Moonrise Kingdom

Movie: Moonrise Kingdom

Genre: coming-of-age comedy

Synopsis: This is a tough one to describe.  It takes place on a small New England island with a few inhabitants.  It also has a Boy Scout camp run by Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton).  One of his scouts is Sam (Jared Gilman).  Sam marches to the beat of a different drum – and is universally disliked by the other scouts. Walt and Laura Bishop (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand) are a married couple.  They are both lawyers and live on the island with their two sons and an 11-ish daughter, Suzy (Kara Hayward).  The Police Chief (and only officer) of the island is Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis).  Last but not least, is Social Services (no other name) played by Tilda Swinton.  The movie begins three days before an historic hurricane strikes the island.  Sam is smitten with Suzy.  He runs away from the camp, meets up with Suzy – and the two of them run away.  They are soon being tracked/chased/hunted on land, sea and air by Scout Master Ward, the entire Boy Scout Troop, Suzy’s parents, and Captain Sharp. 

My two cents: I loved this movie.  I have not figured out how to convey the delight of the movie.  One minute a fully armed (with knives, bows and arrows, sticks, a BB rifle and a motorcycle) troop is attacking Suzy and Sam.  The next scene has the entire troop running away – terrorized by Suzy.  The dialog is great.  If you enjoy off-beat coming of age movies, you absolutely have to see this movie.  I have never seen a movie that had such quirky writing coupled with impossible (at least for me) visual tricks.

[67]

Snow White and the Huntsman

Movie: Snow White and the Huntsman

Genre: fantasy

Synopsis: Snow White’s (Kristen Stewart) father is the popular King (Noah Huntley).  Their life of happiness comes to an end with the arrival of Raveena (Charlize Theron).  The King is entranced by Raveena, marries her, and then disappears.  Queen Raveena banishes Snow White to her room and proceeds to wreak havoc on the kingdom for her own pleasure.  Snow White finally escapes and hides out with – wait for it – eight (yes, eight, not seven) dwarfs in a dark forest.  The Queen sends The Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) into the forest agter her.

My two cents: This was a great movie.  Lots of twists to the old Disney classic.  I thought Kristin Stewart was just so-so as Snow White.  The dwarfs were hilarious.  I won’t give away how the dwarf’s were portrayed – but it was great.  Chris Hemsworth was great as The Huntsmen.  But the one I could not get enough of was Charlize Theron as The Queen – and not just because she is so darned beautiful.  I think Charlize Theron has ha new standard for the evil stepmother/evil Queen.  When she got angry – which was most of the time – you just wanted to duck and hide.  When she yelled – which was also often -  my blood would run cold and I would cringe.  She was GREAT.  This movie is well worth seeing – but I would not recommend taking small children.

[66]

Hysteria

Movie: Hysteria

Genre: comedy and ?

Synopsis: This is based on the life of Dr. Mortimer Granville (Hugh Dancy).  He was a physician in Victorian London who specialized in female disorders – specifically hysteria.  This was the catch-all diagnosis of a long list of female complaints which sometime resulted in unnecessary hysterectomies.  A popular (literally) treatment for these women involved – to put it delicately – the physician doing some rather personal massage of certain areas.  What Dr. Granville does to invent the electric vibrator, allowing the “massage” to be done much easier and faster.  Maggie Gyllenhaal plays the daughter of Mortimer’s employer. She is devoted to trying to help the women and children of London’s slum.  She and Dr. Mortimer have a rather contentious – but emotional – relationship.

My two cents:  This was an interesting movie. I knew nothing about the origins of hysteria as a diagnosis.  The arrogance of modern men can be rather surprising – but it is nothing when compared to the arrogance prevalent in Victorian England.  It was horrifying to see the conditions in hospitals and clinics – not to mention gthe slums.  This movie was worth seeing just from a historical perspective.  Add in the humor of and interaction between Maggie Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy and you get a must-see movie.  

[65]

Men in Black III in IMAX 3D

Movie: Men in Black III in IMAX 3D

Genre: SciFi-comedy

Synopsis: Agent J (Will Smith) wakes up one morning to discover that Agent K (Tommie Lee Jones) is gone – and no one else seems to realize it.   Agent J ends up doing some time travelling to go back in time to the 1960’s to find out what happened to Agent K (played by Josh Brolin in the 60’s).  And of course, they also have to save the world.

My two cents: I enjoyed this third entry in the Men in Black series.  No better or worse than the first two.  I don’t know that the 3D effects were worth the money.  What was pretty amazing is Josh Brolin’s spot-on portrayal of Agent K.  He nailed Tommy Lee Jones mannerisms and even sounded so much like him that for a while I was convinced that he must be lip syncing.  If you liked the first two movies, you should like this one.

[64]

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Movie: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Genre: comedy-drama

Synopsis: Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel, the hero of Slumdog Millionaire) is the black sheep of his Indian family.  He is trying to make a success of what is left of his family’s rundown hotel in India by making it into a retirement home with British senior citizens as his target community.  A group of British citizens portrayed by some seasoned movie veterans, including Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, and Maggie Smith have made the unhappy discovery that they cannot afford retirement in England.  When they see Sonny Kapoor’s ad for “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” they decide to take the plunge and move to India.  The hotel is not quite as it is portrayed in the ad.  Some of the seniors go with the flow, some are absolutely smitten with life in India, some absolutely hate it.  The movie follows how they each deal with the situation.

My two cents: I absolutely loved this movie. It was great fun watching how each of these people dealt with the situation. We learn a bit about each of the characters/  With most of them, the more you learn the more you like them.  Some of them do not reveal the better side until almost the end of the movie.  Some of them never do.  This is a movie well worth your time.

[63]

Bernie

Movie: Bernie

Genre: comedy-true crime

Synopsis: This is based on fact.  In the 1990’s, Bernie (Jack Black) arrives in a small Texas town to be an assistant mortician.  Bernie is almost too good to be true.  The elderly ladies of the town love him, he sings in the choir, is a boys scout troop leader - - - you name the good deed that needs doing and Bernie is doing it.  Then he befriends Marjorie Nugenta (Shirley Maclaine), wealthy widow.  Marjorie becomes completely dependent on Bernie.  What ensues results in a police investigation lead by Danny Buck (Matthew McConaughey) and allegations of murder.

My two cents: This was one strange movie – especially when it turns out to be true.  Jack Black was great as Bernie.  If you like off-beat comedies with a bit of darkness, you should like this.

[62]