MOVIE - Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again

PG-13 (1:54)

7/20/18 Wide Release

Viewed 7/23/18 at Carlisle with Laura and Ella
IMBd: 7.3/10

RT Critic: 79   Audience:  76
Critic's Consensus:  Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again doubles down on just about everything fans loved about the original -- and my my, how can fans resist it?

Cag:  4/Liked it a lot - the music is awesome

Directed by Ol Parker

Universal Pictures

Based on the music of ABBA  (a 1970s rock group from Sweden)

Amanda Seyfried, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Andy Garcia, Cher, Meryl Streep

My comments:  Dancin' Queen....You can dance....you can jive....having the time of your life.....
I just returned from seeing this movie.  With some of it was disappointed, but with some of it I felt giddy.  Yup, giddy.  And the grand finale was GRAND!  Best part of the movie!!!  The scenes with the younger versions of the couples seemed over-acted to me, and a teeny, tiny bit off.  Loved it when the three females were performing together, young OR old.  The modern-time numbers were really wonderful.  As is the scenery...how would ANYONE want to leave that place?  Fantastic costumes, too.  And including Cher was a blast.  So. Much. Fun.  Ella really loved it, and immediately wondered if they'd make a number three!
      Perfect movie for three generations to watch together.

RT/ IMDb Summary:

MOVIE - Bridget Jones's Baby

R (2:03)

Wide release 9/16/16

Viewed 11/1/16 at Century Gateway
IMBd:  6.9/10

RT Critic: 76   Audience: 73
Critic's Consensus:  Bridget Jones's Baby might be late on arrival, but fans of the series should still find its third installment a bouncing bundle of joy.

Cag:  4/Liked it a lot

Directed by Sharon Maguire

Working Title

Colin Furth, Patrick Dempsey, Renee Zellweger, Emma Thompson

My comments:  I really didn't expect to like this movie (the trailers I saw led me to that conclusion), but I went anyways, because I LOVE Colin Furth.  So glad I did....it turned out to be very funny, and quite good, actually!

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Oscar (R) winners Renée Zellweger and Colin Firth are joined by Patrick Dempsey for the next chapter of the world's favorite singleton in Bridget Jones's Baby. Directed by Sharon Maguire (Bridget Jones's Diary), the new film in the beloved comedy series based on creator Helen Fielding's heroine finds Bridget unexpectedly expecting. After breaking up with Mark Darcy (Firth), Bridget Jones's (Zellweger) "happily ever after" hasn't quite gone according to plan. Fortysomething and single again, she decides to focus on her job as top news producer and surround herself with old friends and new. For once, Bridget has everything completely under control. What could possibly go wrong? Then her love life takes a turn and Bridget meets a dashing American named Jack (Dempsey), the suitor who is everything Mr. Darcy is not. In an unlikely twist she finds herself pregnant, but with one hitch...she can only be fifty percent sure of the identity of her baby's father.

MOVIE - The Railway Man

R (1:56)

Limited Release 4-11-14

Viewed at Carlisle Theater (reminds me so much of the Criterion, except it doesn't smell old and musty) Wed. 6-11-14

RT Critic: 66 Audience: 70

Cag: 4/Liked it a lot (I had to....It was Colin Firth....)

Directed by Jonathan Teplitzky

The Weinstein Company

Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Stellan Skarsgard, and a young man named Jeremy Irvine, who played the young Firth beautifully

My comments: I always love stories that are based on a true story, but always wonder how much is close to the truth and how much is fictionalized.  I really enjoy the way this one was told; overlapping present and past, reality and memory to piece everything together. I usually refuse to go to war movies, but this one (probably because of Firth) tempted me too much not to go.  What happened to the British prisoners, especially the protagonist, Eric Lomax, was more-than-horrible-and-horrifying, but it's good to get a good dose or reality once in awhile.  It's too bad that this is the reality, though....

I am NOT fond of Nicole Kidman at all.  This role didn't help me like her any more, although I guess she did an acceptable job.  I'm not even sure why I dislike her....just never liked any of the roles I've seen her do, I guess.....

Rotten Tomato Summary: Based on the remarkable bestselling autobiography, THE RAILWAY MAN tells the extraordinary and epic true story of Eric Lomax (Colin Firth), a British Army officer who is tormented as a prisoner of war at a Japanese labor camp during World War II. Decades later, Lomax and his beautiful love interest Patti (Nicole Kidman) discover that the Japanese interpreter responsible for much of his treatment is still alive and set out to confront him, and his haunting past, in this powerful and inspiring tale of heroism, humanity and the redeeming power of love.

MOVIE - The King's Speech

Wow - AMAZING acting - My favorite so far this year
Limited release (WHY Limited???) 11-26-10
R (for language - sort of crazy!)
1:51
1-5-11 at El Con with Sheila
RT 95 cag 97
Director: Tim Hopper

Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter,

Prince Albert...."Bertie"...soon to be King George VI....has had a debilitating stammer since he was five years old. Speeches, especially in the 1930's when radio speeches were listened to by the entire country, were of the utmost importance. Not only was Bertie paralyzed by this, it made the entire country uncomfortable.

Bertie had a really cool wife (I remember her as an elderly woman, the "Queen Mother") who adored her husband and supported him. She sought out Lionel ......, an expert speech coach. He is unorthodox, clever, and funny. Bertie and Lionel don't hit it off....at all....at first. But the relationship that grows between them, and the help and confidence that he's able to give the king, is fascinating to watch.

How did Colin Firth pull this off? The stammering. Stuttering. Agony in his clenched jaw. Rage. Tenderness. Wow oh wow. He did an amazing job. As did Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush. Wow.

(Woven into Bertie's story is Lionel's story. I love they way we meet his wife and sons. The entire movie was clever, solid, well-written, and blew me away.) It was funny too!

MOVIE - A Single Man

Colin Furth, still my favorite actor, does himself proud.
Released 12/11/09
R (1:39)
2/21/10 at Crossroads all by myself - but the theater was full of an "older" audience, I had lots of company...
Fandango: 77/100
RT: 85% cag: 90%
Director: Tom Ford

Colin Furth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode

It doesn't matter if you're straight, gay, or a rabbit, we mourn when we lose the ones we love. Professor George .......... ( darn, I forgot his last name) teaches English in a Los Angeles area college in the mmmmmm......late 50s? I don't know cars enough to tell for sure, but the costumes looked like 50s to me. He has spent the eight months since his partner died existing in a daze, and he decides he doesn't want to live anymore. We follow him through his day, through his preparations - everything must be neat and tidy and wrapped up - until something interesting and somewhat extraordinary happens - and we are treated to a surprise ending.

I love the way that the story unfolds in flashbacks. The next-door neighbor family is a nice touch and there is one scene that was quite funny - even though it really wouldn't be funny at all. Colin Furth was extraordinary. Exemplary. Wow. He ALWAYS gets my vote, but this time he's bound to get a lot more than just mine! ! ! !

MOVIE: Mamma Mia!

Rating: A Blast - Fun & Funny
Viewed: Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008
Rotten Tomato Rating: 54% (Rotten)
Mine: At least 15 pts. higher
EW: C+ cag: B+
Genre: Comedy
PG-13 (1 hr. 48 min.)

Okay, I admit it...I went to see this movie because Colin Furth was in it. I make it a firm practice to see him in ANYTHING. He was great, of course. And what fun! I saw the musical on stage at UofA Presents in Tucson a couple of years ago, so I knew the storyline and the music - you'd have to have been dead for the last twenty years not to know most of the ABBA songs. I especially loved the boat scene when the three men break into "Our Last Summer".

Julie Walters and Christine Baranski are a double hoot! Musical AND funny. Laugh-out-loud funny. And when Meryl Streep starts belting out "The Winner Takes It All" from the Greek hillside, you can't help but get goosebumps. I got a little tired of all the rushing around the patios of the falling-apart villa/hotel, arms flying, and poor Pierce Brosnan tried really hard to sing (you could hear tittering all over the theater when this happened, you just couldn't help it). And the full-cast singing act during the credits was worth waiting for!

Pure entertainment. Pure fun. These actors really appeared to be enjoying themselves, and I'd go see it again in a minute - and listen to the cd to boot!

Rotten Tomatoes CONSENSUS: " This jukebox musical is full of fluffy fun but rough singing voices and a campy tone might not make you feel like "You Can Dance" the whole 90 minutes." I guess I can go along with that.