Change Your Image
tinmanjs
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Finding Normal (2013)
Semi-predictable but a good wholesome movie.
A New York City doctor drives coast to coast through small town North Carolina and gets caught in a speed trap. Her punishment is to spend 3 days in Normal, where she learns about trust, manners, love and God.
She gets to know the residents of this small town and starts to understand their way of life.
Meanwhile, her possibly fiance, back in New Yawk, continually reminds her that she is costing him $2500/visit while she is not with him.
It's sort of your typical predictable movie, but it is still worth watching.
It would be good for the whole family to watch it together.
Good acting all around.
Trevor St. John as the judge, doctor, and preacher is a cross between Morgan Freeman and Kieth David. Good actor.
My wife and I enjoyed the movie.
All Is Lost (2013)
All is Lost. Including any hope for Hollywood
Basically an hour and a half of wondering why this guy is even where he is. There's no explanation of why he is out sailing by himself to begin with. There could have been some flashbacks to a discussion with family or friends or why he chose to do this, but there was nothing.
So an older guy goes out on the ocean by himself in a sailboat. He wakes up to the feeling of a collision with a floating sea container that must have fallen off of another ship. He manages to get the boat unstuck and does a mediocre repair.
Pretty much everything is ruined due to water infiltration and getting bounced around in a few storms.
He eventually abandons his boat and loads a few things into his life raft. But first he takes time to shave.(?)
It is a very depressing movie. I sort of get the idea that it's about human endurance, etc. But it just got boring.
He was a little too calm and even tempered through the majority of it with the exception of a couple of profanities.
Had they provided some sort of a back story you could have at least made up your own conclusions or had something to work with. I just feel it was a waste of an hour and forty minutes.
Mother! (2017)
A Colossal Turd.
Easily one of the worst movies I've ever seen.
I thought, "Hmmm, Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer. Damn, this could be good." WRONG!
A couple lives in a large spooky house, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.
Bardem is a struggling, frustrated writer that can't seem to come up with anything to write.
Lawrence is a talented do-it-yourselfer that is single handedly remodeling this old scary beast.
Then, Ed Harris appears out of the blue, at the front door. A world-renowned surgeon of some sort that needs a place to live. Bardem invites this strange character to live with him and his confused wife.
Then the next day another strange character (Pfeiffer) arrives at the front door. It's Harris's wife.
Then then next thing you know, their grown sons arrive, fighting about the dad's will or something.
From there it all goes downhill.
All I can say is that they must have gotten payed an awful lot of cash for this disaster of a movie.
The Magic of Belle Isle (2012)
Finally, a great family appropriate movie.
I really wish they would make more movies like this one.
My wife and I watched this over several nights with each subsequent viewing being highly anticipated.
Monte Wildhorn (Freeman) is a sort-of-retired, alcoholic, wild west writer that house/dog sits for a friend. He gets a new lease on life through the knewly divorced neighbor (Madsen) and her three young daughters.
It's a nicely done movie with really fine acting and some really good life lessons shared by all.
Besides Freeman and Madsen, they are a few recognizable actors and a few that I'll be looking for. Fred Willard. Kevin Pollack. Kenan Thompson
A good one to see with children
Worth a watch, for sure.
The Farm (2023)
An absolute snoozefest.
A young couple inherit a farm after a "horrible" accident that kills his parents. Of course you never hear how they die or any details about it. They struggle to make a go at making the farm profitable again.
They take turns narrating little things about the other one's life in the most monotone dialog imaginable.
Catherine is a nurse in the city.
Tom struggles with life.
They both struggle with infertility.
After many scenes of Tom mowing grass or weeds or something, he gets his tractor stuck in mud and continues to gun the engine until it starts smoking. Frustrated, he sits and pouts in the yard until Catherine comes out to see what's wrong. Tom sulks and then announces that it's time for dinner.
(spoiler alert)
Catherine leaves for work.
Tom finds a repair manual in the barn and quickly deduces that the reason the tractor smokes and is stuck in the mud is because the alternator must be bad. He replaces it and successfully drives out of the mud pit.
Tom washes the tractor and leaves a trail of muddy clothes through the house. Catherine surprises Tom in the shower and he estutely asks, "Oh, are you home?"
The movie goes on like this for another 30-some minutes, with another life changing event that I won't spoil for you.
This is the slowest moving and one of the most uneventful movies that I have a ever wasted an hour and 28 minutes and 10 seconds on.
It's a must to watch with subtitles for the descriptions of the music, etc.
Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
Slow and awkward. Definitely not the original.
Sorry, I'm gonna be the Grinch on this one. I put off watching this one for years mostly because I grew up watching the original every year with my family. It was always my mom's favorite so, naturally, that pulls a lot of weight for my review of this movie.
We were looking for a Christmassy movie to watch with the grand kids the other night so I thought of this one. I was a little hesitant to go with the new one but I thought the kids would like it more.
I chose to buy it from Amazon rather than rent it. I will say, first, that my 9 year old granddaughter enjoyed it. I am going to play the original this week and get her opinion on it, also.
The movie in my opinion was one of those that had too much dead air time or just some awkward silence. It progressed very slowly and, to me, the acting was forced and a little over the top at times.
It loosely followed the original story of a department store Santa that is a little too realistic for some people and was a threat to the competing store and a few hateful people in particular.
He befriends the daughter of the head of the "Cole's department store parade", who is a little girl that is supposed to be way above her years.
Kris Kringle claims to be the real Santa Claus and the evil department store CEO is determined to prove otherwise. So, naturally, the easiest thing to do is have Kris arrested and thrown in the psych ward at Belleview. He is defended at the commitment hearing by the little girl's mother's boyfriend.
I'll let you watch and see how it ends.
Sometimes when a movie is being remade, the director has a very difficult time capturing the the feel and the emotion of the original. That is the feel for me on this one. I really think they missed the mark on this wonderful classic.
Was it horrible and unwatchable? Not really. But I did find myself getting reminded by my wife that we were all supposed to be watching the movie together, not playing on my phone.
If you haven't seen the original, please do. There is a colorized version if you don't like black and white movies but I prefer the B/W for nostalgia sake.
But if you do take the time to watch the original, please come back and review it and leave a rebuttal on my review.
Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Happy Holidays
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Runnin' Down a Dream (2007)
Comprehensive story of a great rock band and writer.
I absolutely love this documentary. I was told about it on the unfortunate day that Tom left us here on Earth. I've watched it several times and it has renewed my love for his/their music. I thought I was very familiar with most of their music and members but I was sadly mistaken. This was expertly put together by Peter Bogdnovich and it tells the story of the band from inception; essentially in a friends house, all the way through the early 2000's. It shows the band members as they changed, improved, and entertained millions of people worldwide. Tom was a phenomenal writer and the rest of the guys, including Tom, are world class musicians. I never had the privilege of seeing them live and I kick myself for not taking advantage of the times I could have. At close to 4 hours in length it left me hungering for more. What an amazing life they've had. It appears that these guys love working together and truly love each other. The title, "Runnin' down a dream" seems to accurately portray Tom's life because he didn't ever, "...Back Down". As a Hoosier teenager in the '70's, we needed a true rocker to answer to the onslaught of "Disco-mania" that was rolling through the country like an infectious plague. The Heartbreakers were a good solid solution. They became a big part of the soundtrack of our lives. Tom, you are missed by millions of adoring fans. Your impact on our lives will forever be felt in our love of all music. There are tons of other videos on the web but this is definitely on the top of my list.