Day: May 25, 2015

Having read the novel by Thomas Hardy in my early youth – and having completely forgotten the story – it was quite interesting to see the latest adaptation of the famous novel. 

Bathsheba Everdene is a feminist ahead of her time and probably ahead of present times as well, at least as far as I am concerned.  She doesn’t believe in marriage and tells her first suitor quite plaintively, “I have no need of marriage!”  But life has a strange way of working itself out despite one’s best intentions, and love has a way of disrupting even the most carefully arranged plans.

A lovely period film set in the late nineteenth century in rural England in an era when telephones and e-mail were not yet in existence, it is fascinating to watch the power of a hand-written note that makes mountains move.  The romantic entanglements that ensue make for fine entertainment, despite being utterly predictable. 

High marks for cinematography, costumes and music.  And if you need to have your faith restored in love and the institution of marriage, look no further.

A post-apocalytic car chase with a post-modern feminist theme is how I might describe this film in one sentence. 

Yet another movie series to which I have little context to other than cursory knowledge of the movies made famous by Mel Gibson in the Seventies and Eighties – or so, I am told.  But Max, in this movie, is without a doubt overshadowed by Furiosa, played by the impossibly talented and very lovely Charlize Theron.  Max is there, but what we are forced to focus on is the spectacular demolition derby of action that totally overwhelms every other aspect of the film: characters, narrative, emotion and even charm – all flattened in the desert dust.

I couldn’t get my head and heart around this one, and were it not for the somewhat strong feminist theme to it, would have lost interest within the first twenty minutes.  But Theron’s stare cuts through steel and dust and everything in between and is quite compelling despite the fact that her character is not as well-developed as one might have hoped. Max’s character is also poorly developed although we learn very early on that he is haunted by his past and is motivated by it.

There’s plenty of action – in case I failed to mention it – and in case you failed to catch on, I couldn’t help but weary of it, and will admit that I wish the whole movie was at least an hour less in duration.  That probably reveals more about myself than the movie, but then such is life – we sometimes go to the movies to learn more about ourselves!

In case you didn’t know, immortality is not all that it is made out to be, nay, it is more a curse, and being forever young is most definitely a woeful state of being.  We learn this by way of the story of this young woman named Adaline played by the very lovely and talented Blake Lively in a sweet story that spans decades and generations in which Adaline remains age 29 forever and watches as everything and everyone around her slowly but surely decays and eventually dies.

A charming story, made somewhat plausible by reference to miracles of scientific discoveries and genetic  possibilities to come in the future, it is an easy-going throwback to movies of old, complete with a smooth narration filling in the gaps.  Free of violence, death or graphic sex, this romantic fantasy is easy on the eyes and heart.  A curse it might be, but the proposition of eternal youth still seems intriguing.  If I didn’t know any better, I might say that the story line was reminiscent of a romance novel of the Harlequin or Mills & Boon variety with the fantasy factor adding to the emotional drama at hand. 

Also, Harrison Ford and Kathy Baker shine in supporting roles.

I found it surprising that despite my love of action super heroes, my reaction to this one was somewhat nonplussed.  I don’t know what to attribute it to other than perhaps the fact that I had not seen the previous Avenger movie(s), and therefore did not seem to connect with the group as a whole, or perhaps it was the excessive action altogether that had the strange effect of making me yawn despite myself. 

All things considered, this is a movie for the die-hard fans of the Avenger franchise that is by turns a blur of faces in close-ups or bodies in longer shots. The gang of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, some dude with arrows called Hawkeye, computer-assisted leviathan, the Hulk, and the token girl called Black Widow, played by the lovely Scarlett Johansson.  Rounding out the A-listers was Samuel L. Jackson, who as Nick Fury, had an Old Testament vibe and a black leather coat straight out of Shaft’s closet.

The problem with waiting too long to write a movie review is that one tends to forget the story (if it’s forgettable, of course!), and that in itself ought to be an indication of my interest and love of the movie, which is saying something without saying too much…  Suffice to say that a movie like this one would have an audience of those who would love it, hate it, or simply find themselves yawning involuntarily.  I, alas, found myself in the latter-most category.

Six weeks later, I don’t remember much about the plot or even the characters in the movie other than Paul Blart himself who seems to have gained quite a bit of weight over the last six years since his debut as America’s mall cop.  With that, at the risk of being uncharitable, I might just need to call this review a wrap.

Well, maybe I ought to say that Kevin James is a funny man regardless of the weak script and forgettable plot, and for some maybe that is still worth the price of admission.  I, unfortunately, found it mildly disappointing.  My husband, on the other hand, didn’t think twice to make fun of it with a choice of word that rhymes with Kevin James’ character’s last name.  

For what it is worth, I would strongly urge Mr. James to decline any future offers for sequels.