Movie Round Up: What's Good

I have another movie review round up for you.  The only one available on Netflix streaming is really bad.  Sorry about that, but I included a really good Netflix documentary to make up for it.

The Age of Adeline
I love everything about Blake Lively in the role of Adeline.  Her hair.  Her wardrobe, especially that gorgeous black evening gown with the open back.  The way she spoke.  I even feel in love with the name.  Adeline.  So old fashioned, but so beautiful.  It actually makes me wish I had something to name just so I could use the name and call her Addy for short.  I might have to get a new doll.  Anyway, the move was incredible.  The cinematography was beautiful.  San Francisco is an extra character in the movie and was portrayed beautifully as well.  See this movie if you haven't. 5 STARS

The Martian
This one is not on DVD yet.  MJ is extremely picky when it comes to move and he gave it an A- so you know it has to be good. Matt Damon spent most of the film acting solo, and he did it with such humor and candor that I didn't even notice that most of his scenes were monologues.  Space is the stuff of nightmares for me.  Fascinating, yes-but I can't believe that people willingly go to a place millions of miles away that has no oxygen.  No oxygen.  It's just as scary as being 50 feet in the ocean and I want no part of either.  Without spoiling it let's just say I liked the ending of this movie better than Gravity. 5 STARS

John Wick
I really didn't know Keanu Reaves had this kind of role in him.  He was pretty bad ass in The Matrix, but in this movie he was a straight up, hard core hit-man killer.  Movies with a lot of killing tend to have really complicated plots, but this one was simple.  Russian mob guy's snot nosed son messes with the wrong guy and he will not rest until he seeks retribution. I don't think Keanu Reeves is a bad actor, but in every film there is something very wooden about his speech and mannerisms.  This was no exception.  There was a lot of killing, but at the same time a really quiet and calm feel to the entire movie. The body count piled up and all the characters remained calm, cool and collected.  Good movie. 3 STARS

Unfriended
So. Bad.  I felt like I had been duped after watching it and would have been really angry if I had seen it in a movie theatre.  The entire thing played out from behind a computer screen and was entirely based around the internet.  Definitely a sign of the times, but not a good one.  1  STAR

San Andreas
This movie had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish.  It had action.  It had romance.  It had heart.  It had everything.  I'm a big fan of The Rock.  4  STARS

Dark Places
I'm kind of mad 'cause MJ wouldn't watch this one with me and he would have really like it.  I'm a big Charlize Theron fan and an added bonus was Chloe Grace Moretz.  Charlize portrays Libby Day, the sole survivor of the murder of her entire family for which her brother was accused of and serving jail time for 28 years.  It had an excellent plot twist and kept me guessing the entire time.  4 STARS

Little Accidents
I don't know how I stumbled upon this one, but it turned out to be a really good Indie flick.  The story follows the only survivor of a coal mining accident and the unrest that follows.  Then, a coal mining executive's son goes missing and things get even more complicated.  Elizabeth Banks is excellent as usual.  4  STARS 

127 Hours
I can't believe we finally watched this.  It has has been sitting in our queue for five years.  There wasn't really much else I wanted to see so I finally pushed it to the top.  I admit I only watched it out of pure fascination about how a guy could cut off his own arm, and there really isn't much to the movie but it was good. 3 STARS

6 Years (Taissa Farmiga-Netflix streaming)
This was a collection of scenes chronicling an extremely dysfunctional relationship mish mashed together to loosely resemble a story line and a plot.  I only watched it because of Farmiga.  There was no flow.  No cohesion.  No depth. The girlfriend was a total train wreck and the boyfriend was no prince, but it was obvious that the girl drove him to it.  Don't watch this movie. 1 STAR

Twinsters (Netflix streaming)
I have always had a fascination with twins.  I used to be mad at my mom for not making me a twin, which is ridiculous, but I was 10.  Identical twins separated at birth and adopted out to different countries find each other by chance and a beautiful love story between sisters begins.  It was so cute to watch these girls take such delight in not only having a blood sibling but one that looks exactly like them.  I don't see how anyone could not like this documentary.  5  STARS

More movie watching ideas here and here.

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Movie Reviews and Quotes

This post is made up of a bunch of movies I watched over a six week period.  I no longer remember which six period because it has been sitting in my drafts for so long.  These movies may be old news by now, but I will not let this post go wasted any longer.  I have a thing for movies and words. Each movie had a quote that really spoke to me.  I watch a lot of movies and like doing reviews so I made a handy dandy graphic with my grading scale and have another movie review post not far behind, that has also been sitting in my drafts for a little too long.

Imitation Game
Sometimes it is the people who no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.
That quote left me breathless.  This movie was AMAZING.  It was so, so good.  The story was a different side of World War II that I had never seen before.  I love Kiera Knightly-and she was amazing as always.  The story line was captivating, triumphant, inspirational and sad all at once.  A must see. *5 STARS

About Time
We're all traveling through time together everyday of our lives. All we can do is our best to relish this remarkable ride.
All I have to say is that it was about time I saw this movie.  It was so good and totally different than what I expected.  For some reason I thought it was going to be about star crossed lovers who couldn't be together because one of them was a time traveler.  I probably had this move mixed up with something else because it was not about that at all.  Instead it was the story of a man who is a time traveler, and wants more than anything to find his one true love.  I love this guys family and if I'm being honest, I kind of love this guy.  I love the relationship he had with his family, the relationship he had with his wife and the kind of father that he became.  I kept waiting for something terrible to happen to create a plot twist, but it just wasn't that kind of movie.  It was genuine and funny.  It really was about time...and love. *5 STARS

Laggies
A lot of the math they're teaching you that they swear you'll use in your life, you won't.  You're never gonna need parabolas and you really, really don't need to know shapes that have more than eight fuckin' sides.  You can't keep putting aside what you want for some imaginary future.  You've got to suck it up and go with your gut.
This was the story of a girl in her late twenties who refuses to grow up and randomly befriends a teenager outside of a liquor store one night.  I really like both lead actors, Kiera Knightly and Chloe Grace Moritz so I was drawn to this movie for that reason alone and they did not disappoint me.  I loved watching the relationship between unlikely friends grow.  All the characters were so chill.  I liked them all.  Definitely a good one to watch. *5 STARS

Skeleton Twins 
The rest of us are just walking around trying not to be disappointed with the way that our lives turned out.
I love Kristen Wiig as an actress and I usually love the characters that she plays because they are so flawed, endearing and real.  This movie was kind of morbid because it addresses suicide which may turn some people off but not me. I'm a ravenous movie watcher and not one to avoid a movie based on subject matter.  If it looks good, I'm going to watch it and even if I find out it sucks there is a good chance I'll finish watching it anyway.  This movie was mainly about the complicated relationship between two siblings and how it grew and changed over time. *4 STARS

Wild
My mother used to say something that drove me nuts. There is a sunrise and a sunset every day and you can choose to be there for it. You can put yourself in the way of beauty.
This was based on the true story of a woman in the midst of sabotaging her life after losing her mother.  She decides to set off alone to hike the Pacific Crest Trail which runs from the Mexico Border all the way up to Canada and typically takes about 3 months.  Crazy!  I'm way too chicken and hate being dirty way too much to do this, but it was interesting to watch the story of someone else with the guts to do it.  Alone no less.  Reese Witherspoon went au natural for the filming.  No make up, no deodorant and no razors.  She still looked good and I really liked her in this movie.  *4 STARS

Adult World
Not everybody can grow up to be Beyonce or the President.  Not everybody's talented okay? And fame doesn't meat shit.
A recent college graduate who wants to be a writer, tried to figure out what to do with her life.  I liked it.  I like Emma Roberts and I have liked John Cusack since The Sure Thing so that was the draw for me.  Not the most captivating, but good.  I don't regret spending the time watching it.
*3 STARS

Cake (Netflix Streaming)
Tell me a story where everything works out in the end for the evil witch.
A woman dealing with chronic pain investigates the suicide of a member of her support group.  I have never seen Jennifer Anniston look so rough.  She usually plays an it girl glossy character so it was interesting to see her in this role and nice to see that she has range as an actor and can do more than Rom Com's or comedy.  The movie takes its time answering a lot of the questions that you inevitably have as you watch which, keeps it interesting. *4 STARS

Endless Love
My first love was everything all at once  The kind that you never fall back from never try to never want to. A love so big so strong it never dies, never fades,  never loses it's electricity.  The kind of love you fight for.  The kind of boy you fight for.
First of all the Gabriella Wild who plays the lead character Jade Butterfield is gorgeous, and a really good actress.  I've not seen her in anything else and can only wonder why she isn't getting more work.  Her IMBD only has eight credits, none of which are anything I've really heard of.  I am a sucker for true love and romance so I loved this movie.  I loved how new intense young love was shown in contrast to her parent's lackluster and fading marriage. *4 STARS

The Duff
Yeah, I'm somebody's Duff, but guess what so are you, so is everybody.  There's always going to be somebody prettier, or more  talented or richer than you.   That shouldn't affect how you see yourself...I wouldn't want to be anybody else and I realize now that none of this matters to me, but it does to you.  It's your dream, and I totally support that but just don't tear me down for not giving a shit about your labels because in the end they're meaningless.
Do you know what DUFF stands for?  It's not nice.  I was not aware of that acronym until I heard about this movie.  It's a formula that has been repeated a million times over but people like it and it's entertaining, so here it is again.  Nerdy girl seeks out make over to get the guy and all the cliche characters in between including the mean popular girl and the hot football hunk.  It was slightly different in that the girl was not a total loser outcast and the make over bit was not overly dramatized.  I love coming of age stories and I always root for the underdog so I was very happy with the ending.  *3 STARS

Magic in The Moonlight
This movie was good but kind of boring if that makes any sense whatsoever.  I was attracted to it because of Emma Stone and I liked the story but I can't really rave about it that much.  It was just okay.  There was a lot of dialogue which is fine for me, but the movie just felt a little flat for me.  I would say skip it. *1 STAR

 
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16 Good Movies You've Never Heard Of

I'm a movie lover.  I've had a movie by mail delivery service since Blockbuster's heyday back in 2004. I loved them until they made me mad and I had to quit them for Netflix.  Then they went out of business and I like to think I had something to do with it.  Independent films are hit and miss.  Some are just really really bad.  Some did everything right but something about it didn't quite come together.  Some are so good it's a shame they didn't get more attention and those are the ones I love to find.   Between being off work for three weeks and MJ being gone I had the opportunity to do a lot of movie watching.  Here are some Netflix diamonds in the rough that I found recently.  These are all movies that you may have never heard of and are available in the streaming section of Netflix.  Grab a bowl of popcorn and enjoy!!

Dirty girl

I was initially attracted to this because Juno Temple is in it.  I really liked her in Killer Joe (another must see).  She's a really good actress who plays a lot of really interesting characters.  She doesn't seem to go for the blockbuster movies and I really like that.  Once it started I realized that Milla Jovovich was in it and I love her so it was win win after that.  The movie is filled with awesome hits from the 80's so if you love 80's music that alone will pull you in.  The two lead characters are really deep and layered.  They are thrown together and it was really interesting to watch their relationship evolve.  I watched this one night in bed on my ipad.  I was already crying and then when Don't Cry Out Loud came on I pretty much lost it.  I was just crying alone in my bed like some crazy woman.  If you watch nothing else on my list watch this one!!

Stuck in love

I've loved Jennifer Connelly since Labryinth.  It also has Lily Collins, Greg Kinnear and Kristen Bell.  It has a coming of age story kind of feel spread across three totally different age brackets.  If you enjoy writing or want to be a writer this might inspire you a little bit.  My favorite quote is when Bill Borgens (played by Greg Kinnear) says:  A writer is the sum of their experiences. Get some.  I think all of us as bloggers can relate to that one.

Bachelorette

This movie was okay.  I guess I just expected it to be better.  I wasn't the biggest fan of Kirsten Dunst's character.  She was just too, TOO if that makes any sense.  I found myself getting really tired of hearing her speak towards the end and I ended up kind of despising the other three girls too.  They were all just so selfish.  Rebel Wilson was the nice girl in the movie.  She's normally typecast to be really rough around the edges so it was nice to see her play a different character even though she swung the other way and was way too nice that it was annoying.  

The Good Doctor

This one had a really dark ending.  The lead character played by Orlando Bloom was obviously very messed up in the head as you find out as the movie goes on.  He was a good doctor but he does something that totally violates that hippocratic oath that all doctors are sworn to.

The Details

This movie was quirky, cooky and very good.  Jeff (Tobey Maguire) makes one mistake after another as his life spins out of control and it's like watching a train wreck by the end of it.  It was over the top but just enough so that it made the movie stand out as something different and not something totally stupid.  I really like Elizabeth Banks, Tobey Maguire and Ray Liotta.

And While We Were Here

It's very character driven as opposed to story line driven and that can make a movie kind of slow at times.  I like Kate Bosworth so decided to give it a chance and see it through to the end anyway. 

Adore

I love Robin Wright Penn and Naomi Watts.  These ladies are in their mid-late 40's and they still have amazing bikini bodies.  It was perfectly cast as it was realistic to think that both of them could hook the interest of younger men in such a bizarre love square.  Yes, love square.  It's not exactly a triangle.

The Place Beyond The Pines

The story line started out one way and then half way through totally changed focus.  I liked seeing Eva Mendes play such a complex interesting character.  Most people like Ryan Gosling but I like Bradley Cooper more and they are both in it.  MJ is a very tough movie critic and even he liked this one. It's the only one on the list that I did not watch alone.

Meet Bill

This movie was very real.   I totally related to Bill as he struggled to figure out how he fit into his own life.  His character was grounded in reality so even though he was a 40 something male I found that I could still relate to him.  My favorite quote from the whole movie is when Bill says, Working sucks. No matter what you do you make sure you make a lot of money doing it. Because it all sucks.  Elizabeth Banks again!  Love her.  (I don't know if this is in Netflix anymore.  I couldn't find it listed.)

How I live Now

I've liked Saoirse Ronan since I first saw her in Atonement.  This movie definitely had an odd sort of indy feel to it.  There were parts that I wasn't really sure what to make of but the acting was really good.  The storyline was typical in that it was the whole end of the world thing but it had a different vibe that set it apart from others like it.

Contracted

This movie was gross because of what happens to the lead character.  She contracts some horrible disease and the changes that she goes through are disgusting.  Some of the acting wasn't the greatest but it had me really intrigued and wanting to know more all the way up until the end when they did something I hate in a movie.  I was really mad but at the same time I still felt it was a unique enough movie to add to the list.

We Are What We Are

I consider myself a hardcore horror movie lover and if that is not your thing then this movie might be a little much for you.  There is cannibalism involved.  I really liked it but this kind of movie is not for everyone so proceed with caution.  I would also put Chained in this category.  Deeply disturbing and definitely not for everyone.

Compliance

It's basically a prank call gone way too far that ultimately results in a criminal arrest.  As I was watching the movie I couldn't believe what these people were doing just because someone on the phone told them to.  It seems like something that could never happen but apparently it's loosely based on a true story.  It's pretty disturbing to think of the power that an authority figure can have over people pushing them to do things that they know is wrong.  I have never heard of any of the actors in this movie.

Trishna

This one had a really shocking ending and left me wondering WHY but it was a really good movie.  If you liked Frieda Pinto from Slumdog Millionaire she's the female lead in this one.  If you haven't seen that movie I don't know where you've been! It was great.  Trishna follows the story of a girl growing up poor in rural India and follows her journey as she works to help support her family and falls in love with a rich boy from the upper class.

The Truth about emanuel
This one was pretty good too.  Jessica Biel plays one of the lead characters.  It's about a girl dealing with the death of her mother who meets someone who is also dealing with a death.  They have a connection and help each other in a way they probably never expected.

NOW IS GOOD
I've been a Dakota Fanning fan since she stole the show with Sean Penn in I Am Sam.  She was amazing as a little girl and still is.  Her sister Elle Fanning is the same.  I guess they were born for it.  This is your typical girl dying of a terminal disease falls in love with boy story.  I've seen it a million times and there is another one that just came out called Fault in Our Stars.  Such a sad, sad storyline but people like it so they keep making them.  Dakota works an English accent in this one and had me in tears at the end.  If a movie like this doesn't make you cry they did it wrong.

Don't waste your time on Slightly Single in LA.  It's just off.  Lacy Chabert of Party of Five fame must be getting hard up for roles. Drinking Buddies was not so great either.  It was just so dry.  Olivia Wilde what were you thinking? Anna Kendrick you can do better.  I'm thinking these are both movies that could have and should have been better but something about them fell flat.  It happens.

Other DVD's that I've watched recently (not available on Netflix streaming):
The Book Thief is a very special movie and is definitely a must see.  The story, the acting, the emotion.  It was all good.  I cried and cried at the end.  A super scary one is Evil Dead.  If you have a taste for chilling horror flicks this is a good one.  It even had me covering my eyes.  I also liked  People Like Us (more Elizabeth Banks). 

Yes.  I watch A LOT of movies!  If you have already seen these or end up watching any of them I'd love to know what you think.

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