Silver Linings Playbook I love to champion little movies and “Silver Linings Playbook” feels like one to me. And even though it garnered eight Oscar nominations I still maintain it’s just a little movie that was in the right place at the right time. I am also fond of movies with flawed characters and this is full of them. Pat, a man recently released from a mental institution and off his meds, is determined to restore his broken marriage. Pat…
Black Snake Moan (2006) Sometime you see someone in pain and you think you can’t possibly help them, but still you try. “Black Snake Moan” is about broken people. People that life has not been kind to, people on the short end of the stick. It’s a story about intervention, and about trying to anchor someone to an unmovable object, to help save them from themselves. Many people like this for being an entertaining story of a messed up girl…
IP Man (2008) My love of martial arts started with the TV show Kung Fu. I progressed to movies featuring the likes of Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan, and the legendary Ralph Macchio. Unfortunately while the fight scenes were compelling, the acting and story telling was usually lacking. The genre was littered with exceptions like “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, and “Kung-Fu Panda” but unfortunately they were the exceptions not the rule. The latest addition to this short list is…
Starbuck (2011) Absurd, funny, and touching. Starbuck is a modern day fairy tale about a man with so many children he didn’t know what to do. And no he didn’t live in a shoe, he lived in Quebec, which is almost as bad. Starbuck is the pseudonym used by the protagonist while donating man-juice to the local fertility clinic for extra money. In a weird turn of events Starbuck needed a lot of cash, and his many donations resulted in…
It’s a Disaster (2012) Did you ever have a guest that just would not leave? How about six of them? Now throw in a terrorist attack, some dysfunctional friends, a divorce announcement, a little infidelity and a glockenspiel? Did I mention that it is probably the end of the world? Now you are starting to get the picture. This is a talky drama, that despite the setup, is mostly comical and fun. This should be watched in the safety of…
In case you didn’t see this before, here is my 2012 end-of-year list: Argo (2012) Bernie (2011) The Cabin in the Woods (2012) Chronicle (2012) Flight (2012) Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2011) Looper (2012) – My review of Looper Moonrise Kingdom (2012) Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) Silver Linings Playbook (2012) Sleepwalk with Me (2012) The Sessions (2012) I will probably add reviews for most of these once I re-watch them. Sam
Looper (2012) One of my favorite movies from last year, which I just re-watched after buying the DVD. I enjoyed it just as much the second time. You will probably want to see this if you like action/drama/romance movies with a little time travel mixed in to setup the story. It tackles the big questions like fate vs free will and nature vs nurture. And in the smaller scope it tackles the importance and outcome of making sacrifices. I don’t…
Side Effects (2013) What starts as an interesting psychological drama soon progresses into a very suspenseful who-did-what-to-whom story. It has psychiatrists, insider trading, shock treatments. husbands, wives, yachts, courtrooms, lawyers, prisons, detectives, sleep walking, sex, murder, and enough anti-depressants to put down a small army. Staring Jude Law and Rooney Mara and directed by Steven Soderbergh, Rated R for nudity and violence. [rating=3] Sam