MOVIE - Why Him?

R (1:51)

Wide release 12/23/16

Viewed in Carlisle, in the cushy recliners at RC Carlisle 8

RT Critic:  40  Audience:  61
Critic's Consensus: Solidly cast but overall misconceived, Why Him? offers the odd chuckle, but ultimately adds disappointingly little to its tired father-vs.-fiancé formula.

Cag:  4.5

Directed by John Hamburg

20th Century Fox

James Franco, Bryan Cranston, Megan Mellally, Zoey Deutch

My comments:  Okay, I loved this movie.  It was really crass and really funny.  All the actors were wonderful, though I wished it had shown a little more about the relationship between Laird and Steph.  But the scenes between Bryan Cranston and James Franco were a RIOT!!!!!  James Franco can do anything...and all the wild & crazy paintings throughout the movie were done by him.  Love it, love it.  Today is Chrismas, I saw it last night and I can't get it out of my head.  What a hoot!

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Over the holidays, Ned (Bryan Cranston), an overprotective but loving dad and his family visit his daughter at Stanford, where he meets his biggest nightmare: her well-meaning but socially awkward Silicon Valley billionaire boyfriend, Laird (James Franco). The straight-laced Ned thinks Laird, who has absolutely no filter, is a wildly inappropriate match for his daughter. The one-sided rivalry-and Ned's panic level-escalate when he finds himself increasingly out of step in the glamorous high-tech hub, and learns that Laird is about to pop the question.

MOVIE - This Is the End

R (1:47)

Released 6/12/2013

Viewed Century Gateway (Kolb) with Sheila 9/24/2013

RT Critic: 84 Audience: 80

2 - it was okay/ crazy/ silly/ stupid/ funny

Directed by Evan Goldberg & Seth Rogen

Sony Pictures

Actors: James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill

Rotten Tomato summary: The comedy This Is The End follows six friends trapped in a house after a series of strange and catastrophic events devastate Los Angeles. As the world unravels outside, dwindling supplies and cabin fever threaten to tear apart the friendships inside. Eventually, they are forced to leave the house, facing their fate and the true meaning of friendship and redemption.

My comments:  The actors were "acting" at being themselves, stuck in James Franco's home during the beginning of the apocolypse (complete with hugely-dangling-penised monster).  There were some really funny parts...actually, the whole thing was quite funny, although the whole time I was sitting there I was asking myself, "why?"  Definitely entertainment-only spoof of life in the Hollywood Hills.....

MOVIE - Oz the Great and Powerful

PG (2:07)

Wide release 3/8/13

saw it at ElCon with Sheila on Tuesday 3/12/13

RT Critic: 61  Audience: 69

Cag: The more I got into it, the more it grew on me, 4-Liked it quite a bit

Directed by Sam Raimi

Walt Disney Pictures

Actors:  James Franco, Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weiss

Rotten Tomato Synopsis:  When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he's hit the jackpot-fame and fortune are his for the taking-that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity-and even a bit of wizardry-Oscar transforms himself not only into the great wizard but into a better man as well. When small-time magician Oscar Diggs (James Franco) pulls one flimflam too many, he finds himself hurled into the fantastical Land of Oz where he must somehow transform himself into the great wizard-and just maybe into a better man as well

My comments:  It started out a little slowly at first, but as I got into the movie and story I really liked the way it paralleled the original and used the same characters and premises, just fleshing them out.  Yay, munchkins! The reality vs. animation worked really well, the makeup was excellent.  Boy those three actresses are gorgeous!  I adore James Franco in anything, and don't agree with the naysayers about his role in this particular movie.  Sure, maybe it could have been cast a bit better, but he pulled it off quite well....at least, good enough for me!

MOVIE - Eat, Pray, Love

Gorgeous settings - Rome, India, Bali
Released 8-13-10
PG-13 (2:13)
Wed. 8-25-10 at El Con with great friends I haven't seen in awhile
RT: 38% cag: 70%
Director: Ryan Murphy
from the book by Elizabeth Gilbert (which I kept putting off reading)
Julia Roberts, James Franco, Javier Bardem

This is the story of a woman searching for herself. She's unhappy in her marriage, leaves her husband, has a fling with a younger man, decides there's something missing there, so takes off for a year in search of herself. Imagine being able to do that! She goes to Italy to eat, India to pray, and in Bali she finds love - and supposedly learns to love herself. She cries her way through the story - lots of glistening tears, a few falling down her cheeks - and I found all I wanted to do was take her by the shoulders, shake her a bit, and say, "Enough, already!"

I loved, loved, loved the setting and the filming. It was the character of Liz that I just didn't like. I couldn't relate to her no matter how hard I tried. She lives her life feeling sorry for herself, always searching for more, more, more. And the casting of Julia Roberts in the main role didn't work for me. It was Julia Roberts playing a part, not Liz Gilbert searching for self.

My three friends all loved it. All had read the book. One liked the movie better. My daughter loved it. I was expecting to, too. I didn't hate it, but I'm sitting here, 12 hours later, disappointed. I wonder what I expected? Ah, life.....

MOVIE: Date Night

Funnnnny and fun
Released 4-9-10
PG-13 (1:28)
4-28-10 at El Con with Fran, Sheila, Kate
RT: 67% cag: 87%
Director: Shawn Levy

Steven Carrell and Tina Fey have chemistry. I think they adlib half the movie, and it's a riot. They are a married couple with two children, they work hard, live in a NYC suburb in New Jersey, and love each other. They have a boring "date night" each week, where the next-door neighbor babysits and they go out to a movie, then the same restaurant and have the same meal. Well, they decide to spice it up and go into Manhattan to a new, hard-to-get-into restaurant. Needless to say, they can't get in. So when they hear the hostess calling three or four times for a reservation that no one answers, they take it. And that starts the ball rolling.

What happens is, of course, improbable. But....who cares....?? It's fun and moves quickly and very cute. There's a scene that includes James Franco and Mila Kunis that's really terrific....one of the best acted funny scenes I've seen in a long time.

Go see it if you just want to laugh. The acting is great. This was a good one.