romance film based on the book. Dakota Johnson (Need for Speed, Beastly) and Jamie Dornan (Marie Antoinette, Shadows in the Sun) played Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey; she, a college student and he, a young successful business entrepreneur. If there is anyone left besides me who has not read the book, the story is about these two characters’ attraction to each other, though for different reasons. Starting with the screenplay written by Kelly Marcel (Saving Mr. Banks, Terra Nova-TV), I really wished E.L. James would have written it because I thought the script was poorly done, with some real awful lines. I do not know if it was due to the lack of chemistry between the two main stars (there was none), but I still do not understand what the attraction was for Christian. From her 1st entrance into his office to him suddenly flying out to see her at the hardware store where she worked, I just did not get it. Scenes seemed disjointed or maybe I should say they lacked the emotion one would expect for such a scene. Again I want to stress I did not read the book; but as for this movie, I found sitting through it to be a painful experience. However, maybe you should check with the majority of women at my viewing who were hooting and hollering whenever Christian took off any of his clothing.
1 2/3 stars
Flash Movie Review: Song One
Some people learn about someone from looking through their medicine cabinet. Who knows, you may discover they suffer from acid reflux, wear contact lenses or have sensitive teeth. Now I will admit if the door to the medicine cabinet is ajar, I will peek at what is visible without touching anything; so there will not be any fingerprints. So yes, I may know what type of hair shampoo a person likes or they are on an antibiotic; however, this does not reveal a true picture about the individual. If you really want to get to know someone, take a look at their music library. Based on the type of music they listen to can tell you a variety of things, such as they are an old-fashioned romantic or they must have had a relationship that had a bad breakup. I know if someone were to go through my music they would figure out I like to move because of the abundance of dance music in my library. Another aspect of music is its healing properties. How many of us have played a particular song over and over to heal a sad, heavy heart? Music has a way of providing us many gifts. AFTER a horrific accident Franny, played by Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises, Bride Wars), flew home after being away for several years, to be there for her brother Henry, played by Ben Rosenfield (A Most Violent Year, Boardwalk Empire-TV), and her estranged mother Karen, played by Mary Steenburgen (Last Vegas, The Help). Listening to her brother’s music, Franny sought out her brother’s favorite places to listen to his favorite artists so she could get to know him. This film festival nominee had a gentle story despite its tragic event. Anne was well suited for the role and I enjoyed her performance as I did Mary and Johnny Flynn (Something in the Air, Lotus Eaters) as James Forester. The music score was full of indie folk songs; at least that is how I would describe them. They were sweet but nothing memorable. The idea for this drama was admirable; I thought it was an interesting take on a familiar theme. The issue I had with this movie was it did not go far enough to be unique. There were times I felt I had already seen parts of it before. In addition, it was pretty easy to figure out how the story would play out. Despite these shortcomings I did not mind sitting through this drama; granted the main attraction for me was the music. On a final note, this film may have hit a few sour notes but it did prove again the power of music.
1 3/4 stars
Flash Movie Review: Wild Card
One possibility may be the amount of bright lights that never turn off. When you look at them then close your eyes, you can still see their shadows on the inside of your eyelids. I do not know, but is it possible the fact the lights stay on all the time represent never giving up hope to some individuals? There is something about the city of Las Vegas that takes a person’s dreams and inflates them to gigantic proportions. I tell everyone they need to see the city once because it is so over the top, not of earth. You see every form of humanity, some of them sitting at the slot machines and gaming tables with a hungry look on their faces and in their eyes. They are committed to the belief they will win. Their dreams will not let them stop until they have exhausted all available avenues. Though I do not gamble I can understand that momentary intoxication from taking a chance. It is like buying a lottery ticket; until they draw the winning numbers, you get to fantasize about what you would do with all that money. I am all for keeping dreams alive; but they have to be weighed against the cost, since money is not the only factor used in determining if a dream is a success. NICK Wild, played by Jason Statham (Killer Elite, Homefront), had a dream he was in Corsica quietly sailing across the sea. After an incident involving a mob boss’ son named Danny DeMarco, played by Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes-TV, Rocky Balboa), there was a good chance NIck would never see his dream or any other one come true. The fact this action drama starred Jason meant there was going to be some fight scenes in the story and there certainly were a few. I have to say they had a fun quality due to the way they were filmed. They were almost like a cartoon with their use of a variety of props and filming parts in slow motion for crisper detail. Directed by Simon West (The Expendables 2, Con Air) this crime story got off to a fine start with a good lead in. The cast choices were interesting with Michael Angarano (Red State, The Forbidden Kingdom) as Cyrus Kinnick, Hope Davis (Disconnect, About Schmidt) as Cassandra and Stanley Tucci (The Terminal, The Hunger Games franchise) as Baby. However, their characters were all odd to me. I never understood their motivation or why they were even there. The script had nothing going for it which only made it generic and a poor cousin to better films I have seen in this genre. I am afraid the movie studio took a gamble on this picture and lost. There were a few scenes with blood and violence in them.
1 3/4 stars
Flash Movie Review: The Loft
No matter what age, it is safe to say everyone wants to have some space they can call their own. A place important to them; where one could be surrounded by things that meant something only to them. As children some were lucky to have a treehouse, fort or maybe a swing set. Do you remember going from a crib to a bed? I actually remember how excited I was when the time came when I was finally getting a bed like everyone else. If in college you had to share a dorm room with another student, it was important for the roomies to stake out and acknowledge each other’s space. I lived in off campus housing where I had my own room but shared a kitchen with 6 other students. We were all respectful of each others’ food except for one guy who would “borrow” things and never replace them. It is funny when people co-habitate due to marriage or wanting to live in an expensive apartment they cannot afford by themselves, they still need a spot they can call their own. I am sure you have heard the term “man’s cave” referring to a place where a guy can do as they please; it may be something like a spare bedroom or a garage. It is a place where one can do what they want without infringing on someone else’s sensibilities. I have seen a variety of such places but nothing ever happened in them like what took place in this movie. KEEPING a high-rise penthouse secret from everyone else was paramount if this group of friends wanted to be able to use their place for whatever they so desired. That all changed however when one of the friends entered the loft and found a dead woman handcuffed to the bed. This dramatic thriller had as part of its cast Karl Urban (Star Trek franchise, Dredd) as Vincent Stevens, James Marsden (Enchanted, The Best of Me) as Chris Vanowen, Wentworth Miller (The Human Stain, Prison Break-TV) as Luke Seacord and Eric Stonestreet (Identity Thief, Modern Family-TV) as Marty Landry. Gratefully the acting was good overall by the cast. I liked the look of the film and thought the film’s beginning was a good start for this mystery. By the way it would be perfectly understandable if viewers were offended with the premise to this story; I had a bit of a challenge accepting it. Unfortunately the story quickly spiraled out of control with too many twists and turns, trying to keep everyone guessing on why there was a dead woman in the loft. I found parts of the story to be ridiculous, growing to dislike the characters. Maybe the movie studio should have kept this film a secret from us.
1 3/4 stars
