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Reviews
The Choice (2016)
Beautiful movie. Not for crabby, self-centered depressoids who want everything dark.
This movie is beautifully filmed, powerfully themed and is a fun movie for us "great unwashed" who like a feel-good movie. It is not about people in hopeless poverty, or kafkaesque losers who try to beat the mafia. Set in stunningly beautiful North Carolina, it is the story of a lonely, ladies man who meets "the one". She is his neighbor who is a type AA and obviously, they clash. Over the course of time a complex, beautiful relationship develops. I know that's box office poison, anymore, because people try to think they're more intellectual if they like subtle, nuanced depressing movies.
Travis and Gabby get through courting's vicissitudes and make a beautiful life together. Travis learns to be monogamous and Gabby learns to enjoy life. They get married, have children and then the sky falls in. Travis is crushed, because he has been running from God. He has to solidify shaky relations with his believing Father and make The Choice. Yes it has a happy ending. Yes it makes you laugh and cry. Is that really so bad, or so plebeian? I loved it.
Cash McCall (1960)
It's Just a Fun Movie - People !
Cash McCall is a fun and entertaining early 60s flick that, sad to say, doesn't cure cancer! James Garner and Natalie Wood are easy on the eyes and give passable performances for the genre. I think they had fun making this movie. There's a lot of eye candy, and lavish lifestyles from the 60s for us to enjoy. The business dealings are sharply delineated and remind one of the anti-corporation feelings that are in the news today. I am an Aviation Buff and the A-26 converted to an executive transport (as in an early Onmark Marksman)and the classic cars are a joy to watch. By the way, the A-26 is essentially the same aircraft that was used in "Always" with Dreyfuss and Holly Hunter. The thing to do is to munch some popcorn, grab a soda and watch a vintage American film that entertains and makes you smile. I think they used to call that a movie, not a catharsis or an epiphany. Enjoy !
The Longest Ride (2015)
Two Excellent stories in One
This is an extraordinary film that is almost two features in one. My wife and I (oldsters, but still in glorious married Love) saw it as a date film and enjoyed it immensely.
It is two stories of enduring Love- one in modern day, the other in the past (1940s to present), which intertwine through the chance meeting of Ira Levinsen (Alan Alda) who is in a car crash, with Luke and Sophie who are on a first date. Their subsequent friendship changes all their lives. Sophie saves a box of love letters from the crash, the reading aloud of which provide the narrative (a common Nicholas Sparks theme) for interweaving the two very different worlds together.
The acting was superb, Scott's portrayal of Luke was spot on for rodeo cowboys - a stoic bunch. Britt Robertson's charming young "Sophie" was sweet, but tough. Alan Alda was priceless, as usual, but the two who really stand out are; Oona Chaplin as young Ruth Levinsen, and Jack Huston as young Ira. The period is amazingly presented and their acting just makes it sumptuous.
Two complaints that some reviewers find wrong with these types of film are - not enough realism (read overt sex and Violence) and happy endings. This movie is guilty of both. We left the Theater feeling emotionally spent and happy. As Christian Slater said in Bed of Roses: " There's no such thing as too much perfection"