“Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice”

A very good and entertaining documentary about Linda Ronstadt. She narrates this film herself and it spans her entire career. It captures all the different times she’s reinvented herself when she didn’t have to whether it be performing in Broadway shows, doing American standards or tackling Latin music, which she ultimately won a slew of Grammys for. She always did things her way. The music, of course is terrific and if you weren’t a fan of hers before, you will be now.

Rating: (****)

“Doctor Sleep”

A very long and unneeded follow-up to The Shining. This film got a very favorable response from Stephen King so I checked it out. I had a really difficult time following a lot of the story. The film is told with Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor) in the forefront many years older, but still pretty messed up. In this story, you’ve got witches, cults, multi-dimensions and all kinds of nonsense. Rebecca Ferguson plays a pretty compelling witch/villian but I also didn’t really understand what she had to do with the whole Shining ability. The last 30 minutes when they finally incorporate the Overlook Hotel is probably the best part of the film as the action picks up a little. It’s just a mess and for 2.5 hours, I was really wondering what the point of this was.

Rating: (**)

“Ford v Ferrari”

One of the Best Picture contenders of 2019 is a very entertaining film based on the true story of the battle between 2 automakers to win the LaMans Race in the 60s. Matt Damon and Christian Bale play partners in a constant battle with the Ford company to do things their own way and to ultimately give them the car to win the big race. Bale plays the driver who doesn’t have the right image, but Damon fights for him. There are some terrific sequences in this such as Damon taking Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) for a ride and the LeMans race is also quite exciting. The racing sequences are very well done and there are a bunch of them. There is lots of humor sprinkled in to help move things along and lighten the film. Not sure I would’ve ranked this among one of the best films of last year, but it’s very good and worth sitting through.

Rating: (***1/2)

Very funny sequel to the mild hit from a few years ago. All the regulars are back including Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg & Abigail Breslin. In this chapter, they’re living in the White House and why not? They seem to be having a lot of fun living there but “Little Rock” (Breslin) is feeling restless and decides to take off and the rest of the gang sets off to find her. They try Graceland first and come across a few other survivors such as Rosario Dawson and a couple other nuts including Luke Wilson playing a role very similar to Harrelsons in a funny little twist. They eventually all meet up at a Babylon, a place to celebrate peace and smoke pot. Unfortunately, they’re all completely ignorant and to make matters worse, they like to set off fireworks and attract zombies. There is also a new kind of zombie introduced named the T-800 which is referenced by the Terminator films. To enjoy the Zombieland films, you have to remember the rules such as “Cardio”, “Double-Tap”, “Always stay Limber” and stay away from public bathrooms. If you forget them, they show up in pop-up form frequently for comic affect. With movies like these, you either laugh or you don’t and I did a lot. It’s very funny and the action is fun. It’s certainly a movie you just go with because not a whole lot of it should be taken seriously. It’s just a goofy ride.

Rating: (***1/2)

A really good story about an elderly con man named Roy (Ian McKellen) who uses a dating service to find unsuspecting wealthy women to snooker them out of their money. Roy meets Betty (Helen Mirren) and the two of them hit it off but not in a romantic way, but more of a companionship, at least in her world. When he fakes an injury, she invites him into her house and he ends up staying as their relationship gets closer. Roy is a very sneaky and smart man where everything is choreographed and planned out for a greater purpose and long game. Mirren apparently, seems to fall for it as she leads a lonely and vulnerable life. The story unfolds very well and it increasingly gets more and more interesting. How is this old creep going to get caught? Will he get caught? Betty has a grandson who is suspicious of him, but he never gets close enough and by the time he does unfold some new information, it’s too late. Fortunately, things aren’t always what they seem. This film works because its being anchored by pros. We’ve seen this story done before but it works this time as you begin to really believe the stories that Roy weaves and believe that Betty is really this gullible. The movie moves along and is paced well. You get really caught up in this and I enjoyed it.

Rating: (***1/2)

The Kims are a smart family living in poverty, but have a knack of being resourceful and getting their day to day essentials by any way necessary. When an opportunity comes for the son to tutor the daughter of a very rich family, the Parks, he takes the job and shortly later, he’s able to get his sister a job in the family as a therapist for their young son. Then by some creative planning, they’re able to get the dad employed as the driver and the mom as the housekeeper. All 4 of them are working under different names and the Parks have no idea that they’re all from the same family. This whole aspect of the film is brilliant and it works for quite a while. Then one evening as the Parks are out on a weekend trip, the Kims are living it up in their house only to get a knock on the door to wrench in the whole operation. The film takes a very dark turn at this point and some of the fun of the fist 90 minutes go out the window. The movie becomes more of a thriller at this point, but still works and you need to start thinking about things as they slowly happen in the film. The writing is really good. The movie is funny at times and very clever. You really want to root for this family to succeed despite them sponging off this family in secrecy. But the Parks are no prizes either. They’re gullible but they completely take advantage of their new employees. There are some underlying messages all over this movie and you can discuss what they are after seeing the film.

Rating: (***1/2)

I went into this with pretty low expectations, and that’s exactly what I got. Bleh. A very dull and not very interesting biopic of Judy Garland’s career as she approaches the end of it. She’s already a bit of a booze hound and I was hoping to learn a bit more than I really did about her life. Renee Zellwegger does a nice job imitating Garland, but I didn’t find her performance all that special. Her singing in the film was not all that great. She’s going to win the Oscar, but not so sure she deserves it over the other nominees. The movie kind of plods along and despite some nice music numbers, I really didn’t care about anything that happens. I really would rather have watched a documentary than this.

Rating: (*1/2)

Bruce Springsteen can seemingly do it all. He managed to take a seemingly dull studio album and turn it into a much better listen when he plays the entire Western Stars album live in a barn with a full orchestra and small band. He wrote and directed this small film as a documentary telling the audience how he came to each song and introduces each one with some beautiful visual imagery of the western portion of the country. This isn’t a terrific movie, but it’s another time capsule of his career and for an album, which to me I considered an after thought plays pretty well in this movie and it’s something that you can have on in the background while doing other things. I enjoyed it.

Rating: (***)

I’m a sucker for these kind of movies. A troubled young mother from Glasgow named Rose (Jessie Buckley) wants to make it in Nashville as a country singer. She has the talent and the drive, but she carries some handicaps with her. She is from Scotland and there aren’t many country singers from that part of the world and she has a young child as well as a checkered past. She does what she can locally and with the support of her friend who she takes of her children, she goes for it, only to ultimately run into some roadblocks, a few of her own accord. The story is atypical of this genre, but for these movies to work you have to want to believe in the main character and want them to succeed and you do. Rose is a very likeable person despite being tough, foul mouthed and not very friendly, but she does have a soft side that is very nice to watch on screen especially when it comes to her friends and family. The music is good too as the soundtrack is littered with country music from artists that I like in that genre including Maria Mckee and Kasey Musgraves. I’m not a country music fan, but the music in this film is quite good. The show stopping song at the end of the film “Glasgow (No Place Like Home)” is a beautiful song and was recently snubbed by the Oscars. Go figure and not surprised. This is a sweet uplifting film that is worth taking a look at.

Rating: (***)

I went out in the middle of a snow storm and just watched one the best movies of 2019, if not the best dramatic film. I made out my best of list a couple weeks ago and this film hadn’t come out yet, but I probably would have had it #1 or 2. It’s terrific. Sam Mendes shot this movie in what appears as 1 long tracking shot, not unlike Birdman a few years ago and it’s very effective here which adds to the dramatic effect. The film is also very tense in spots. The duo sent out on a harrowing mission are constantly in danger and one scene after another will have you reaching for something to clench or bite on a fingernail. There is one scene in particular in a trench tunnel that I had a difficult time watching. There are a lot of similarities to Saving Private Ryan, but I think I liked this one a bit better. For starters, the first 20 minutes didn’t make me screaming to hurl like Ryan did. This movie is R and although it’s not gory or full of language & sex, the themes and dramatic moments are pretty intense. I took my 13 year old and he handled it ok, but anybody under 13, I’d use a little caution. See this on the big screen.

Rating (****)

This is a really sweet film that probably very few people saw in the theater. Zack Gottsagen is a young man with Down Syndrome who because of over crowding is placed in a nursing home opposed to a facility where many patients are treated. He’s been there for quite a long time and is itching to escape to go and find his wrestling idol and enroll in his school. He makes his roomie played by Bruce Dern watch this wrestling video every day. Dern helps him escape and he eventually runs into a fisherman with a huge debt (Shia Labeouf in one of his best roles). They form an unlikely bond and travel together to find this school. Dakota Johnson, who is one of Zach’s friends at the clinic is assigned to find Zach and bring him back. The movie works because Zach is so charming and just eats up the screen. You just root for him. You want this guy to find his idol. There is a lot of “Rain Man” in this movie. Two companions, one with special needs the other is a bit gruff who need each other in different ways and discover a bond. Dakota Johnson fits in well as she eventually falls for Shia’s character, reluctantly. There is some violence in the film since Shia owes some real bad dudes some money and they are on his trail. I liked this movie very much. It’s not all that original, but it’s a nice feel good story. I hope people will seek this film out.

Rating: (***1/2)