MOVIE - Cafe Society

PG-13 (1:25)

Limited Release 7/15/16

Viewed Sunday 10/2/16 at Century Gateway (by myself)

RT Critic:  71  Audience:  63
Critic's Consensus:   Café Society's lovely visuals and charming performances round out a lightweight late-period Allen comedy whose genuine pleasures offset its amiable predictability.

Cag:  4/Liked it a lot

Directed & written by Woody Allen

Perdido Productions

Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carrell, Blake Lively, Parker Posey

My comments:  I don't think I realize how much I love Woody Allen's work.  For the most part I love this film, and I adore the way he ended it.  The settings - 1930s Hollywood and New York City - as well as the costuming - were terrific.  I love the way that real personalities (like in many of his other films) were examined.  Casting was terrific.  The juxtaposition of the three siblings was my second favorite part, but I think a little bit more story about Bobby's brother and sister was needed to round out the story a bit and would have definitely enhanced the movie.  My favorite part?  The Jewish influences and humor.

RT Summary:  Set in the 1930s, Woody Allen's bittersweet romance CAFÉ SOCIETY follows Bronx-born Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) to Hollywood, where he falls in love (with his uncle's mistress), and back to New York, where he is swept up in the vibrant world of high society nightclub life. Centering on events in the lives of Bobby's colorful Bronx family, the film is a glittering valentine to the movie stars, socialites, playboys, debutantes, politicians, and gangsters who epitomized the excitement and glamour of the age.

MOVIE - American Ultra

R (1:39)

Limited release 8/21/15

Viewed date at the Roadhouse

RT Critic:  44  Audience:  47 

Cag:  2.5 /It was okay - actually, disappointing

Directed by Nima Nourizadeh

Lionsgate Pictures

Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Topher Grace, Walter Googins

My comments:  Love Jesse Eisenberg and he didn't disappoint.  He was the perfect stoner.  Although not a Kristen Stewart fan, she fit the part quite well.  Yes, the movie was pretty stupid and incredibly violent, but if viewed with an eye-rolling indifference to the CIA and its ridiculous antics, it was quite watchable.  It was also fun to see Walter Googins (I loved him in Justify) Topher Grace, and Bill Paxton portraying over-the-top, ridiculous characters.  Certainly not a great movie, but because of the filter I used to watch it - enjoyable in its own way.

RT Summary:  American Ultra is a fast-paced action comedy about Mike (Eisenberg), a seemingly hapless and unmotivated stoner whose small-town life with his live-in girlfriend, Phoebe (Stewart), is suddenly turned upside down. Unbeknownst to him, Mike is actually a highly trained, lethal sleeper agent. In the blink of an eye, as his secret past comes back to haunt him, Mike is thrust into the middle of a deadly government operation and is forced to summon his inner action-hero in order to survive.