MOVIE - A Simple Favor

R (1:56)

Wide release 9/14/18

Viewed 9/18/2018

RT Critic: 85   Audience:  77
Critic's Consensus:  Twisty, twisted, and above all simply fun, A Simple Favor casts a stylish mommy noir spell strengthened by potent performances from Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively.

Cag:  4.5
Directed by Paul Feig

Lionsgate 

Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding

My comments:   This was a really cool, interesting movie that I liked a lot.  You knew right from the beginning that this was going to be bizarre, and it ended up being well acted as well as having an intriguing storyline.  I went to see it because of Anna Kendrick, but having Blake Lively and Henry Golding as the other protagonists made it just perfect.  Greatly enjoyed.

RT/ IMDb Summary  A SIMPLE FAVOR, a stylish post-modern film noir directed by Paul Feig, centers around Stephanie (Anna Kendrick), a mommy blogger who seeks to uncover the truth behind her best friend Emily's (Blake Lively) sudden disappearance from their small town. Stephanie is joined by Emily's husband Sean (Henry Golding) in this thriller filled with twists and betrayals, secrets and revelations, love and loyalty, murder and revenge.

MOVIE - Table 19

PG-13

Limited release 3/3/17

Viewed Friday, March 10, 2017
IMBd: 5.8/10

RT Critic:  23  Audience:  42
Critic's Consensus:  Table 19 is marginally more entertaining than actually sitting with a table full of strangers at a wedding -- although most screenings won't come with an open bar, which makes it a wash.

Cag: 1/Didn’t like it

Directed by Jeffrey Blitz

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Anna Kendrick, Lisa Kudrow, June Squibb

My comments:  What an incredible disappointment and waste of good talent.  What I thought would be a fun, funny movie was neither.  Everything fell flat.  I love Anna Kendrick, but this whole thing was just one big mess.  Not even funny.  Not funny at all.  Even what was supposed to be funny was not.  And although it seemed to be billed as a comedy, nope.  Yuck.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Ex-maid of honor Eloise- having been relieved of her duties after being unceremoniously dumped by the best man via text - decides to hold her head up high and attend her oldest friend's wedding anyway. She finds herself seated at the 'random' table in the back of the ballroom with a disparate group of strangers, most of whom should have known to just send regrets. As everyone's secrets are revealed, Eloise learns a thing or two from the denizens of Table 19. Friendships - and even a little romance - can happen under the most unlikely circumstances.

MOVIE - The Accountant

R (2:08)

Wide 10.8.16

Viewed 10.17.16 at Park Place

RT Critic:  49  Audience:  87
Critic's Consensus:  The Accountant writes off a committed performance from Ben Affleck, leaving viewers with a scattershot action thriller beset by an array of ill-advised deductions.

Cag:  5/Loved it

Directed by Gavin O'Connor

Warner Brothers Pictures

Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J. T. Simmons, John Lithgow, Jeffrey Tambor

My comments:  I loved this movie.  Some of the critics didn't...probably because it was all wrapped up in a neat little bow, which is what I really loved about it.  Bill Dubuque, who wrote the screenplay, was brilliant.  He took a number of seemingly different vignettes and wove them together to make one story.  He must have needed a wall to map it out!  Spectacular storytelling!   Yup, violence, and killing...but sweetness and humor and a grand mystery as well. And Asberger's.  And love, although it definitely wasn't a love story per se.  Top it off with small roles for both John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor (and fantastic parts for Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, and J. T. Simmons) and this became a real winner for me...one of my favorites so far this year!

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Christian Wolff is a math savant with more affinity for numbers than people. Behind the cover of a small-town CPA office, he works as a freelance accountant for some of the world's most dangerous criminal organizations. With the Treasury Department's Crime Enforcement Division, run by Ray King, starting to close in, Christian takes on a legitimate client: a state-of-the-art robotics company where an accounting clerk has discovered a discrepancy involving millions of dollars. But as Christian uncooks the books and gets closer to the truth, it is the body count that starts to rise.

MOVIE - The Hollars

PG-13 (1:28)

Limited release 8/26/16

Viewed September 2016 somewhere in Tucson

RT Critic:  44  Audience:  58
Critic's Consensus:  The Hollar sgathers an impressive assortment of talented stars; unfortunately, it's all in service of a story that's been played out more effectively in countless other indie dramedies

Cag:  4
Directed by John Krasinski !!

Sony Pictures Classics

John Krasisnki, Anna Kendrick, Richard Jenkins, Margo Martindale

My comments:  I didn't take notes after watching this, and am writing this at least 100 movies later!  But I remember liking it a whole lot, and although it was sad, didn't feel too depressed afterwards, what you'd probably refer to as a dramady?    I also remember enjoying all the actors, some of my favorites.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  John Hollar, a struggling NYC artist is forced to navigate the small middle-American town he left behind when news of his mother's illness brings him home. Back in the house he grew up in, John is immediately swept up in the problems of his dysfunctional family, high school rival, and an over-eager ex-girlfriend as he faces impending fatherhood with his girlfriend in New York. From a script by Jim Strouse that is at turns hilarious and heartbreaking, John Krasinski's second feature is a poignant look at the bonds of family and friendship.

MOVIE - Into the Woods

PG (2:04)

Wide release 12/25/15

Roadhouse Cinema Friday 1/9/15 with Cyra

RT Critic: 72   Audience:   58

Cag: 2/It was okay....

Directed by Rob Marshal

Walt Disney Pictures

Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Johnny Depp, 

My comments:  Well, I loved being at the Roadhouse.  I enjoyed the music, the set, and the costumes.  But the story, the plot, the way it all went together just didn't do it for me.  You were expected to know the stories (Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk...and I'm still not sure about the baker, his wife, and the witch) so that big important chunks were only discussed after the fact.  The interlude with the baker's wife and Prince Charming (Chris Pine nailed this)????   (My favorite scene was the one between Prince Charming and his brother, Rapunzel's beau, at the waterfall.) What happened to the witch at the end...and why?  Interesting to note:  Some of the audience broke into applause at the end (and the ending stunk).

Google Summary:  As the result of the curse of a once-beautiful witch (Meryl Streep), a baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) are childless. Three days before the rise of a blue moon, they venture into the forest to find the ingredients that will reverse the spell and restore the witch's beauty: a milk-white cow, hair as yellow as corn, a blood-red cape, and a slipper of gold. During their journey, they meet Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Jack, each one on a quest to fulfill a wish.
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