April 9, 2013  

Movie Review: “The Iron Lady”

Beginning Note: I am posting this review today because Margaret Thatcher has died.* Was I a fan? No. Would I have voted for her? Hell no. Is it cool that a woman did what she did? You bet.

  • OVERALL: A very powerful and thoughtful movie.
  • POINTS: Meryl Streep. ‘Nuff said! British woman director, Phyllida Lloyd, directed the movie and I do like to support women directors. :)
  • PITFALLS:  Well there really weren’t any. It’s just that I kept wondering if the people who made this movie were fans of Thatcher. It showed her in a well, not exactly positive light, but in a gentle one. Since in the movie it shows her at the end of her life with dementia, it is not surprising that even the Argentinians felt sympathy towards her because of this movie. And hey, I’m not now nor will I ever be a fan of Thatcher. But still I was moved by her story.
  • FEMALE CHARACTER(S): Uh yes. It was about “The Iron Lady” and the Iron Lady dominated the screen. (Being played by Meryl Streep helped. ;) ) There were other women in the movie, and of course there were men, but this was focused on Thatcher so we certainly did have a female character in this flick.
  • CULTURAL PITFALL(S): I am sooooooooooooooooooooooo tired of seeing every successful woman get asked, or rather accused, of not doing her womanly duty to her family. Could we cut this sh*t out please? Do men ever get asked this nonsense?  I mean do men ever get asked, or accused, of not being a good man because he spent more time with his career than his family. Uh no. No, really no. I’m tired of hearing this (even if it MIGHT have been something Thatcher had to hear) and I would appreciate never hearing this nonsense again. For any gender, BTW.
  • HIGH POINT(S): [SPOILER ALERTS] The movie opening with a senile Thatcher buying milk was quite amazing.
  • DVD/BLU-RAY WORTHY: Yes. I own it. :)
  • LION PAW PRINTS: 3 out of 5. Damn fine movie. See it. It is very good.

*She is the same age and died the same year as my mother, another incredible Iron Lady, who was the exact political opposite of Thatcher.

The Iron Lady movie poster

April 3, 2013  

Movie Review: “Identity Thief”

  • OVERALL: LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • POINTS: Melissa McCarthy. And Jason Bateman. And the Bateman-McCarthy chemistry!! So funny and so good at playing off of each other!! The two need to make a few (hundred) more movies ’cause the laughs don’t stop!
  • PITFALLS: I wanted more scenes of Diana fighting ’cause they cracked me up! But uh, whatever.
  • FEMALE CHARACTER(S): Diana. She kills stereotypes of females and funny females and she makes me laugh.
  • CULTURAL PITFALL(S): Well I did wonder why Trish didn’t get a job and/or Trish and Sandy didn’t hold off having another child until they were more financially stable, BUT if that was their choice that is their choice. :)

    Rex Reed. You may have heard that this misogynistic “movie reviewer” slammed on Ms. McCarthy for her weight. (Read here.) He’s an idiot. He clearly doesn’t like women. I would suggest he get therapy and just admit his bias towards half of the world’s population. I for one will never take anything he says about movies seriously again.

  • HIGH POINT(S): [SPOILER ALERTS] OMG! I shall try to not drool on the keyboard as I laugh. 1. The hotel bedroom scene. ‘Nuff said! 2. Diana’s transformation. 3. Prison visit. 4. Diana talking to Trish. 5. Beauty salon scene. 6. Diana fighting in any scene.
  • DVD/BLU-RAY WORTHY: YES!
  • LION PAW PRINTS: 4 of 5. Did I mention LOL?!

Hubby Notes: Ok I normally do this for horror movies but I may have to branch out. :) Hubby loved this movie too. Several times since we saw the movie in the theater he has mentioned to me how funny it was. We are so watching it when we get it home!! Oh and Hubby said we had to see this movie since Rex Reed (see above under Cultural Pitfalls) hated McCarthy for being large. Once again my Hubby proved just how much he ROCKS!!!

identthiefeposter_

dianastealsthespotlight
Oh my, my dance troupe has been photobombed. :)

April 3, 2013  

Why So Quiet?

Hello All. I’ve been quietly lately because my mother has been very very ill for the past few months. A few weeks ago, she passed from this earth. I will start writing again, but now you know why things have been so quiet. Please know my mom is very happy in the spirit realm and is no longer suffering any pain. I like to say she had a warriors spirit and a lawyers soul. She made the world a better place for many, many people. You will be missed mom.

You can view her memorial Website here.

February 24, 2013  

Why I Won’t Be Watching the Oscards Tonight (Probably)

Hello all! Ah tonight Oscar’s Night when everyone puts out food and rink and maybe dresses up and watches the Academy Awards. Cool. Enjoy yourselves. I probably won’t be watching. I mean, I haven’t watched in years in protest to many non-nominations and non-winners and my own personal whatevers. So here goes my history with the Oscars.

I stopped watching the Academy Awards in the ’80s when Speilberg’s Empire of the Sun did not get a Best Picture nomination. WTF? WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Were the members of the Academy just pissed at Mr. ET because he could make a killer drama as well as a blockbuster? Who knows. But I was so disgusted by this omission that I stopped watching the Oscars.

Move on to the 2000s when Sir Ian McKellan was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Gandalf the Grey. OMG! He HAD to win! He WAS Gandalf and the movie, The Fellowship of the Ring, was wonderful!! I was visiting a friend in New Mexico at the time and we had a party for the Oscars with good food, drink, and company. When the Best Supporting Actor was announced we were stunned that Sir Ian didn’t get it. So much for coming back to the Oscar watching fold. I was done with the Academy Awards again.

Then in 2010 I was sorry that I hadn’t watched the Oscars because Kathryn Bigelow won Best Director for The Hurt Locker which also won Best Picture and Bigelow got an award for that too. As Barbara Streisand said before she read Bigelow’s name “It’s about time.” I watched the winning speech over and over again.

Now we come to today, 2013 where the movies of 2012 will be honored. Once again I find myself saying “WTF?!” Where is Bigelow’s nomination for her outstanding work on Zero Dark Thirty. I mean come on!!! Bigelow once again visits our wars and DELIVERS. Have you not seen this amazing movie?!? It is fantastic! I said so earlier on in this blog and I meant it. I was sure that Bigelow would at least be nominated even if she didn’t win. But I could feel a second win for her coming on. I mean, the Academy got over its gender hurdle with her right? This was a spectacular movie, right? Surely she would get nominated and oh blessed joy, maybe even bring the Oscar home again.

Uh, no.

Bigelow got roundly snubbed by the Academy this year and ouch, I certainly felt it. Her masterpiece, Zero Dark Thirty, gets the Best Picture nomination, Best Screenplay, and Best Actress HOWEVER no Best Director. In other words, the Academy just can’t stomach honoring a woman, much less the same woman, twice. (Please note that a similar thing happened to Randa Haines for her stunning work on The Doctor.)

Now you could argue that this is fair, but no it is not. You don’t get to be Best Picture of the Year without one heck of a good director. So rats. I’m not watching.

Not that it matters and yes, good grief, watch and ENJOY! Just because I’m angry doesn’t mean you should not watch. Watch and have fun!! I hope your favorite choices win. :) I hope the losers don’t suffer too much. I know I will probably watch some of the acceptance speeches tomorrow on YouTube.

And Bigelow, I hope you get your second Director Oscar soon. I know you will deserve it.

–

Hubby’s 2010 Oscar Note: After watching Avatar for the second time in the theaters, oh yes it was that good, Hubby said to me, “You know, James Cameron would have won Best Director if he had just gotten rid of Planet of the A Cups and made it Planet of the D Cups.” Hubby dreams big. ;)

My Other Oscar WTF: All the President’s Men lost Best Picture to Rocky? Uh, no. And no, I’m not a fan of Network at all. But to snub a masterpiece like All the President’s Men just showed lack of moral fiber and fortitude. Really?

Oh well.

February 17, 2013  

Movie Review: “Jennifer’s Body”

  • OVERALL: I love this movie!!! I am transported to a Whedonesque* world where the dialogue is snappy, smart, and fun. Good action and great female characters!!!!
  • POINTS: Oh where to begin! I think I drank in every second of this movie as it was good for my soul. A comedy horror movie
  • PITFALLS: Where’s the sequel? Oh and I think people have decided to hate Megan Fox, which I think is totally unfair and sexist, and therefore didn’t see this flick. You all missed out. Go see it!
  • FEMALE CHARACTER(S): Yes! This movie did not disappoint! I watched the previews and thought “Oooo this looks like fun!! Two female characters carrying this movie!” I was not disappointed. In fact, i like all of the characters in the movie. Chip the boyfriend is utterly adorable.
  • CULTURAL PITFALL(S): Nope. Can’t think of any. Like every good Whedonesque show cultural sexist nonsense is set on its head.
  • HIGH POINT(S): [SPOILER ALERTS] 1. “I go both ways.” – Jennifer.  2. In reference to breasts “These are like smart bombs. You just point them and shit gets real.” – Jennifer.  3. The band getting theirs in the end.  4. Needy becoming a bad ass. 5. Usual sexist come on and attack lines delivered by women instead. An eye-opener.
  • OFFICIAL MOVIE WEBSITE: There isn’t one that I can find. :(
  • DVD/BLU-RAY WORTHY: Goodness yes!!! I watch it a lot and love sharing it with my friends. :) So far they like it to. (They’d better.)
  •  LION PAW PRINTS: 4 of 5. I love this flick!!!

For horror movies only: HUBBY’S HORROR RATING. This was a low-rating movie in terms of terror but a high rating movie in terms of utter and complete enjoyment. No arm pain, but lots of fun.

*Whedonesque refers to Joss Whedon. He is utterly amazing. :) Whedon Google Search.

Jennifer's Body Poster

February 9, 2013  

Movie Reivew: “Dredd”

  • OVERALL: Reviewers said this movie was good. Friends said the movie was good. Holy Toledo Blades they were right!!! Judgement IS coming and has deemed this movie worthy of praise! (oh come on I had to)
  • POINTS: Action adventure movie WITH clever plot twists. I love it when the hero and the villain trade intelligent moves and have to react to each other. Plus I like it when you can understand how characters arrived at the information they use. I get really bugged in movies when characters know something or react to something that logically they wouldn’t know about in reality. I guess you can call that a continuity break and they drive me nuts. Never happens in Dredd. You can see everything and how it might play out and it is good. Huzzah to the script writers and director!

    Also I truly believe that a good action adventure movie is good because you like the characters. If you have no investment in the characters who cares about the adventure? So to ensure we invest in the characters the director 1. Let the actors act and 2. Uses many beautiful close-ups so you can know and relate to the characters and see, if not feel, what they are experiencing. Very nice. I like it when directors let the actors work. ;)

  • PITFALLS: Hmm… Well personally I don’t do well with any story that says our future is bleak and hopeless. I really don’t do well when civilizations are way over populated – birth control much. But I enjoyed the movie anyway. I think I liked the fairness of the judges and how even in the very bad areas there was daily life going on with some love and kindness.
  • FEMALE CHARACTER(S): Oh Rookie, name: Anderson, you are so cool. You got to defy a few tropes and rules about female character sidekicks in action movies and seriously kicked backside in  your own way. You weren’t fierce but you were driven and very very fair. :) Awesome! Plus it was really great to see Dredd’s boss as a black woman. Oh Huzzah! And though you get the idea she is now a bureaucrat, you do get the feeling she could take the wall down with her pinkie fingernail if she wanted. :)
  • CULTURAL PITFALL(S): Like dodging bullets, this movie did a good job of dodging cultural pitfalls. It was good to see a wide variety of color in this movie – Dredd’s boss is a black woman – YAY!!!  there are many black and white and brown and yellow characters through the movie. And they didn’t totally make Ma-Ma out to be the incredibly evil bad woman that villainesses usually get slammed into. For example, Ma-Ma doesn’t use her sexuality to control her minions. She does what the men do – she uses violence of all kinds including emotional and physical. Yes she is strong and controls people larger than her and wow, yes, she looks crazy dangerous. As in yes, crazy and can kill you with her crazy adrenaline rush and not be freaked by the bullets. When she faces Dredd at the end, she is totally on his level and he has to find a way out of her trap. Very cool.
  • HIGH POINT(S):  1. Dredd asks Rookie twice if she is ready. Ya’ gotta love one with the other. :)   2. Dred and Ma-Ma face off at the end.  3. Dredd’s boss is uber cool. 4. “Wait.” – Dredd. See the movie, you’ll know why it was a high point. :)   5. You never see Karl Urban’s face. :) He’s all Dredd.
  • DVD/BLU-RAY WORTHY:  Yup, got it. :)
  • LION PAW PRINTS:  4 of 5. Unbelievably good.

Dredd Movie Poster

February 3, 2013  

Movie Review: “The Stranger”

  • OVERALL: A fun romp of a movie that didn’t do what one would expect of the plot. Plus watching Orson Welles skillfully manipulate Loretta Young was great.
  • POINTS: Orson Welles directed this and that made it fun. Also watching a movie from 1946 talk about Nazis, a subject very fresh on everyone’s mind, I would think – was interesting.
  • PITFALLS: I think that styles of acting change over time. So this movie being set in the 1940s means, by my 21st millennium movie viewing eyes, everything is too overly dramatic. The music is obvious in manipulating your emotions, Orson Welles doesn’t seem to blink, and Loretta Young is overwrought almost all of the time.
  • FEMALE CHARACTER(S): Well Mary, played by Loretta Young, seems to be acting/living in an idiot Gothic roman novel or  a teen romance novel. However she does have a great scene at the end which pretty much made up for the rest of the movie. :)
  • CULTURAL PITFALL(S):  Oh good grief do the college guys really have to whistle and objectify the woman walking past them? *raspberry*  Plus the women are treated like delicate, overly emotional children. Welcome to 1946 and thank goodness I don’t live there.
  • HIGH POINT(S):  [SPOILER ALERT]  Our heroine finally grows a pair of ovaries and seriously confronts our villain in a totally verbal badass way. Go Mary!
  • BECHDEL TEST (Website):  Not rated by surprisingly I think it passes. There are two named female characters who have a conversation and it isn’t about a man. Huh.
  • DVD/BLU-RAY WORTHY: Hmmm… well sure. I wouldn’t run out to buy it, but if I saw it on sale I would pick it up.
  • LION PAW PRINTS: 3 of 5.

The Stranger (1946) movie poster.

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