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 - August: Osage County

R (2:10)

Wide release 12/25/2013

Viewed 1/28/2014 with Sheila & Connie - El Con

RT Critic: 65   Audience:  72

Cag: 5/ I ended up thinking it was quite an exceptional movie - both story AND acting

Directed by John Wells

The Weinstein Company

Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Julianne Nicholson, Chris Cooper, Sam Shepard, Abigail Breslin, Margo Martindale, Ewan McGregor, Dermot Mulrooney

My comments:  This is the story of the most dysfunctional of dysfunctional families.  I've decided I have a very (VERY) dark sense of humor, because this is another movie that when I started looking at it for the humor, I loved it.  Yup, it's a pretty dark story.  People dig themselves up out of a crappy childhood or they burrow themselves deeper.  This story contains a little of both.  And it's the kind of story that keeps adding layers after layer of "What the F?"  The lineup of actors was amazing, and the acting itself was, too.  I've got to give it to Meryl Streep - she doesn't care what she looks like or what kind of a woman she portrays, she gives it her all and her all is always unbelievably believable.  So I didn't even walk away from this could-have-been dark story with a cloud of darkness.  I enjoyed it very much, and I'm really glad I went to see it.  I loved it.

Reviews:  AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY tells the dark, hilarious and deeply touching story of the strong-willed women of the Weston family, whose lives have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Midwest (actually, Oklahoma plains, which I don't really consider midwest) house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them. Letts' play made its Broadway debut in December 2007 after premiering at Chicago's legendary Steppenwolf Theatre earlier that year. It continued with a successful international run

MOVIE - Mirror, Mirror

Wide release 3/30/2012
Century Gateway (cheap!) Thursday 7/19/12
PG (1:35)
Directed by Tarsem Singh
Relativity Media
Critics 49% Audience 45%
on DVD 6/26/2012
Julia Roberts, Nathan Lane

The seven dwarves are a riot and a bit dark, Snow White goes from clueless to wise, and Julia Robert is great as the self-centered queen who wishes to stay young-looking forever.  This was great fun to watch.

Movie - Larry Crowne

reviewed as "bland and conventional," I'll call it "light and entertaining"
Released 7-1-11
PG-13 (1:38)
Monday, 7-11-11 at Orleans 18 (Las Vegas) by myself
RT:  36%  cag: 83%
Director:  Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Wilmer Valderrama & Gugu Mbatha-Raw

This movie is about a makeover, the makeover of a man. This is Tom Hanks’s show. Julia Roberts did her part really well (disdain and boredom were acted superbly!), but it is ultimately the trip Hanks takes changing himself – both mentally and physically – after 20 years as a Navy cook and a handful of years at the local “big mart” employee-of-the-month. After reading the reviews I was looking forward to a ho-hum movie, but I found this fun to watch and really quite thought-povoking.

The Julia Roberts part could have been played by any pretty womanl Two parts that really stole the show were the two young, hip scooter enthusiasts who take Larry Crowne under their wing and teach him how to live in the current era...including his choice of clothing.  I think this movie had a lot to say and said it well, and the reviewer that panned it are way out in left field.  It may not be the best movie of the year, but it's linkable, enjoyable, and just plain fun.

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.....