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Reviews
RED (2010)
Vince Flynn "Lite"
If you like Vince Flynn's novels about political intrigue, you'll love this movie, which is in the same vein, but a lot of fun. Interesting and believable plot and good acting, especially by John Malkovich, who is simply hilarious and comes close to stealing the show. What a smooth actor he is--I hope he takes an award for this movie. Morgan Freeman is terrific too, though he doesn't look close to the 80-year-old he is said to be in this part. Bruce Willis is better than usual. His portrayal of emotion is much like the description Dorothy Parker gave to Katherine Hepburn years ago, it "runs the gamut from A to B." This movie is a fun way to spend an evening. I watched it twice in 24 hours, to see what I missed the first time around.
Glee: Furt (2010)
The best of the best
This episode, "Furt," represents the kind of writing that attracted us to GLEE in the furt place. (Sorry, couldn't help myself.) There isn't a loose line or minute in the episode, the musical productions are particularly fine and moving as is the script, sucking us in and making us one of the crowd of friends celebrating the wedding of Kurt's dad and Finn's mom. Everything said and done is in character, strongly so, with Kurt excited about planning the wedding, with him conscious that Finn won't "get" that he's talking about color schemes, with his father not knowing how to dance and showing his apprehension and that dancing is not his forte during the wedding and Finn's mother a little better but no professional at dancing, or so it seems. Their lack of expertise, real or enacted, made the scene even more heart-warming. Love, love,love, the wedding number. Like a split screen, we see Sue Sylvester off at her own wedding, attended only by her talented little sister, and visited by her mother, played by Carol Burnett, clearly at least a partial source of Sue's dysfunction. Burnett, at 77, looks terrific, and her song was beautifully done. Sue's harmony made it even better--Jane Lynch keeps surprising us with the extent of her talents. Her mixed emotion towards her mother tugs at our heartstrings. This wedding is a striking contrast to the Glee-filled wedding of Kurt's father and Finn's mother. And through all the wedding drama is the underlying darker drama of Kurt's situation in being bullied by the boy with gender uncertainty, one that pulls at the hearts of everyone on Glee and on those of us watching it too. The wide variety of responses to the situation from friends and family are all validly represented--love Kurt's father's response (and character, a solid addition to this cast)--whether we approve of them or not. This is what we have come to expect of Ryan Murphy at his best. Well done, well done, well done.
Old Dogs (2009)
Don't waste your time or money
The previews were funny so I looked forward to this movie. The funny parts were few and far between and the plot was trite and unconvincing, even with so many actors that I admire in starring roles. Disney has produced consistently good movies since I was a child, 50 years ago. This is most definitely NOT one of them. Simply not worth watching, not clever, not well written, not funny. Give it a miss!!
On the plus side, the gorilla was hilarious as was the little redheaded man, both of them convincing in their roles. Pairing older men with very young women is only believable up to a point, which was most definitely surpassed in OLD DOGS.
The Proposal (2009)
Low marks for plot and dialog
I rented "The Proposal," which I'd been wanting to see, at one of those $1 kiosks. If I'd paid real money, I'd be disgusted with myself. With a cast of very good actors, including Sandra Bullock, whose movies I never miss, it didn't fly. I gave it a 4 because the actors were good, except Bullock, though they had little to work with. Dialogue was annoyingly trite as was the plot (or lack thereof). Ryan Reynolds made this movie happen, supported by "Gammy," Betty White, who was hilarious. The character Bullock played was unlikable through nearly the whole movie. In one scene she tries to get an eagle to snatch the world's cutest puppy so the eagle will give her back her cell phone!! How can anyone have thought that a funny scene? And she pretends to be terrified of the puppy as well, which is not realistic. She cannot bounce back from the beginning which shows her as a much-hated editor at a big publishing firm. That simply does not change, despite the fact that she professes a change of heart towards the end of the movie--the writers have made the change too drastic and sudden to be believable. Weak, weak, weak. . . except for Reynolds and the supporting actors. Even Bullock couldn't do anything with this dialog. Reynolds, on the other hand, was a pleasure to watch, giving the only zest to the obligatory nude scene, which was as contrived and trite as the rest of the plot. I'd give this one a miss!!
Cellular (2004)
A Boomer's Yay Vote!
This is the best movie I've seen in a long while. The plot was gripping for a number of reasons--its use of technology in exciting ways, the tension caused by the life-and-death situation depending upon the perilousness of today's technology, particularly cell phones, the humor that was woven through--Macy in a mud mask, people's rudeness about cell phones and music in their cars, New York manners--etc. It was a taut movie, no slack time, no loose ends anywhere. I've seen it twice and look forward to watching it again. The lead is perfect, a normal young happy-go-lucky guy sucked into a lethal situation and finding out who he is in the process--we find out along with him. Well done. All the acting was superb, and Macy was just the right touch here--someone we knew we could trust, someone funny and nice, but as tough as he needed to be when it got down to it. Kudos to the producers and writers as well as the actors. This was excellent, fast-paced entertainment.