juliasf Reviews

Timbuktu (2014)

An Excellent Movie I Will Remember

[10/10 · 12 September 2014]

I saw many excellent films at The Toronto Film Festival. This one really stayed with me. I am not a person who can tolerate visually violent movies and this move respected me as an audience member. I cannot remember a movie with more captivating images which resonated, characters I continue to think about and visuals which prompted me to reconsider my relationship with history and other nations as well as with myself. That sounds kind of major. Suffice to say that I recommend this movie to anyone who would like an excellent story simply told which is both moving and a window on another world. The story is about creeping fascism and the way in which human beings resist heroically inroads against them which demean them. Despite the heavy subject matter, I found this film incredibly uplifting. This is a rare opportunity to see a film which depicts the complicated and sometimes frightening world we live in but with a sense of hope.

I tend to be a rom-com type. It surprised me to relish a film about war. It is not a film without heartache. It is a film which is both inspired and is inspiring. Most of the lead characters are not professional actors. This shocked me. I cry to remember some scenes, but with gratitude!

Infinitely Polar Bear (2014)

Mark Ruffalo Will Make You Bark with Pleasure

[9/10 · 12 September 2014]

This incredible actor is given full reign in a film which capitalizes on his ability to be both sweet and intolerably infantile. I am a fan!

I laughed a lot and I really appreciated insight into the world of bi-polar craziness depicted with an even hand and so much love. It was also a skillful depiction of a chaotic 1970's childhood.

This is the director's first feature film, but she knocked it out of the park. Although I would say that casting Mark Ruffalo as a Boston WASP is improbable, it worked for me. The scenes of his extended family are worth the price of admission alone.

Zoe Saldana makes the move possible as she loves everything about Mark Ruffalo that anyone does. I do not know Mark Ruffalo, but I know that he is smart, good-looking, interesting and an exceptionally warm person. The miracle is that this film-maker can tell the story of a difficult youth without any rancor and with insights which are subtle, heart-breaking and hilarious.

The children in this film give it great authenticity. I vote for them!

Leopardi (2014)

19th Century Romantics Alert

[8/10 · 12 September 2014]

If you like the idea of traveling to Italy and also of watching period costume dramas, this pick may be for you. I ate it up. I thought the main performance was astonishing and you will rarely see a film which takes better advantage of fabulous locations throughout Italy which appear to just unfurl as scenery miraculously still in existence despite the passage of more than 150 years.

I did not know this poet at all and yet I definitely enjoyed this poetic film. Although I was the only one in the theater who laughed at regular intervals, I think you might find some underlying wit in all the melancholy. Rarely has the cage of being upper class been so well depicted in film. If you want to feel sorry for the independently wealthy nobility of Italy, this film will lay it all out for you.

As a fan of Jane Austin and most of the films made of her work, I heartily recommend this movie for a very interesting escape. It is not a tale of a romance, but rather of a man who's heart is bursting with passion. His brain is ahead of his time and it makes for modern excitement. Great contemporary music is woven in very skillfully.

Still Alice (2014)

If Someone You Love Has Dementia, You Are Not Alone

[9/10 · 12 September 2014]

This movie was a great boost to my psyche as someone who has watched my own mother lose her ability to be the fascinating and clever woman she once was. The performances of Alec Baldwin and Ms. Stewart really impressed me. Julianne Moore is always good.

If you have lived with the loneliness and the torture of watching someone you love lose his or her mind this movie may just give you the strength to go on.

Julianne Moore's performance is particularly compassionate. This movie depicts an excruciating illness, but also illuminates the heroes who emerge and the grace which is possible despite loss.

Laggies (2014)

Hit A Bit Close to Home, But Funny!

[8/10 · 12 September 2014]

Ever feel like you have spent far too much of your life wandering around and trying to please everyone else?

I would say that after my last Keira Knightly adventure with Mark Ruffalo and now this movie, I am just about ready to have her as my friend. It was so hard to like her after all that fawning over her looks in other movies. She is really a charming actress and made my day with this performance. Apparently she replaced Anne Hathaway at the last minute. It is hard to imagine Ms. Hathaway in the role because Keira Knightly owns it so completely. I usually find the performances of Brits who play Americans strangely flat, but Ms. Knightly is one good exception to the rule. She falls into her role and seems to use her outsider status as an asset which works within the premise of the movie.

Sam Rockwell is incredible. What is it about that man? He has a very sexy brain. If he were one tiny bit better looking his seductive capacity would be less mesmerizing, so thank heaven for small favors.

Have fun!