MOVIE - Maudie

PG-13 (1:55)

Limited release June 16, 2017

Viewed date at Carlisle Theater (downtown) onFirday, July 21, 2017
IMBd: 7.7/10

RT Critic: 90   Audience:  93
Critic's Consensus:  Maudie's talented cast -- particularly Sally Hawkins in the title role -- breathe much-needed depth into a story that only skims the surface of a fascinating life and talent.

Cag:  5.5.Loved it

Directed by Aisling Walsh

Sony Pictures Classics

Sally Hawkins, Ethan Hawke

My comments:  About halfway through the movie I realized that it had to be a biopic, based on a true story.  Had to be.  Maudie Lewis was Canada's Grandma Moses, born in 1903, died in 1970.  Sally Hawkins was amazing as a arthritically crippled painter, aging, becoming more bent and stooped while looking for the good in her curmudgeonly husband, played by Ethan Hawke.  He was pretty decent, too (but MUCH better looking than the real guy probably was), but Sally Hawkins stole the show completely.  Their actual life was lived in Nova Scotia, but the movie was filmed in Newfoundland and was just gorgeous.  The credits at the end of the film were interspersed with some of Maud Lewis's real paintings.  Superb movie, easily a five.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  MAUDIE, based on a true story, is an unlikely romance in which the reclusive Everett Lewis (Ethan Hawke) hires a fragile yet determined woman named Maudie (Sally Hawkins) to be his housekeeper. Maudie, bright-eyed but hunched with crippled hands, yearns to be independent, to live away from her protective family and she also yearns, passionately, to create art. Unexpectedly, Everett finds himself falling in love. MAUDIE charts Everett's efforts to protect himself from being hurt, Maudie's deep and abiding love for this difficult man and her surprising rise to fame as a folk painter.

MOVIE - Rules Don't Apply

PG-13

Wide release 11/23/16 - went to cheap theaters almost immediately

Viewed date at Century Gateway Friday, 12/9/16 MY LAST MOVIE IN TUCSON!!!

RT Critic: 56   Audience:  44
Critic's Consensus: With Rules Don't Apply, Warren Beatty takes an overall affable -- but undeniably slight -- look at a corner of old Hollywood under Howard Hughes' distinctive shadow.
IMbD Rating:  6.3/10 

Cag:  4

Directed by Warren Beatty

Twentieth Century Fox

Warren Beatty, Lily Collins

My comments: I came out of the theater feeling a little unsettled.  that's what the movie did for me, it was unsettling.  Some of it was much too long and drawn out, some of it was just delightful.  A lot of big names appeared here and there, and that was fun.  The two young leads had great rapport and I enjoyed the scenes with the two of them together most.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  An aspiring young actress (Lily Collins) and her ambitious young driver (Alden Ehrenreich) struggle hopefully with the absurd eccentricities of the wildly unpredictable billionaire, Howard Hughes, (Warren Beatty) for whom they work. It's Hollywood, 1958. Small town beauty queen, songwriter, and devout Baptist virgin Marla Mabrey (Collins), under contract to the infamous Howard Hughes (Beatty), arrives in Los Angeles. At the airport, she meets her driver Frank Forbes (Ehrenreich), who is engaged to be married to his 7th grade sweetheart and is a deeply religious Methodist. Their instant attraction not only puts their religious convictions to the test, but also defies Hughes' #1 rule: no employee is allowed to have any relationship whatsoever with a contract actress. Hughes' behavior intersects with Marla and Frank in very separate and unexpected ways, and as they are drawn deeper into his bizarre world, their values are challenged and their lives are changed.

MOVIE - Snowden

Rating/Time

Wide/Limited release

Viewed around the 20th of September, 2016

RT Critic:  61  Audience:  70
Critic's Consensus:  Snowden boasts a thrilling fact-based tale and a solid lead performance from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, even if director Oliver Stone saps the story of some of its impact by playing it safe.

Cag:  4.5/5

Directed by Oliver Stone

Open Road Films

Based on a true story

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley

My comments:  This is one that I stupidly never reviewed at the time.  I do remember that I was disappointed with its low ratings and that I enjoyed it more than I expected.  I remember learning a lot, and liking it.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Academy Award (R)-winning director Oliver Stone, who brought Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Wall Street and JFK to the big screen, tackles the most important and fascinating true story of the 21st century. Snowden, the politically-charged, pulse-pounding thriller starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shailene Woodley, reveals the incredible untold personal story of Edward Snowden, the polarizing figure who exposed shocking illegal surveillance activities by the NSA and became one of the most wanted men in the world. He is considered a hero by some, and a traitor by others. No matter which you believe, the epic story of why he did it, who he left behind, and how he pulled it off makes for one of the most compelling films of the year.