MOVIE - Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

R (1:51)

Wide release 3/4/15

Viewed opening day at The Roadhouse

RT Critic: 61   Audience:  65
Critic's Consensus:  While WTF is far from FUBAR, Tina Fey and Martin Freeman are just barely enough to overcome the picture's glib predictability and limited worldview  And my reaction to this consensus?  You guys have seen too many movies....or we're looking at different criteria completely!
Cag:  5/ Loved it

Directed by Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

Paramount Pictures

Based on the memoir by Kim Barker

Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Billie Bob Thornton, Alfred Molina, Josh Charles

My comments:  I very much enjoyed this movie.  Although Barker is smart, she is impetuous and flawed - which makes her very, very REAL.  This movie is full of humor with opportunities for deep thinking, admiration, and lot of questioning.  Afghanistan!  The Taliban!  The media.....(Silly me, it wasn't until my ride home, along Grant, that I realized what the title meant.  Duh.)

Fandango Summary:  Eager for a new professional challenge, TV reporter Kim Baker (Tina Fey) decides to serve as a foreign correspondent in Afghanistan, where she is embedded with a Marine unit. During her time abroad, she is forced to contend with a fiery U.S. general (Billy Bob Thornton), and befriends a fellow reporter (Margot Robbie) and a British photographer (Martin Freeman). Alfred Molina, Josh Charles, andChristopher Abbott co-star. Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was adapted from journalist Kim Barker's memoir The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

MOVIE - This Is Where I Leave You

R (1:43)

Wide release 9/19/14

Wed. 10/15/14 at ElCon

RT Critic: 43   Audience:   67

Cag:  4 - Liked it a lot, although the sad parts almost overwhelmed me, and they would probably be considered not-very-sad.... just poignant.  VERY funny in many places. 

Directed by Shawn Levy

Warner Brothers Pictures

Based on the book by Jonathan Tropper

Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Timothy Olyphant, Adam Driver, Jane Fonda

My comments:  Funny.  Sad.  Touching.  And then a little more of the funny......  This is a look at a family, at relationships, and at the choices we make in life  What is important?  What is happiness?  Four siblings come together at the funeral of their father.  The protagonist is Judd (Jason Bateman) who has left his wife after finding her cheating with his boss/friend.  He hasn't told his family.  His sister, Wendy (Tina Fey) is in a seemingly loveless marriage with a guy who's always on the phone wheeling-dealing and still in love with her brain-damaged ex-boyfriend, Horry (Timothy Olyphant) who lives across the street from her parents.  The eldest, Paul (Corey Stoff) is married to Judd's ex-girlfriend and they are frantically trying, hopeliessly, to get pregnant.  And then there's the baby brother, Philip (Adam Driver), who is incredibly immature and will say and do anything, no matter how embarrassing to his family.  Last but not least is Mom (Jane Fonda), whose part is small but perpetually hysterical.