JoJo Rabbit

 

Roman Griffin Davis as the 10 year old JoJo is so incredibly attractive that the movie is wonderful from the opening scenes.  The "Heil Hitler" montage at the beginning shows clearly how a country was taken captive by Hitler.  JoJo is ardently German, to the extent that he has a wonderful imaginary friendship with Adolf himself (played by director Taika Waititi).  

I have to admit that my damn hearing made it difficult to understand everything.  Usually I watch movies with closed captioning, but that was not available for this film, so I missed a lot, but still I got the gist of it.  An ardent Jew-hater, JoJo finds a Jewish girl hiding in the close of his late sister's bedroom and began to learn that they aren't all as bad as he was led to believe -- they don't all smell like broccoli and don't all have horns, for example.

The relationship between the two grows and strengthens when JoJo finds his mother hung in the public square. 

It's an entertaining film and easy to see why it was nominated for an Academy Award.

Hail, Caesar

You look at pictures for this movie and you have the feeling i t's some biblical epic, but it's not.  It's about Hollywood with some great familiar scenes -- from Spartacus, an Ethel Williams take-off, a Gene Kelley/Frank Sinatra musical, and other scenes that will look very familiar.

It's really the story of the studio "fixer" and how he takes care of a pregnant star, a cowboy who can't act but has to be in a British drama, and his biggest star kidnapped by Communists (a very slight tribute to Wizard of Oz)

Anybody who loves old movies will love this film.

Lost in America

This is a 1985 comedy with Albert Brooks (David) and Julia Hagerty (Linda), co written by Brooks.

David and Linda are a yuppie couple living in Los Angeles, each with great jobs.  David is expecting to be made vice president of his company and they have sold their house and bought another multi million dollar home.  But not only is he not promoted, when hegets angry he is fired.  He convinces Linda to quit her job and when they liquidate all their assets they are able to buy a motor home and have enough of a "nest egg" to live for many years, driving around the country having adventures.

But their first stop is Las Vegas, where Linda gambles away alla but $800 of their money and they spend their time trying to find jobs in a small town (she works for a fast food joint whose manager is about15 years old; he works as a crossing guard for $5.50/hr).

What life decisions they make comprise the rest of this movie.  Not a knee slapper but mildly funny, and enjoyable.

Sherlock Holmes

It's difficult to review this movie.  Robert Downey, Jr. is wonderful, the recreation of the grim London of Victorian times is great, the fight choreography throughout the film is amazing, but, in all honesty, I had a terrible time following it.

I'm accustomed to closed captioning, especially in movies like this where the accents make it difficult to understand, even with my earphones, so I really don't know what this movie was actually ABOUT, but still it was great fun.

Blasts from the Past

 

Calvin (Christopher Walken) is convinced the US is about to be bombed by the Russians and has built an extensive bomb shelter for himself and pregnant wife (Sissy Spacek).  There is no bomb, but a plane crashes into their house while they are in the shelter and he thinks that the bomb has surely exploded and sets the lock on the shelter for 35 years, after which it will be safe to emerge.

Son Adam (Brendan Fraser) is born in the shelter and raised there for 35 years, at which time the locks open and Adam emerges from the shelter to replenish the food for his family.  He knows nothing of the world of 1999 and manages to meet Eve (Alicia Silverstone).  All sorts of things happen, but she finally realizes that he 's telling the truth and he finally brings his family to the surface and all ends happily, though Dad still thinks the story about the plane was a hoax.

A fun comedy and I enjoyed it a lot.

The Firm

I had a friend who was a writer many years ago.  (Sadly, she died before she finished her novel).  What I remember clearly was visiting her office and seeing notes taped up all over the place with notes about this or that character.  I can only imagine what John Grisham's office looked like when he was writing "The Firm," today's movie selection.

 

The twists and turns and the tension throughout this 1993, 2-1/2 hour Tom Cruise movie will keep you on the edge of your seat.  Cruise is Mitch McDeere, about to graduate from Harvard Law School.  He is given an offer it is impossible to refuse from a small Memphis law firm.  It comes with a house, a car, payment of his college loans, and a 6-figure salary.

But as he begins to work for the company he realizes that things are not as they seem and it's hard to keep track of who kills whom, who is laundering money where, which are the bad guys and which are the good, who is sleeping with whom--and why, etc.  Somehow Mitch manages to settle everything legally, screw the FBI, get cozy with the mafia, get his brother released from jail with a hefty bankroll, and escape the clutches of the law firm which has a surprisingly high death rate, and start a new life, with a clean conscience.

Really an entertaining movie.  Good job, Ned.

Sweeney Todd

I have, of course, seen the stage production of Stephen Sondheim's dark story of revenge and murder, Sweeney Todd, and I've reviewed it twice.

But I had not seen the movie, with Johnny Depp in the title role and Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs Lovett, who, in the movie is Todd's lover, but in  the original stage show was played by Angela Lansbury, no way the "lover" type character.

It was an interesting, if horrendously bloody movie and I enjoyed it and am embarrassed to admit that.  This is more gory than most movies I have seen...perhaps the very worst scenes dealing with grinding the murdered bodies into meat for Mrs. Lovett's meat pies.

(Thank goodness we had, at the same time, a squirrel circus going on outside the back door as a distraction!)

Alan Rickman is the judge who kidnaps Todd's wife and daughter and sends Todd into prison on a trumped up charge.  I've loved Rickman in everything and he is perfectly nasty and his death perhaps one of the bloodiest.

I don't know enough about special effects and directors choices and what means what, but I really liked the mix of black and white, color, muted color and one-color-only filming.  Not sure what I was supposed to glean from the way it appeared on my screen, but I at least noticed it!

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

I really had zero expectations about this movie and other than knowing Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio were movie star and stuntman (and not knowing which was which), I came into this movie cold.  Also, Ned loves it and Marta thought it boring.

Of course, I fell asleep about 20 minutes in and woke up maybe 20 minutes later.  but I was determined to see the whole 3 hour movie, so fixed a pot of coffee.  About the  time I got to where I woke up after my brief nap is when I got hooked into the movie and by the end of it, I loved it.

I chose this photo because I've eaten at Musso & Frank's
without realizing what an iconic restaurant it is!

This movie is Quentin Tarantino's opportunity to examine what might have happened if the Manson family had gone to the wrong house, but it is filmed in such a way that all the way through the 3 hours you know that at the end Sharon Tate et al. are going to be murdered.

It tells the story of TV star Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) and his stunt man Cliff Booth (Pitt), as Dalton's career is starting to fade. It shows a lot of backstage Hollylwood, while filming is going on (cars driving through a western set, for example), Dalton's mental breakdown when he flubs lines, the rising little girl actress (Julia Butters), who is terrific as the actress and precocious little girl.

Booth visits the ranch where the Manson family lives, he accepts a challenge by Bruce Lee, convinced he can beat him up (he can't).

Just the whole thing is so Hollywood, and the ending totally unexpected.  As I said, I loved it.

Be Kind, Rewind

Ned knows more movies that I have never heard of!  Today's choice was Be Kind, Rewind, a 2008 comedy starring Jack Black, Mos Def, and Mia Farrow.  It was very funny. I didn't even fall asleep once.

This takes place in a video rental store (so old they only rent VHS tapes), condemned by the city and scheduled to be torn down.

Jack Black becomes magnetized while trying to sabotage a power station (nearly electrocuting himself) and he inadvertently erases all of the videotapes in the store, while the owner is out of town at a centennial celebration for Fats Domino, the owner's hero.

To keep from letting people know what he has done, Black and Mos Def decide to remake every movie with their own camera, starting with Ghostbusters.

 

They make other movies and claim they are "Sweded" versions, made in Sweden, so they charge $20 per rental.  Sooner or later they the feds find out and they are going to be sued for millions of dollars for copyright infringement, and the city is waiting with demolition equipment to demolish the building.

Ned tells me the interesting thing about this movie is that it was actually filmed in a run down neighborhood in New Jersey and all the extras in the film are actual people who live in the neighborhood, just like all of the "Sweded" movies are cast with actual people who live in the neighborhood. 

A very odd movie, but given Ned's love of making movies, I can see why this appeals to him -- and I laughed out loud several times (and I'm not particularly a "laugher.")

Critic rating:  4.5

Memento

This was our first movie and I can't give it a good review because I fell asleep before it was over.  I found it very confusing and even reading the synopsis on IMDB, I still couldn't figure it out.

He keeps lots of notes, including many tattoos.

 
Ned explained it to me and it was still confusing.  The description on IMDB reads:

Leonard (Guy Pearce) is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty, however, of locating his wife's killer is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, untreatable form of memory loss. Although he can recall details of life before his accident, Leonard cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he's going, or why.

There is apparently an important plot twist near the end that I know now, but I'm not sure I want to see the movie again just to get to that point.

Critic review:  3 stars (2 for the movie and 1 for its ability to give me a nice nap)

Humor Me

 Ned had downloaded a movie called Humor Me from OnDemand and that was going to be our first movie, but Marta watched it on her own and I watched it over the weekend.  Ned still hasn't seen it.

This was made in 2017 and also has a cast of unknowns-to-me (Joey Slotnick, Bernie McInerney, Thor Feldman), but at least I knew Elliot Gould's name.  

Slotnick is a playwright with writer's block whose wife divorces him and leaves him without any money, so he moves in with his father in a senior facility.  It's labeled a comedy and it does have funny stuff in it, but it's more a dramady.  Looking for "something to do" at the facility, Slotnick is talked into directing their upcoming production, which happens to be The Mikado. 
 

We don't know if they do the whole Mikado or just "Three Little Maids," which is all we see.  But what a perfect movie for me.  I loved it, and especially the final version of "Three Little Maids," which is hilarious.  Having watched that number performed in every possible way imaginable in Lamplighters galas, this was perfect.