February 2014 Movies

Captain Phillips - Oh my goodness - what a great and intense movie.  I am flabbergasted (yes, flabbergasted, I tell you) that Tom Hanks did not get nominated for best actor.  He was so good!  He should have been nominated.  Barkhad Abd was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and rightly so - he was great ! This was based on a true story that occurred in 2009, I remember when it happened.  It was amazing to see their protocol (and the Navy's) and see how they followed them all - incredible TRUE story.

Philomena - What a sweet but kind of sad movie.  It is based on a true story (like Captain Phillips).  It is about an Irish woman who, after 50 years, goes on a journey with a BBC journalist to find her son, who was adopted by an American couple when he was about 3 years old.  It is sad to see the things that some girls had to live through at such a young age (at the hands of stern nuns).  It is also a movie about Christian faith and forgiveness.  In regards to un-wed mothers, times have really changed in 50 years!

Nebraska - Filmed in Black & White and starring Bruce Dern and Will Forte - yes, Will Forte, THAT from SNL! I was surprise to see him in a more serious role but he was great. Beautiful Cinematography and a great story involving a father-son road trip.

Mud - with Matthew McConaughey and up and comer - Tye Sheridan, who not only reminded me of my Godson, but also reminded me of a young Lucas Black (who is an amazing actor).  The movie is about 2 Arkansas teens that live on the river and after hearing a  story that a boat is stuck in  a tree on an island, decide to see if it is true - they find out it is true and that someone is actually living in the boat.  They soon encounter Mud, who lived around the area when he was younger and is now a fugitive hiding out on the island, waiting for his true love (played by Reese Witherspoon) to come for him.  The boys develop a friendship with Mud and try to help him and his true love reunite and escape.  After watching, I got the impression that the writer of this movie (Jeff Nichols, who also directed) had to have been hurt very bad by a woman, because all the women in the movie are displayed as kind of selfish heart-breakers.

The Dictator - starring Sacha Baron Cohen...okay not the typical movie I would watch but my sister found it funny and I didn't think she would like a movie like this so if she liked it, I thought I would give it a try.  It was overall, not what you would say a good movie, but it did have a lot of funny moments and was pretty humorous throughout the movie.  It was as bad as I expected and actually had a story line -I'm glad I watched it.  After watching this, I looked him up on imbd.com and found out he is married to Isla Fisher - I didn't know they were married!

Meatballs - and oldie, I know but I have never seen this movie, which really is surprising since I am a Bill Murray fan - but it always looked kind of like Porky's to me so I never bothered with it.  Now granted I watched the AMC edited version (can you believe they broadcast "Meatballs" on American Movie Classics?).  I liked the story well enough but overall it was just okay.  It made me wonder whatever happened to Chris Makepeace - he was so cute.  He has kind of been MIA from Hollywood for a long time now.

42 - I wanted to see this when it was in theaters but it didn't play very long around here.  Very good movie - based on the true story of Jackie Robinson.  What a trail blazer that Branch Rickey (Dodgers Team Executive) and Jack Robinson were.  I really hand it to him, he really went through some rough times - some scary times even - but he handled it with such grace and maturity.  Wow!  He was a brave man and a great ball player !  The lead role was played by Chadwick Boseman, a very handsome actor who I wasn't familiar with before.  I hope we see more of him.  His wife was played by the beautiful Nicole Beharie, who is now starring on Sleepy Hollow as Abbie.

American Hustle - This movie is about a con man, well played by Christian Bale, who, along with his mistress, played by Amy Adams is forced to work for a wild FBI agent, played by Bradley Cooper. The FBI agent pushes them into a world of Jersey power brokers, politicians and mafia.  More review to come on my "Oscar Movies" post later.

The Wolf of Wall Street - A true story about the Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stockbroker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government. Lots of drugs, lots of sex, lots and lots and lots of money.  Great performance by Leonard DiCaprio.

Her -A quirkly but likeable movie that takes place in the future (when in the future, we don't exactly know) - about a lonely personal letter writer, played by Joaquin Phoenix, who develops an unlikely (and oddly accepted) relationship with his computer's artificial intelligence operating system (voiced by Scarlett Johansson).

12 Years a Slave - A powerful movie, based on a true story.  It was excellent! The acting was incredible by all.  It was difficult to watch at times but the story was so good and you just kept wondering how the slave was going to get his freedom back.