Liberal Arts

Movie: Liberal Arts

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Jesse (Josh Radnor) is a 35-year old college admissions worker in New York.  He considers the best years of his life to have been when he was in college.  He gets the opportunity to visit his alma mater when he is invited to the retirement dinner of one of his former professors (Richard Jenkins).  While there, he meets Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen), a 19-year-old sophomore.  The two have an instant connection and really hit it off.  The age difference is something which Jesse has a difficult time dealing with.  The movie follows the relationship and how it forces Jesse to take a look at his life and how he is kind of stuck.

My two cents: I really enjoyed this movie – although I would have changed some of the last 20 minutes.  Jesse and Zibby had a great chemistry.  There were several side stories – one of them involved another former professor (Allison Janney) and one of them involved a somewhat mystical person played by Zac Effron.   Very solid performances and a pretty nice story line – although I have to say that I enjoyed the first 2/3 of the movie more than the last 1/3.

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Here Comes the Boom

Movie: Here Comes the Boom

Genre: comedy

Synopsis: Scott (Kevin James) is a disillusioned high school biology teacher.  There are only two things in the school he likes – Bella (Salma Hayek) and Marty (Henry Winkler) – the music teacher.  When Marty is facing the elimination of the music program, Scott gets the bright idea of earning some money in Mixed Martial Arts matches.

My two cents: I expected this to be pretty finny – and it was.  What surprised me was how much I also enjoyed the non-comedic parts of the movie.  It had a lot of feel-good moments to it.  Most definitely worth seeing.

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Looper

Movie: Looper

Genre: thriller

Synopsis: In 2074 time travel is used by organized crime to dispose of victims.  The victims are bound and hooded and transported back to 2044.  In 2044 they are greeted upon arrival by a Looper who immediately kills them with a blunderbuss. Loopers are employed by the gangsters for just this purpose.  Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a Looper.  One day when his next target shows up, it turns out to be himself (Old Joe, played by Bruce Willis) from 30 years in the future.  Old Joes manages to escape and is doing his best to change the future.  Pretty much everyone else is trying to kill both Joe and old Joe.

My two cents:  A really good movie.  You are better off not trying to make sense of all of the time travel issues/  If you can get past that, this movie has a lot going for it.  The ending certainly caught me by surprise.

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Sinister

Movie: Sinister

Genre: horror

Synopsis: Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) is a true-crime writer who has not had a best seller in a long time.  To help research his current book, he and his family have moved into the home in which 4 of the 5 members of the family were murdered.  Ellison finds a box of 8mm movies in the attic.  Each of the movies chronicles is detail the murder of entire families.  Things go downhill from here for Ellison, as he realizes that the films document a serial killer (or something worse) has been operating since the 60’s or 70’s. 

My two cents: One of the better horror films I have seen this year.  I was skeptical that the ending would be satisfying – but it was.  If you like horror flicks, this should not disappoint you.

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Arbitrage

Movie: Arbitrage

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Robert Miller (Richard Gere) is a big-time hedge-fund manager on Wall Street.  Due to some investment mis-steps and some financial sleight-of-hand by Miller, he – and his company – are on the brink of disaster.  Add to this a car accident involving his mistress, an angry wife (Susan Sarandon), and a company audit and you have a very stressed out Robert Miller.

My two cents: An enjoyable movie.  Richard Gere plays a really slimy character. I am not sure I liked the ending – I would have preferred tying things up a bit more.

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Trouble With the Curve

Movie: Trouble With the Curve

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Gus (Clint Eastwood) is an aging baseball scout whose eyes are failing.  He could be on his last scouting trip.  Management wants to drop him because of his not-so-modern methods.  His daughter is Mickey (Amy Adams).  Mickey is an associate in a large legal firm.  Her relationship with her father is rather rocky.  She decides to accompany him on this trip to help him – whether he likes it or not.  Also in the cast are Matthew Lillard (the management SOB who is out to fire Gus), John Goodman (Gus’s immediate boss), and Justin Timberlake (a competing scout).

My two cents: I may not agree with Clint’s politics – but the man can sure make a great movie.  I loved this filme.  Clint was great.  Justin Timberlake was great.  Amy Adams was better than great.  I would love to see at least Amy Adams get an Oscar nomination out of this.  I would not mind seeing the movie in the running for Best Picture also.

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