Movie - Power of the Dog

R (2:08)

Released 11/17, Streaming began on 12/1

Viewed probably early January at home, streamed for a short time on Netflix

IMBd: 7/10

RT Critic: 95   Audience:  82

Critic's Consensus:  Brought to life by a stellar ensemble led by Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog reaffirms writer-director Jane Campion as one of her generation's finest filmmakers

Cag:  5 It was a great, even wonderful movie, but I didn't love it (see comments below)

Directed by Jane Campion

Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst

My comments:  Talk about a powerful movie!  Slow.  And dark, very dark.  There's no joy at all in this, but it's definitely a thinker!  At first I didn't think I liked it much, and my end feeling is similar.  But it's a GREAT movie.  So hard to rate when you don't really like what happens but it's put together in a spectacular package.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Severe, pale-eyed, handsome, Phil Burbank is brutally beguiling. All of Phil's romance, power and fragility is trapped in the past and in the land: He can castrate a bull calf with two swift slashes of his knife; he swims naked in the river, smearing his body with mud. He is a cowboy as raw as his hides. The year is 1925. The Burbank brothers are wealthy ranchers in Montana. At the Red Mill restaurant on their way to market, the brothers meet Rose, the widowed proprietress, and her impressionable son Peter. Phil behaves so cruelly he drives them both to tears, reveling in their hurt and rousing his fellow cowhands to laughter -- all except his brother George, who comforts Rose then returns to marry her. As Phil swings between fury and cunning, his taunting of Rose takes an eerie form -- he hovers at the edges of her vision, whistling a tune she can no longer play. His mockery of her son is more overt, amplified by the cheering of Phil's cowhand disciples. Then Phil appears to take the boy under his wing. Is this latest gesture a softening that leaves Phil exposed, or a plot twisting further into menace?

This hits the nail on the head:  In The Power of the Dog, Jane Campion’s first feature since 2009’s Bright Star, two very different brothers come to blows about the best way to run their family’s ranch — and their lives — in 1920s Montana. Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) is greatly displeased when, during a cattle drive, his brother George (Jesse Plemons) becomes smitten with a widowed inn owner named Rose (Kirsten Dunst). She’s the mother of a sweet, gangly, effeminate young man, Peter (the extraordinary Kodi Smit-McPhee), and when she and George marry, Phil makes it his mission to bully and unsettle his new family members: Rose, because he thinks she’s after George’s money, and Peter because of his lisp and gentle ways.

This is a gorgeous, smoldering film with an all-star ensemble cast, anchored by Cumberbatch playing against type as the towering and quietly terrifying Phil. A haunting score by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood leads the audience through the awesome tableaus of the American West (New Zealand, technically) and drip-feeds us with a mounting sense of isolation and dread. It’s a slow build, and for most of the time, I had no idea where this was all heading — which only made its shocking but well-earned ending all the more gratifying. —Shannon Keating

MOVIE - Green Book

PG-13 (2:10)

Wide release 11/21/19

Viewed 12/27/18 at Carlisle Theater with Sandy
IMBd: 8.3/10

RT Critic:  82  Audience: 94
Critic's Consensus:   Green Booktakes audiences on a surprisingly smooth ride through potentially bumpy subject matter, fueled by Peter Farrelly's deft touch and a pair of well-matched leads.

Cag:  5

Directed by Peter Farrelly 

Universal Pictures

Based on a true story

Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, Linda Cardellini

My comments:  I wish they had chosen another name for this movie.  I can understand why they used it and how hard it might'v been to come up with a proper title, but this wasn't a good one for such a wonderful movie.  Based on a true story (I always wonder how much), it takes us back to the early 60s into the black and white communities of the deep South.  Oh, how I get pissed off!  It's all about a tough white Italian American from the Bronx taking on the job of driver for two months for a cultured black pianist who is performing in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, etc.  It's about how they slowly come around to becoming not just employer/employee, but like-minded friends.  Lots of gentle humor, earnestness, and head-shaking, maddening prejudice.

RT/ IMDb Summary  When Tony Lip (Mortensen), a bouncer from an Italian-American neighborhood in the Bronx, is hired to drive Dr. Don Shirley (Ali), a world-class Black pianist, on a concert tour from Manhattan to the Deep South, they must rely on "The Green Book" to guide them to the few establishments that were then safe for African-Americans. Confronted with racism, danger-as well as unexpected humanity and humor-they are forced to set aside differences to survive and thrive on the journey of a lifetime.

MOVIE - The Bookshop

PG (1:53)

Limited release 8/24/18

Viewed 10/25/18 at Carlisle Downtown Theater with Gunner and Sandy

RT Critic: 54   Audience:  48
Critic's Consensus:  A rare adaptation that sticks too closely to its source material, The Bookshop's meticulously crafted world building gets lost in its meandering pace.

Cag:  1.5  Didn't like it at all

Directed by Isabel Coixet

Greenwich Entertainment

Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy, Patricia Clarkson

RT/ IMDb Summary:  England, 1959. Free-spirited widow Florence Green (Emily Mortimer) risks everything to open a bookshop in a conservative East Anglian coastal town. While bringing about a surprising cultural awakening through works by Ray Bradbury and Vladimir Nabokov, she earns the polite but ruthless opposition of a local grand dame (Patricia Clarkson) and the support and affection of a reclusive book loving widower (Bill Nighy). As Florence's obstacles amass and bear suspicious signs of a local power struggle, she is forced to ask: is there a place for a bookshop in a town that may not want one? Based on Penelope Fitzgerald's acclaimed novel and directed by Isabel Coixet (Learning to Drive), The Bookshop is an elegant yet incisive rendering of personal resolve, tested in the battle for the soul of a community.

MOVIE - Puzzle

R (1:43)

Limited release 7/27/18

Viewed 10/16/18 at Gettysburg Majestic

RT Critic: 83   Audience:  83
Critic's Consensus:  Puzzle transcends its quirky premise with honest emotion -- and Kelly Macdonald, whose nicely understated performance proves she's too often underutilized.

Cag:  4.5

Directed by Marc Turtletaub

Sony Pictures Classic

My comments:  An interesting, thoughtful, very believable movie about good people with good intentions, but with different expectations.  One of those movies that make you think a lot.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  PUZZLE is a closely observed portrait of Agnes, who has reached her early 40s without ever venturing far from home, family or the tight-knit immigrant community in which she was raised by her widowed father. That begins to change in a quietly dramatic fashion when Agnes receives a jigsaw puzzle as a birthday gift and experiences the heady thrill of not only doing something she enjoys, but being very, very good at it.

MOVIE - BlackKklansman

R (2:15)

Wide release 8/10/18

Viewed 9/12/2018

RT Critic: 95  Audience:  82
Critic's Consensus:  BlacKkKlansman uses history to offer bitingly trenchant commentary on current events -- and brings out some of Spike Lee's hardest-hitting work in decades along the way.

Cag:  5

Directed by Spike Lee

Focus Features

John David Washington, Adam Driver, Topher Grace

My comments:  So many emotions filled me as I watched this movie - outrage, disbelief, laughter.  I was so appalled because I don't want to realize the prejudices that some people feel so incredibly strongly.  It's........sick.  The movie was quite brilliant, but I thought it would be more of a comedy, not realizing how incredibly difficult it would be to watch.  Wow.  And I do adore Adam Driver.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  From visionary filmmaker Spike Lee comes the incredible true story of an American hero. It's the early 1970s, and Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) is the first African-American detective to serve in the Colorado Springs Police Department. Determined to make a name for himself, Stallworth bravely sets out on a dangerous mission: infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan. The young detective soon recruits a more seasoned colleague, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), into the undercover investigation of a lifetime. Together, they team up to take down the extremist hate group as the organization aims to sanitize its violent rhetoric to appeal to the mainstream. Produced by the team behind the Academy-Award (R) winning Get Out.

MOVIE - Beautifully Broken

PG-13 (1:48)

Limited release 8/24/18

Viewed 9/2/18 at Gettysburg Outlet Mall

RT Critic: 67   Audience:  94
Critic's Consensus:  There was none for this one

Cag:  4.5

Directed by Eric Welch

ArtAffects Entertainment

Based on a true story

My comments:  A tearjerker.  The retelling of the story of three families and the genocide in Rwanda beginning in 1994.  Two of the families are very religious, and there's a strong Christian belief-in-God that makes up part of the foundation of the story.  But even for a non-believer -- this non-believer in particular -- the story was more than righteous.  We can all help.  We can all make a difference in the world.  All it takes is a little love, a little compassion, a little understanding, and a dose of hope.  With or without religion, doesn't matter.  I love the way all three stories intertwined - and if it weren't true I would definitely say there were too many coincidences!  At the end, just before the credits, it explains what happened to the people involved in the story and then ends with a wonderful message from one of the protagonists.
Legacy Mission Village, First Presbyterian Church of Nashville.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  A refugee's escape, a prisoner's promise, and a daughter's painful secret all converge, causing their lives to become intertwined in ways they could have never imagined. As three fathers fight to save their families, they are led on an unlikely journey across the globe, where they learn the healing power of forgiveness and reconciliation.

MOVIE - Eighth Grade

R (1:34)

Wide release 8/3/18

Viewed 8/6/18
IMBd: 7.5

RT Critic:  99  Audience:  83
Critic's Consensus:  Eighth Grade takes a look at its titular time period that offers a rare and resounding ring of truth while heralding breakthroughs for writer-director Bo Burnham and captivating star Elsie Fisher.

Cag:  2/Bleh...it was okay, I guess

Directed by Bo Burnham, who also wrote it

Studio A24

My comments:  This movie was painful.  Difficult to believe.  Even weird kids have friends (most of the time), and Kayla isn't weird.  She's average.  Nothing-special looks, almost cute other than she doesn't stand up straight.  Probably an average student.  Thoughtful.  She seems to lack self-confidence, but that again is "average."  But she would have friends, of this I am certain. (I was a teacher in three different K-8 schools, for some of the years actually teaching 8th grade). This movie depicts her a being totally friendless.  No way.  Probably one of the biggest themes in the movie is the social networking that's happening in kids' lives now.

RT/ IMDb Summary  Thirteen-year-old Kayla endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school--the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year before she begins high school.

MOVIE - Disobedience

R (1:54)

Limited release 4/27/2018

Viewed Thursday, June 21, 2018 at Majestic in Gettysburg
IMBd:  6.8/10

T Critic:  84  Audience: 80
Critic's Consensus:  Disobedience explores a variety of thought-provoking themes, bolstered by gripping work from leads Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, and Alessandro Nivola.

Cag: 5 It was really wonderful

Directed by Sebastian Lelio

Bleecker Street

Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, Alessandro Nivola

My comments:  Another powerful movie with exceptional performances.  Whoa, being gay in an Orthodox Jewish community!  Totally impossible, "Disobedience" showed a depth of humanity and love in the Orthodox Jewish community which, as much as I'd love to believe might happen, truly can't imagine that it would.  For most of the movie you get "typical" reactions from people.  Yes, my heart broke for a young woman of faith who was definitely not heterosexual, choosing to follow the beliefs she was raised with and marry a man she did care about but was not attracted to.  My heart broke even more for her husband, who ended up being an incredibly honest, loving, spiritual man.  The kind of spiritual leader that I could definitely believe in myself, and would help to heal our world.  Oh yes, I shed some tears, and I walked out of the theater thinking, "what could possible be the next step in a story like this one?"  Well done, well done.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  From Sebastián Lelio, the director of the Academy Award-winning A Fantastic Woman, the film follows a woman as she returns to the community that shunned her decades earlier for an attraction to a childhood friend. Once back, their passions reignite as they explore the boundaries of faith and sexuality. Written by Lelio and Rebecca Lenkiewicz and based on Naomi Alderman's book, the film stars Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams and Alessandro Nivola.

MOVIE - Call Me By Your Name

R (2:10)

Wide release 1/19/18

Viewed February 24, 2018 somewhere in PA
IMBd:   8.0

RT Critic:  95  Audience: 85
Critic's Consensus:  Call Me by Your Name offers a melancholy, powerfully affecting portrait of first love, empathetically acted by Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer.

Cag:  5/Loved it

Directed by Luca Guadagnino
Written by James Ivory, and based on the book of the same title

Sony Pictures Classics

Armie Hammer, Timothee Chalamet

My comments:  How can you go wrong with a lush set and setting in northern Italy; two wonderful, likable protagonists - one adorable and one gorgeous - and a lovely love story?  Then throw in some particularly cool music, a thundering powerful waterfall, a few different romantic languages and you have this great indie movie.  I liked it a lot.  It was so weird that when the movie ended, the entire very-full movie theater was totally silent for quite a few minutes, even as they collected their belongings and got up to leave.  (I wish I could have the script to the father's soliloquy to the son near the very end of the movie.  It was pretty cool.)

RT/ IMDb Summary:  CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, the new film by Luca Guadagnino, is a sensual and transcendent tale of first love, based on the acclaimed novel by André Aciman. It's the summer of 1983 in the north of Italy, and Elio Perlman (Timothée Chalamet), a precocious 17- year-old American-Italian, spends his days in his family's 17th century villa transcribing and playing classical music, reading, and flirting with his friend Marzia (Esther Garrel). Elio enjoys a close relationship with his father (Michael Stuhlbarg), an eminent professor specializing in Greco-Roman culture, and his mother Annella (Amira Casar), a translator, who favor him with the fruits of high culture in a setting that overflows with natural delights. While Elio's sophistication and intellectual gifts suggest he is already a fully-fledged adult, there is much that yet remains innocent and unformed about him, particularly about matters of the heart. One day, Oliver (Armie Hammer), a charming American scholar working on his doctorate, arrives as the annual summer intern tasked with helping Elio's father. Amid the sun-drenched splendor of the setting, Elio and Oliver discover the heady beauty of awakening desire over the course of a summer that will alter their lives forever.

MOVIE - 3 Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

R (1:55)
Wide release 12/1/17 (But hard to find around here)

Viewed January 11, 2018
IMBd: 8.2

RT Critic:  92   Audience:  87
Critic's Consensus:  Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri deftly balances black comedy against searing drama -- and draws unforgettable performances from its veteran cast along the way.

Cag:  5.5 Incredible acting

Directed by Martin McDonagh (who also wrote it)

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Peter Dinklage

My comments:  I snorted, I rolled my eyes, I got sad twinges in my stomach, I laughed, I was horrified, and I was constantly surprised.  Now that's a movie that takes you through efery emotion like you are on a short but sweet roller coaster ride.  I must admit the opening bars -- or even more than just the opening bars -- made me cringe.  It was opera; shrill, screechy opera.  My muscles were tense from the onset and I'm so glad that the rest of the music was totally acceptable after that bad start.  This was an amazing movie, with actors and actresses that have earned my standing ovation.  So many emotions, and they all rang true!  Definitely a winner.  There was one side story that was harder than I would've guessed at this pint in my life would be quite as difficult as it was, which brought back Steve' battle 17 years ago.  That was a little hard.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI is a darkly comic drama from Academy Award winner Martin McDonagh (IN BRUGES). After months have passed without a culprit in her daughter's murder case, Mildred Hayes (Academy Award winner Frances McDormand) makes a bold move, painting three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at William Willoughby (Academy Award nominee Woody Harrelson), the town's revered chief of police. When his second-in-command Officer Dixon (Sam Rockwell), an immature mother's boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing's law enforcement is only exacerbated.

MOVIE - Wonder

PG (1:53)

Wide release 11/17/17

Viewed around 12/1/17: 

RT Critic: 84   Audience:  88
Critic's Consensus:  Wonder doesn't shy away from its bestselling source material's sentiment, but this well-acted and overall winsome drama earns its tugs at the heartstrings.

Cag: 5/Loved it 

Directed by Stephen Chbosky

Lionsgate

Based on the book by Patricia Polaccio

Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson

My comments:  The ultimate feel-good movie.  They did a really good job re-creating the book, choosing excellent actors and creating a wonderful setting for the two schools and the city of New York.  Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson were almost too perfect playing the parents of Augie.  I really enjoyed the weaving of the story of Augie with the story of his sister, Via, who was four years older.  Hooray to R. J. Palaccio for writing such a heartwarming story, which I've not only read to myself, but shared aloud with two or three different groups of kids.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Based on the New York Times bestseller, WONDER tells the inspiring and heartwarming story of August Pullman. Born with facial differences that, up until now, have prevented him from going to a mainstream school, Auggie becomes the most unlikely of heroes when he enters the local fifth grade. As his family, his new classmates, and the larger community all struggle to find their compassion and acceptance, Auggie's extraordinary journey will unite them all and prove you can't blend in when you were born to stand out.

MOVIE - The Midwife

Not Rated (1:57)

Limited release 7/21/17

Viewed Saturday evening, August 12, 2017 at The Carlisle Cinema (by myself)
IMBd: 7.0/10

RT Critic:  83  Audience:  83
Critic's Consensus:  The Midwifetakes a rewardingly patient approach to potentially melodramatic material, emerging with a well-acted, emotionally resonant character study.

Cag: 4/Liked it quite well

Directed by Martin Provost

Music Box Films

In French, with subtitles

Catherine Deneuve

My comments:  A French film with subtitles and Catherine Deneuve.  Claire is a 48-year old single woman who happens to be a fantastic midwife in a hospital that appears to be in a suburb of Paris.  She lives a simple life:  working the night shift, riding her bicycle back-an-forth to work, climbing four flights to her small apartment because the elevator is frequently broken, and caring for her garden on a small plot of land along the Seine.  Her 20-something son, Simon, is in medical school.  Everything changes, however, when the woman who had been her father's mistress 35 years earlier shows up and forces herself back into Claire's life.  Claire is very reluctant, feeling that Beatrice had abandoned both her and her father all those years before.  Claire meets a man (an interestingly unattractive one at that - hurray for the filmmakers!) loses, her much-loved job because the hospital is taken over by a conglomerate, and even her son't course in life veers off.  This is quite an interesting, captivating tale.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Two of French cinema's biggest stars shine in this bittersweet drama about the unlikely friendship that develops between Claire (Catherine Frot), a talented but tightly wound midwife, and Béatrice (Catherine Deneuve), the estranged, free-spirited mistress of Claire's late father. Though polar opposites in almost every way, the two come to rely on each other as they cope with the unusual circumstance that brought them together in this sharp character study from the César-award winning director Martin Provost (Séraphine).

MOVIE - Beatriz at Dinner

R (1:23)

Limited 6/9/17

Viewed 6/30 at Carlisle Theater
IMBd: 6.5/10

RT Critic:  76  Audience:  69
Critic's Consensus:  Beatriz at Dinner offers timely social commentary enlivened by powerful, layered performances from Salma Hayek and John Lithgow.

Cag:  It should have been a 6 (awesome) but ended up being just so-so

Directed by Miguel Arteta

Roadside Attractions

Based on the book by

John Lithgow, Salma Hayek

My comments:  Another totally wonky ending.  Enough already!  Too many of these lately, another one that made no sense to me, only pissed me off... Spoiler: I realize that mental illness took a jump into this film.  You could see it coming...depression, then hyper-talking, then long silences. I know that depression and other kinds of mental illness are what spawn many suicides.   However, I still find them very difficult to accept and/or understand.  And in this case, she let him win!  This movie had such great possibilities.....

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Beatriz, an immigrant from a poor town in Mexico, has drawn on her innate kindness to build a career as a health practitioner in Southern California. Don Strutt is a real estate developer whose cutthroat tactics have made him a self-made, self-satisfied billionaire. When these two polar opposites meet at a dinner party, their worlds collide and neither will ever be the same.

MOVIE - Norman

R (1:58)

Limited release 4/14/2017

Viewed June 1, 2017 at Downtown Carlisle Theater
IMBd: 6.2/10

RT Critic: 89   Audience:  57
Critic's Consensus:  Norman's elegantly told story is brought brilliantly to life by a quietly powerful performance from Richard Gere.

Cag:  3.5 

Directed by Joseph Cedar

Sony Pictures Classics

Richard Gere, Michael Sheen

My comments:  I was a little confused at first, which unsettled me a bit.  So it took me about the first half of the film to get into it and relax.  Once I completely realized what was happening, I went with the flow.  There was some interesting cinematography, juxtaposing conversations in two different places on the same screen in a really interesting way.  Quickie, almost cameos, by some really good actors.  All in all, I'm glad I went.  I also realized that this beautiful old theater in downtown Carlisle must have been created by the same architect that created the Critereon in Bar Harbor, Maine.  They are so alike!

RT/ IMDb Summary:   Norman Oppenheimer is a small time operator who befriends a young politician at a low point in his life. Three years later, when the politician becomes an influential world leader, Norman's life dramatically changes for better and worse.

MOVIE - Gifted

PG-13 (1:41)

Limited release 4/7/17

Viewed date 4/24/2017

RT Critic:  72  Audience:  85
Critic's Consensus:  Gifted isn't quite as bright as its pint-sized protagonist, but a charming cast wrings respectably engaging drama out of a fairly predictable premise.

Cag:  5 - It was really, really good

Directed by Marc Webb

Chris Evans, Octavia Spencer

My comments:  How do you know when yo're rating a movie on its merits or in the way it makes you feel and think?  What are the kind of criteria tht people use when writing a movie review?  Acting?  Stoy?  Characters and setting?  More and more, for me, it's how it makes me feel and think when I walk out of the darkened auditorium after the credits hae rolled.  There were only five of us in the theater, but I don't think there were many more in the other seven auditoriums on this Monday night.
     I loved this movie.  I loved the actors - Chris Evans is becoming a favorite.  I love that it was about a precocious kid.  I loved that it had heart ans surprises and even that I shed a tear or two.  Was it a great movie?  It was for me.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Frank Adler (Chris Evans) is a single man raising a child prodigy - his spirited young niece Mary (Mckenna Grace) - in a coastal town in Florida. Frank's plans for a normal school life for Mary are foiled when the seven-year-old's mathematical abilities come to the attention of Frank's formidable mother Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan) whose plans for her granddaughter threaten to separate Frank and Mary. Octavia Spencer plays Roberta, Frank and Mary's landlady and best friend. Jenny Slate is Mary's teacher, Bonnie, a young woman whose concern for her student develops into a connection with her uncle as well

MOVIE - Denial

PG-13 (1:50)

Limited release 9/30/16

Viewed 10/24/16 with Sheila (& others?)
IMBd: 6.3/10

RT Critic: 81   Audience:  75
Critic's Consensus:  If Denialdoesn't quite do its incredible story complete justice, it comes close enough to offer a satisfying, impactful drama -- and another powerful performance from Rachel Weisz.

Cag: 4/liked it a lot

Directed by Mick Jackson

Participant Media

Based on a true story

Rachel Wiesz, Tom Wilkerson

My comments:  Saw this with Sheila and had a bit of a talk about it afterwards.  Learned a lot about the British justice/legal system, lots of things are different from the US.  Hard to believe that people actually either believe that the Holocaust never happened or want to totally erase it from history.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Based on the acclaimed book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier, DENIAL recounts Deborah E. Lipstadt's (Academy Award (R) winner Rachel Weisz) legal battle for historical truth against David Irving (Cannes Award winner Timothy Spall), who accused her of libel when she declared him a Holocaust denier. In the English legal system, the burden of proof is on the accused, therefore it was up to Lipstadt and her legal team to prove the essential truth that the Holocaust occurred.

MOVIE - War Dogs

R (1:54)

Wide Release 8/19/16

Viewed at Roadhouse Cinema on Tuesday 9/13/16

RT Critic:  61  Audience:  73
Critic's Consensus:   War Dogs rises on the strength of Jonah Hill's compelling performance to take a lightly entertaining look at troubling real-world events.

Cag:  4.5 Liked it - and learned a lot - from it (and I don't consider it a comedy!)

Directed by Todd Phillips

Warner Brothers Studio

Miles Teller, Jonah Hill, Bradley Cooper, Kevin Pollack

My comments:  I enjoyed this movie, and since it was based on a true story, truly eye-opening.  I've turned a blind eye to all the crazy government spending, especially when it comes to the military, but this movie is a should-watch for everyone in the US!  Both leads portray their characters really well, I've been an especially strong fan of Miles Teller, so I particularly enjoyed watching his performance in this movie.

RT Summary:  Two friends in their early 20s living in Miami Beach during the Iraq War, exploit a little-known government initiative that allows small businesses to bid on U.S. Military contracts. Starting small, they begin raking in big money and are living the high life. But the pair gets in over their heads when they land a 300 million dollar deal to arm the Afghan Military—a deal that puts them in business with some very shady people, not the least of which turns out to be the U.S. Government.

MOVIE - Leviathan

R (2:20)

Limited release 12/25/2014

The Loft with Sheila on March 5. 2015

RT Critic: 99 Audience: 81

Cag: 3.5 - I liked it but it was really bleak (as I say below) and depressing

Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev

Sony Pictures Classics
In Russian, with subtitles

My comments:  A bleak, interesting story that takes place somewhere on the coast of Russia, in an economically deprived village that sports a fishery where most of the women seem to work.  The mayor is out to get the land of a hard-working mechanic who is incredibly down-on-his-luck.  This is the story of a family, a community, and sneaking in and snaking around it all is the Catholic Church. Corruption.  Sadness.  Bleak. (And it didn't really help that I didn't "click" with the protagonist.)

RT Summary:  The latest drama from Andrey Zvyagintsev, the acclaimed director of The Return (Venice Film Festival Golden Lion winner and Golden Globe nominee). Kolya (Alexeï Serebriakov) lives in a small fishing town near the stunning Barents Sea in Northern Russia. He owns an auto-repair shop that stands right next to the house where he lives with his young wife Lilya (Elena Liadova) and his son Roma (Sergueï Pokhodaev) from a previous marriage.

MOVIE - Two Days, One Night

PG-13 (1:35)
Limited release 12/24/2015

Viewed at the Loft with Sheila 2/9/15

RT Critic: 96   Audience: 79

Cag: 3.5 It kept my attention....

Directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne

IFC Films

In French, with subtitles

Actors: Marion Cotillard

My comments:  Yes, Cotillard did a superb job in this role.  The story was quite interesting, too.  But it was slow.  Really, really slow.  Too slow.  I loved listening to the French.  There really wasn't a whole lot of talking, so I could follow much of the conversation.

RT Summary:  Sandra (Cotillard) has just been released from the hospital to find that she no longer has a job. According to management, the only way Sandra can hope to regain her position at the factory is to convince her co-workers to sacrifice their much-needed yearly bonuses. Now, over the course of one weekend, Sandra must confront each co-worker individually in order to win a majority of their votes before time runs out. With TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT, the Dardennes have turned a relevant social inquiry into a powerful statement on community solidarity, once again delivering a film that is simple on the surface but alive with both compassion and wisdom. 

MOVIE - A Most Wanted Man

R (2:01)
Limited release 7/25/2014
El Con with Sheila First Day of School 8/7/2014
RT Critic:  90    Audience:  71
cag: 5.5 - Hard to say you "love" such a sad story, but it was amazingly done
Directed by Anton Corbijn
Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions
based on a book by John leCarre

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Defoe, Robin Wright, Grigory Dobrygin

My thoughts:  As I was watching the amazing Philip Seymour Hoffman, I kept remembering that this was his last film.  He was brilliant; nonstop smoking, drinking, thinking...caring.  It was the kind of story that unfolds, makes you attend carefully so that you can figure out what's going on.  You begin to see into each of the characters; their motivations, their stories.  It was amazingly done.  I don't know much about directing and exactly what it is that a director does to make this sort of characterization jump out at you, but this amateur movie-watcher is guessing that Mr. Corbijn did a terrific job.

RT Summary:  When a half-Chechen, half-Russian, brutally tortured immigrant turns up in Hamburg's Islamic community, laying claim to his father's ill-gotten fortune, both German and US security agencies take a close interest: as the clock ticks down and the stakes rise, the race is on to establish this most wanted man's true identity - oppressed victim or destruction-bent extremist?