Showing posts with label Cookbooks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cookbooks. Show all posts

Friday, December 8, 2017

"Wonder" and The Week in Reviews

[I review the movie "Wonder" as well as the DVD "The Dinner" and the documentary "Elaine Stritch - Shoot Me" now streaming on Netflix.  The Book of the Week is my new favorite cookbook - "Dinner: Changing the Game."  I also bring you up-to-date with "My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project" with Russ Meyer's cult classic "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!]




Wonder


Based on the best-selling book, this film tells the story of young Auggie Pullman who was born with facial differences and who, after being home-schooled for the last five years, begins fifth grade at a mainstream school for the first time.

Auggie Pullman (Jacob Tremblay) is a young boy living in Manhattan with his parents, Isabel (Julia Roberts) and Nate (Owen Wilson), his sister, Via (Isabela Vidovic) and his dog.  He has been homeschooled by his mother for the last five years because he was born with Treacher Collins Syndrome, a facial disfigurement that has caused him to have many surgeries over the years which created their own facial differences. When going out, Auggie wears an astronaut's helmet so he doesn't have to endure stares from both kids and adults.  Fearing that he would be bullied at a public school, his parents had decided to home school Auggie, and Isabel had given up her career to teach Auggie, but now, as the film begins, they have decided it's time for Auggie to attend a regular school.

When Auggie arrives at school, the principal, Mr. Tushman, played by a warm and believable Mandy Patinkin, arranges for Auggie to have a tour of the school by Julian (Bryce Gheisar), Jack Will (Noah Jupe) and Charlotte (Elle McKinnon), and despite Julian's rather rude questions to Auggie, the tour goes well, but as these things go, later Julian becomes Auggie's biggest antagonist. Actually, that's a nice way of putting it.  Julian is actually a bully and he and his bully friends make Auggie's introduction to a real school a real nightmare.

Auggie has facial differences but other than that he is a regular kid who loves "Star Wars," video games and science, so despite the bullying that he endures, he makes friends with Jack Will and a little girl named Summer (Millie Davis) and, with courage, a sense of humor and a sweet personality, he eventually overcomes what is thrown at him and comes to terms with school.

Meanwhile, Auggie's sister, Via, has issues of her own.  She loves Auggie, but it's not easy having a brother who gets all of the attention.  She's a good kid but we are reminded that everyone has their own issues, some of which may not be apparent from the outside.  When Via returns to school after summer break, her best friend, Miranda (Danielle Rose Russell), ignores her, preferring to hang with a cooler crowd, and since Auggie and his issues seem to take up all of the oxygen, Via doesn't share her problems with her parents.

The film takes a tangent from time to time to show the viewpoint of some of the other characters. We see that everyone, even those without a disability or physical differences, is fighting some kind of battle.  Sound familiar?

Yes, that is the main message here.

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

Whenever the subject matter of a movie involves a disabled child, or in this case, a child with a facial disfigurement, it's very easy to fall into sentimental clichés meant to manipulate the heartstrings so I have good news and bad news. 

Which do you want first?


I actually liked this movie so let's get the bad news out of the way first.


  • I could have done without the whole side plot about Miranda and the reason why she stopped being friends with Via.  Totally far-fetched.

  • Owen Wilson's nose.  It's not really his fault but there was an SNL sketch once about how Owen Wilson's nose looks like a penis, and at a certain angle, it totally does, so now whenever I look at him I can't stop thinking about that.  So even though he does a credible job as Auggie's father, I couldn't take my eyes off of his nose.  But he also didn't really have that much to do in the film, either, except throw out the occasional bon mot or some incredibly wise advice for Auggie.


  • The story was told from a couple of different viewpoints - Via's, Miranda's, Jack Will's - but the film was not consistent in using that device and because of that, the device was jarring and distracting. If the writers were going to use that as a way to show that everyone is fighting some kind of battle, then I would have liked to have seen it carried out throughout the film with other characters such as Isabel and Nate. 

  • It all wrapped up just a bit too neatly. I'm not a huge fan of stories where everything turns out perfectly and the bullies change into good people, not because that's not a good message, but just because I don't believe it really happens in real life.  Bullies tend to stay bullies.


OK, that bit's over.  Let's get to the good news.

  • This is a good film that actually did manage to avoid the sappy sentimentality and emotional manipulation that usually accompanies movies about children with differences.

  • Julia Roberts.  That's all I need to say.

  • Though Tremblay and Roberts were fantastic and the rest of the cast were also excellent, that was kind of expected when you examine the pedigrees of most of these actors.  But the wonder here was young Isabela Vidovic, not just because she was a poignant and luminous presence, but because the story actually ventured to the issue of how siblings might view a brother or sister who gets all of the attention because of a disability. Yes, they feel love and compassion for their brother or sister, but there is also the accompanying hurt and neglect they feel when the sibling seemingly gets all of the love and attention which then leads to guilt for feeling that way.  The film did a very good job of showing that side and Vidovic was one of the reasons it worked so well.

  • The message:  Choose kindness.  You can't argue with that.


Directed by Steven Chbosky with an adapted screenplay by Chbosky, Steven Conrad and Jack Thorne based on the book by R.J. Palacio, this is a good movie - not a great one - but a heartwarming family film with a good message, though it's a sad commentary that we humans need to be reminded to be kind.

Rosy the Reviewer says...should be part of school curriculum.  Oh, it already is.  Good.





***Some Movies You Might Have Missed***
(And Some You Will Be Glad You Did)!

On DVD and Streaming






The Dinner (2017)



Two sets of parents get together to discuss a crime their sons have committed.

Paul (Steve Coogan) and Stan (Richard Gere) Lohman are brothers and their sons have gotten into trouble. Not just a tiny bit of trouble, either.  Some big bit of trouble that was all caught on video camera so Paul and Stan and their wives, Claire (Laura Linney) and Katelyn (Rebecca Hall), meet to try to figure out what to do about it before what the boys did is discovered.

They meet in a fancy exclusive restaurant that is difficult to get into.  Stan, a Congressman is running for Governor and is the more successful brother.  Because of that, he was able to get them into this exclusive restaurant and makes sure everyone knows it. That establishes the brothers' relationship early on. Stan is the more successful brother and Paul is very resentful of that.  But ironically Paul is happier in his marriage to Claire.  Stan is more interested in his career than his wife.  Paul is a teacher in a public school and he has always felt less than around Stan, but he also thinks that Stan is elitist and self-serving. Paul is a troubled man on the verge of mental illness. None of that is a good menu for a nice meal.  In fact, it all devolves into a dinner from hell.

Speaking of which, like a nice, or should I say, extravagant, meal, the film is divided into courses: Aperitif, Appetizer, Main Course, Cheese Course, Dessert and Digestif (like I said, this is a fancy restaurant), and through a series of flashbacks, we see how the relationships among the four have unfolded over the years; we see the crime that their sons have committed; and the simmering resentments that have piled up which keeps them all from taking responsibility for their sons or their own lives.

How far out of the range of morality will people go to protect their loved ones?

Richard Gere has always been a good actor.  I remember his first big role in "Looking for Mr. Goodbar."  OK, he wasn't just a good actor, he was also a hottie but now he has matured into one of our venerable actors.  That's what you get called when you can't play romantic leads anymore though he is aging nicely and certainly still could.  Men seem to get away with the romantic lead roles long after we women have aged out of them. But I don't think Gere wants to go that route anymore, and he is playing it right.  He is choosing age appropriate roles he can sink his teeth into and this film is a good example.

But Coogan, who in the past has been more identified with comedies, is the real star here as the jealous, sarcastic and dark brother who through the course of the film has a breakdown.

However, despite an interesting premise (which very much reminded me of the play "God of Carnage" and its subsequent movie version "Carnage"), excellent performances by seasoned actors and a good first half, the film, written and directed by Oren Moverman (based on the novel by Herman Koch), this is yet another American remake of a film that has already had Dutch and Italian versions, and sadly, it falls apart by the time the cheese course arrives. The film just goes on too long, and I wanted that dinner to end.

Rosy the Reviewer says...many revelations unfold throughout the course of the meal but unfortunately, by the time they got to the cheese course, I didn't care anymore.


Streaming on Netflix



Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me (2013)



A documentary on the life and times of Elaine Stritch, a true Broadway Baby.

Elaine Stritch is one of those actresses that you recognize but probably don't know her name.  But she was a Broadway icon, a New York City institution, who died in 2014 at the age of 89.

This film captures the last year of her life and is pure cinema verite with the camera following her around as she prepares for her upcoming one woman show and continues to work on the TV show "30 Rock."  The film is also interspersed with her TV, Broadway and movie performances over the years.

Stritch was one of those tough cookies who not only didn't mind being called a broad but actually called herself that.  She never made the transition from Broadway to the movies in a big way, though she did star in some films playing the wise-cracking friend, and she had a successful TV career culminating in her role on "30 Rock."

She of the smoky voice was a belter. She was also known as a scene stealer and her signature performance was Stephen Sondheim's "The Ladies who Lunch" in "Company" for which she was nominated for a Tony.




She also often forgot lyrics, especially when singing Sondheim, because as we all know, his songs were wonderful but wordy, but, in true "The show must go on fashion, she would carry on. 

Sondheim famously sent her a telegram that said: 

"I won't be there so feel free to make up your own lyrics!"

Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan, Hal Prince and others comment on Stritch's show- biz influence and it was substantial.

Stritch was a recovering alcoholic, sober for 25 years but once she hit her 80's felt it was OK to have one drink a day.  She was married once but her husband died of brain cancer and she never found love again.

The last year of her life, she wanted out of New York City after having lived there almost 70 years to which her nephew humorously observed, "You can't say you didn't give it a chance."

Born in Detroit, she maintained a home in the Detroit suburbs and that's where she died on July 17, 2014.  A year before she died she felt her time had come and she said, "It's gettin' there.  I hope I can at least be amusing about it."

I have always been a huge admirer of Stritch.  In fact, I love her!  And this documentary captures her perfectly.  She was at that age where you don't give a damn anymore and say what you think.  I'm almost at that point myself.

Sondheim's song "I'm Still Here" was also a signature song of Stritch's and pretty much sums up this remarkable woman's life.





Rosy the Reviewer says...if you love New York, if you love Broadway, this is not to be missed. An amazing journey with an amazing broad. 






***My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project***



163 to go!

Have YOU seen this classic film?




Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1963)

Three busty go-go dancers kill a guy, take his Gidget-like girlfriend hostage and plan to rob an old man and his mentally challenged son who live on an isolated ranch in the desert.  However, turns out these three don't know what they are getting themselves into.

And that's about it.

Except the getting there defies description.

Director Russ Meyer was known for his campy sexploitation films that featured big-breasted women and dialogue with lots of sexual double entendres.  He was also a fixture on late night TV in the 60's and 70's with his thin mustache and conversation rife with sexual innuendo.

Varla (Tura Satana), Rosie (Haji) and Billie (Lori Williams) are go-go girls who have to endure the leers and jeers of their male audience yelling at them to go faster and faster as they gyrate.  That would make any girl mean and these girls are mean.  Varla is the leader and is adept at karate. She is so adept at karate that she can break bones with her bare hands and they does. The girls also like to race their cars in the desert. 

As they are racing around the desert in their souped-up sports cars, and for some reason, laughing maniacally as they do that, an unsuspecting couple come upon the ladies and the guy makes Varla mad.  Must have been those black socks he was wearing with his white sneakers and Bermuda shorts.  Not a good look and not a good idea to make Varla mad.  She breaks his back with her bare hands and the three take his girlfriend, Linda (Susan Bernard), hostage. 

When they all stop for gas, the attendant makes small talk about seeing America while ogling Varla's breasts, and she replies, "You won't find it down there, Columbus!"  He tells them about a nearby ranch where an old disabled man and his musclebound and dimwitted son live, and when the women discover that the old man has some money, they decide to rob him.  Unfortunately the old man is as evil as these girls and it all goes badly for everyone involved.

None of the stars are anyone you have ever heard of.  Tura Satana and Haji were both exotic dancers before starring in this film - geez, that's a stretch.  Tura's idea of acting was to yell every line and I guess Haji's was to have an Italian accent, and not a very good one.

Meyer's films are cult classics mainly because he was one of the first to give soft porn films actual plots.  His films were also notable for snappy dialogue (see Varla's comment to the gas station attendant above), having a sense of humor, creative editing and big boobs.  Lots and lots of big boobs. 

Why it's a Must See: "The film enjoys it's place at the top of many cult lists in part because of its several inherent delights - creative and flashy editing, smart black-and-white cinematography, a jazzy score, and plenty of innuendo - and in part because it is a fascinating barometer of the shifts occurring during the 1960's, especially with respect to cinema itself."
--"1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die"

John Waters has called this film the best movie ever made.  But then John Waters is John Waters.  Let's just say that this was the kind of movie that was fun to see at the drive-in back in the 1960's.  The women also have a feminist bent if you equate tough women beating up men with feminism, but it's really not anything you can take seriously. These characters are like something out of a pop art comic book.

Rosy the Reviewer says...all I can say is that this movie left me speechless, but barring a drive-in to go to, it might be fun to get some friends together and be speechless together.




***Book of the Week***




Dinner: Changing the Game by Melissa Clark (2017)


We go from the dinner from hell (see review above) to some heavenly dinner ideas. My new favorite cookbook!

"[This book is] designed to help you figure out what to make for dinner without falling back on what you've eaten before.  It's about giving you options, lots of options.  Are you a vegetarian or just a vegetable lover? I've got you covered.  A die-hard meat lover?  A fish enthusiast?  A pasta aficionado?  A culinary explorer ready to take on a challenge?  Or the kind of cook who wants to revel in the comforting and familiar, but with a twist...In these pages, it's all here for you."

And boy is it.  And I am a bit of all of those people that Clark describes.

Clark is a staff writer for the New York Times where she writes a column called "A Good Appetite."  She has put together some exciting and delicious recipes that will bring you back to this cookbook again and again.  Just randomly opening the book to a page led me to a recipe I wanted to try.  I'm going to try that again right now.

Mmm, "Japanese Omelet" highlighted by brown sugar, soy sauce and mirin served with rice and edamame. See? I'm going to make this for dinner tonight!

Beautifully illustrated, there are whole chapters devoted to chicken, meat (including a whole chapter on ground meat), tofu, fish and seafood, eggs, pasta and noodles, beans and legumes, rice and grains, pizzas and pies, salads and, dips and spreads, everything from Thai Lettuce Wraps to Seitan Enchiladas to Chilled Cucumber and Corn Soup.  No need to always have the same boring protein, a starch and a vegetable for dinner anymore.

Clark really has changed the game when it comes to dinner.

Rosy the Reviewer says... I haven't found a cookbook like this in ages, one where I want to try every recipe from cover to cover.




Thanks for reading!



See you next Friday 



for my review of  


"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri"  


 and


 The Week in Reviews
(What to See or Read and What to Avoid)


 and the latest on



"My 1001 Movies I Must See Before 

 I Die Project."

  

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Check your local library for DVDs and books mentioned.


Next time you are wondering whether or not to watch a particular film, check out my reviews on IMDB (The International Movie Database). 





Friday, November 17, 2017

"Daddy's Home 2" and The Week in Reviews

[I review the new movie "Daddy's Home 2" as well as DVDs "The Book of Henry" and "The Midwife."  The Book of the Week is "Cherry Bombe - The Cookbook."  I also bring you up-to-date with "My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die" with the western "Silver Lode."]





Daddy's Home 2


Brad (Will Ferrell) and Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) are back and they are getting along fine until they not only have to deal with a blended family Christmas but they also have to deal with their own Dads.

I enjoy a good comedy.  I really do. I know you are probably thinking I don't have a sense of humor because I have been trashing so many comedies lately. I am even questioning that myself after sitting through "A Bad Moms Christmas" with nary a chuckle.  But I know I do have a good sense of humor. I really do like a good comedy and I like to laugh.  But the operative word here is "good" and the main criterion for a comedy should be getting you to laugh, right?  So hope springs eternal, and I keep watching comedies hoping for the best.  

However, with that said, I didn't hold out much hope for this sequel and was about to hold a funeral for the death of the American comedy after seeing so many disappointing comedies of late with "A Bad Moms Christmas" being the final straw, so you can imagine my surprise when I heard myself laughing. 

I actually enjoyed this film.  

Now granted, my expectations were low but there were some chuckles to be had.  Was it really, really funny?  No. Was it devoid of the usual comedy and Christmas clichés?  No. Did I feel all warm and fuzzy afterwards?  Sort of.
Did I laugh?  Yes.

If you saw the first "Daddy's Home," you know that Brad is married to Dusty's ex-wife, Sara (Linda Cardellini) and is a step-dad to her children.  Brad is a bit of a softy.  OK, he's a wimp in contrast to Dusty who is a handsome, tough man's man. He's the cool Dad where Brad is the sensitive one.  Brad had been intimidated by Dusty and struggled to be accepted by his step-children, but by the end of the first film, Dusty and Brad were friends and Dusty had remarried with a step-daughter and an intimidating ex-husband of his own to deal with.

So when the sequel begins, Dusty and Brad are such good friends and doing such a good job of co-parenting that Brad actually brings Dusty hot chocolate when he is attending to the parent drop off at school and when the kids express disappointment that they have to go back and forth at Christmas Dusty and Brad both decide to do one big family Christmas for both families.

That all seems hunky dory until Dusty's Dad, Kurt (Mel Gibson), unexpectedly shows up and Brad's Dad, Don (John Lithgow) shows up without his wife. Just as Brad is a wimp who can't seem to do much right and Dusty is a macho guy, Don is a Dad who greets Brad with a big juicy kiss on the lips and Kurt is an ex-astronaut tough guy disdainful of displays of affection.  In fact, Kurt is disdainful of almost everything about Dusty and his life choices especially this whole co-Dad thing Dusty and Brad have doing.  Kurt certainly doesn't approve of someone like Brad raising his grandchildren, but Dusty doesn't care because Kurt hasn't been around much and Dusty doesn't approve of Kurt either.  Let the tension ensue!

To give you a taste of the difference between the grandfathers:

When Don arrives and greets his grandchildren he tells them a joke:

"Why do ducks have feathers?"  "To cover up their butt quacks."

Kurt, not wanting to be outdone by Don in front of the grandkids, starts to tell a joke too:

"Two hookers wash up on the beach..."

Dusty cuts him off mid-joke.

So we quickly get the idea of the kinds of interactions we are going to get between the two grandfathers. 

When Kurt decides that they should all go spend the holiday at a lodge in the mountains, there are all kinds of opportunities for hijinks and things to go wrong.  And they do. Kurt certainly doesn't approve of Brad and Dusty co-parenting so think of Kurt as a kind of devil who looks for opportunities to drive a wedge between Dusty and Brad.

One can't help but compare this film to "A Bad Moms Christmas." "Bad Moms" added extra Moms and this one has extra Dads. Both use the device of counting down the days until Christmas for the inevitable big finale. "Bad Moms" had a disapproving grandparent in Christine Baranski and here we have Mel Gibson's Kurt.  There are overly precocious kids in both movies and both have sentimental Christmas endings. 

Except the big difference is the fact that "Daddy's Home 2" actually has some funny bits in it and "A Bad Moms Christmas" does not.

For example, those of us who, growing up, were forbidden to "fiddle with the thermostat," can relate to a little scene where Dusty's step-daughter is discovered turning up the thermostat to 85 because she likes to sleep with the windows open and all of the Dads give Dusty a hard time for not being clear with his step-daughter about "fiddling with the thermostat."  To them, it's the parenting equivalent of letting your kid run wild.

Though I am not a huge fan of pratfalls and physical humor in order to get laughs, Ferrell is the king of that sort of thing and there is a funny scene where all of the Christmas decorations get caught in his snow blower and the snow blower ends up on the roof and another where Kurt decides real men cut down their own Christmas trees in the forest and Brad cuts down a cell phone tower by accident.  I know, very broad humor but it's still pretty funny when Will Ferrell does it.

I have never been a big Mark Wahlberg fan, probably because of the kinds of movies he usually stars in - action films about firefighters or soldiers.  But I really enjoyed him in this.  His stoic acting approach was just right as a foil for Will Ferrell's over-the-top antics and the two together are very funny and have a lot of chemistry.  Likewise, John Lithgow's Don is sweet and a good foil for Gibson's macho pot-stirring Kurt. 

And speaking of Mel Gibson, he is a revelation in this.  As a womanizing lothario who was never there for Dusty and who can't bring himself to tell him he loves him, Mel Gibson still has the looks to carry off the lothario part and the machismo to be believable as a man lacking affection.  He plays it straight and is the perfect disapproving observer of all of the craziness.

Written and directed by Sean Anders, despite a few R-rated moments, this one is more toned down than the first "Daddy's Home" and makes for a fun Christmas movie that most of the family would enjoy.

Rosy the Reviewer says...If you want to see a funny Christmas comedy, see this one, not "A Bad Moms Christmas."  And see? I do have a sense of humor after all.





***Some Movies You Might Have Missed***
(And Some You Will Be Glad You Did)!

On DVD





The Book of Henry (2017)


With instructions from her son's detailed notebook, a mother tries to rescue a young girl from her abusive step-father.

Naomi Watts stars as Susan Carpenter, a single mom with two sons: Henry (Jaeden Lieberher), a seeming genius and his younger brother Peter (Jacob Tremblay, who was so wonderful in "Room"), and they all live in a picture perfect town so right away you know there are some secrets and some evil lurking there.

Henry is a bit of a geek, meaning he is very smart and focused on geeky things, such as making Rube Goldberg structures in his elaborate tree house and keeping a notebook of sketches and plans for the future.  He is also advanced beyond his years.  That is established early in the film when we see Henry in class.  All of the students are doing oral reports on "My Legacy," and one kid talks about something trivial and then Henry gets up and gives a serious report about the meaning of life. Let's just say he is gifted. The teachers want Susan to put him in a gifted school but she wants him to experience real life in a regular school (sound familiar?  See "Gifted.")  Likewise, Henry has invested Susan's money in the stock market and built up quite a little nest egg for her. He also balances her check book and pretty much runs the household while Susan likes to play violent video games and get drunk with her friend, Sheila (Sarah Silverman).  She is actually kind of useless and can't seem to make a decision without consulting Henry. 

Henry has the weight of the world on his shoulders.  He has to protect Peter from bullies at school, keep his Mom's money and life in order and even feels compelled to intervene in a domestic dispute at the grocery store.  You wonder, who is the adult here?

Henry may be geeky and have a lot of responsibilities, but he is not above having a crush on his neighbor, Christina (Maddie Ziegler, who you may recognize from "Dance Moms," and yes, she dances in this).  He spies on her from his bedroom window, and one day, he sees some disturbing interactions between her and her stepdad, Glenn (Dean Norris).  He tells Susan and she reports him to CPS but wouldn't you know, Glenn is not only a police commissioner but he has connections at CPS!

But then 30 minutes into the film, Henry dies. 

I am not really giving anything away here because his death is the crux of the film.  Susan discovers Henry's book where, knowing he was going to die, he has laid out an elaborate plan for Susan and Peter to get rid of Glenn and save Christina. Susan decides she needs to do what Henry wants her to do just as she has always done.  In addition to the book, Henry has also left step-by-step audiotapes behind that lead Susan along as she tries to save Christina, a very over-the-top device that gives Lieberher a chance to stay in the film despite the fact that he is dead. I mean, he literally carries on a conversation with this mother from the grave through the audiotapes, but through the ensuing series of events, Susan is finally able to grow up and become the adult she was supposed to be in the first place.

Directed by Colin Trevorrow with a screenplay by Gregg Hurwitz, this film was savaged by the critics, but I didn't think it was that bad.  It was only half bad.  I didn't mind the first half, I didn't mind the kid actors, because you know I had an epiphany about that recently while watching "Goodbye, Christopher Robin," and I didn't really mind the mother who let her son handle all of her finances and basically manage her life. 

But the film fell off a cliff in the second half as Susan follows Henry's instructions to rid the world of the mean Glenn.  I think it must have been when she bought the assault rifle that they lost me.   

Watts can always be counted on to bring in a good performance and Silverman is good at snarky roles like this one. Young Lieberher is an engaging young actor, and I believed him as Henry, except the writer got a bit carried away when Henry was giving the principal hell for not doing something about Christina's situation. Despite how good an actor Lieberher is, that scene was a stretch. Not sure a young kid would get away with talking to the school principal like that, no matter how smart he was. Tremblay, who wowed us in "Room" is also a fine young actor and I'm anxious to see him in "Wonder."

This is one of those movies where the idea is interesting but the execution falters and it goes over the top.  For example, a mother would decide to kill someone based on her son telling her to?  Why didn't anyone talk to Christina about the abuse directly, because what if Henry was wrong about what was going on? And then the ending gets all wrapped up a bit too tidily in a Lifetime Movie kind of way.

Rosy the Reviewer says...If you like engaging child actors or far-fetched Lifetime Movies, you might like this, but in general you can probably skip this one. 







The Midwife (2017)


A midwife gets an unexpected visit from her father's ex-mistress.

Claire (Catherine Frot) is a midwife and single mom whose job has been made redundant when the clinic where she works closes.  She gets an unexpected call from her father's ex-mistress, Beatrice (Catherine Deneuve) and discovers that her father has committed suicide.  It is clear that Claire does not approve of Beatrice and wants nothing to do with her. She blames Beatrice for leaving her father (and her) and for her father's death. Beatrice on the other hand wants to make amends with Claire because Beatrice is dying. 

In the meantime, we learn that Claire doesn't eat meat or drink alcohol, the latter an oddity in France and something of a theme that keeps coming up in the film.  She has a garden plot outside of town and she lives with her son, but his girlfriend is pregnant and he plans to move in with her. Claire is an uptight person with a very limited life - just her work, which is now in question, her son, who is leaving her, and her garden.

Catherine on the other hand is a bit of a libertine, a woman who not only enjoys a drink but enjoys a bit of backroom gambling so naturally her reappearance in Claire's life is a disruption, but you know in the end, it's going to be a disruption that Claire needed to shake up her staid, narrow life.

Beatrice has reunited with Claire to make amends and for Claire to help her die in peace. The two eventually bond - two damaged souls - who each in her own way frees the other. 

It's OK that you know that because it's the getting there that is so wonderful in this film.

What could have been a sentimental bit of treacle is saved by the smart script and the actors, who are women of a certain age at the top of their acting game.

Catherine Deneuve is a wonder. 

She has come a long way since she made a huge splash in 1964 as the ingenue in "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg."  I mention her often in my writings because she famously said that after 30 a woman has to choose between her butt or her face, meaning you either decide to be a skinny bitch and accept that your face will probably be gaunt and wrinkly or you let your butt get big but benefit from a little plumpness in your face.  She has chosen her face, though she is hardly fat, and I only bring this up because despite the fact that Deneuve has always been one of the great beauties of the cinema, it doesn't seem that vanity has driven her to go the plastic surgery route of so many beautiful actresses and instead has taken her own advice and allowed herself to age gracefully.  And at 74, she is still beautiful and the best part - busy.  She accepts that she is no longer the ingénue and plays age-appropriate parts that allow her to show off her acting range.

But this film is really about Claire who is brought to life by Beatrice's free spirit and through helping her die.  Frot is just wonderful here. Like Deneuve, she is a veteran actress who I loved in "Marguerite," the French version of "Florence Foster Jenkins," for which she won a Best Actress Cesar Award in 2016. Her face speaks volumes and seeing these two actresses together is a wonderful experience.

Where the British are really good at historical dramas, the French are particularly good at one-on-one personal dramas and have no problem making films about men and women of a certain age.  And, of course, they are really good at sex, too especially sex between real people, people who aren't necessarily gorgeous or thin or young.

Written and directed by Martin Provost, this film is a wonderful experience about the power of forgiveness.

Rosy the Reviewer says...this is also one of those films where, having seen it, you feel better about life.
(In French with English subtitles)






***My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project***



166 (revised) to go!

Have YOU seen this classic film?





Silver Lode (1954)


Four U.S. marshals ride into the town of Silver Lode looking for Dan Ballard so they can bring him in for murder.  The problem is - he says he didn't do it and is given only a short time to prove his innocence.

Dan Ballard (John Payne) arrived in Silver Lode two years ago with $20,000.  Since then he has made a name for himself and is now a successful rancher. Everyone in town likes and respects him.  The town is in the midst of their Fourth of July celebration and Dan is about to marry Rose Evans (Lizabeth Scott), the daughter of the richest man in town, when U.S. Marshals, led by Fred McCarty (Dan Duryea), turn up with a warrant for his arrest.  At first the townspeople can't believe it and stand by Dan, but as time goes by, they slowly start to turn on him and the mob mentality takes over.

Dan asks for two hours to prove his innocence and McCarty reluctantly says OK, thus giving this film a real time aspect as the time Dan has left is equivalent to the running time of the film.

One man against the world trying to prove his innocence. 

This film was made during the heart of the McCarthy era and that is certainly apparent in this film.  I mean, the bad guy's name is McCarty!

Westerns were my Dad's favorite film genre, probably because he wanted to be a cowboy himself.  I watched a lot of them with him and remember when westerns dominated TV back in the 50's and 60's?



I am not a huge fan of westerns, despite all of those hours watching them with my Dad.  I am not sure why I don't like them, because Westerns are really just soap operas or murder mysteries set in the Old West.  I think they were popular because people find them comforting to watch because they know what to expect. 

Most Westerns share the same tropes:

  • Bad guys ride into town looking for trouble
  • The Hero protects the town
  • The Hero may or may not have a dark past
  • There is always a horse chase
  • There is always a gunfight
  • There is always a hooker with the heart of gold (of course, we couldn't say hooker in those westerns of old so we called her a saloon girl)

And my favorite, which almost always happens. 

  • The girl slaps the guy.  The guy slaps her back.  She is still defiant and the guy says, "You've got spirit.  I like women with spirit!"


John Payne made a career out of straight-backed good guys while Dan Duryea made a career for himself playing sleazy bad guys, and this movie is filled with character actors you will recognize.  Women in westerns usually don't have much to do, but at least here the women are the ones who believe in our hero and who ultimately help him.

Director Allan Dwan was a Hollywood fixture, a director whose movie career spanned almost 50 years.  He directed 125 films and many of them were award-winning films such as "The Sands of Iwo Jima." 

There are 38 westerns listed in "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" and you might ask, of all of the western films out there, why is this one a movie we must see before we die?

Why it's a Must See: "[This is...director Allan Dwan's] film par excellance: concise, plain, inventive, fluid, ironic, unspectacular-but-beautiful...Thanks to the director's visual assurance...Silver Lode is one of the best of the American cinema's many underrated Westerns."
---"1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die"

As I often say when reviewing these older films that often have stilted acting and cliched dialogue, many of them don't stand up today, and yes, this film suffers from a bit of that, but it is also a good example of why westerns were so popular: the greatest western trope of all: good overcoming evil.

Rosy the Reviewer says...this western had a kind of noir feel to it.  I call it Western Noir - I think I just made that term up.




***The Book of the Week***






Cherry Bombe: The Cookbook by Kerry Diamond and Claudia Wu (2017)



The first cookbook from the team behind the indie magazine Cherry Bombe and the Radio Cherry Bombe podcast.

The subtitle of this delightful cookbook is "Recipes and Stories from 100 of the Most Creative and Inspiring Women in Food Today," and the authors have this to say about their book:

"What makes a recipe special and truly worth your time? For us, it comes down to the person behind the recipe.  Why cook any old dish from some anonymous recipe online when you can make one from a person you love or admire?  We prefer a recipe that's the equivalent of a sweater borrowed from a girlfriend, a dog-eared book your sister lent you, or the weird knickknack that belonged to your grandmother: Dependable, interesting, nostalgia inducing, maybe even a little quirky."

Celebrity chefs, food stylists, bakers and other creative people who are part of the current food scene - all women - share their recipes in this beautiful cookbook.

Some of the contributors include:
   
  • Melissa Clark, New York Times columnist and cookbook author
  • Padma Lakshmi, star of Top Chef
  • Elisabeth Prueitt, pastry chef and co-founder of Tartine and Tartine Manufactory 
  • Chrissy Teigen, supermodel and bestselling cookbook author
  • Renee Erickson, Seattle celebrity chef
  • Joy Wilson, of Joy the Baker

Here is a taste of a few of the recipes I can't wait to try:

  • Nonna Grazia's Pasta E Piselli (Grandma's Pasta & Peas) - Claudia Ficca
        Who doesn't love a creamy pasta with peas?
         What I want to know is this: if Chrissy Teigen likes to eat as much as
         she says she does, how does she stay so slim?
         Ditto for Padma!
        Renee is a local Seattle chef with some amazingly successful restaurants,
        so glad she is included here.
        I LOVE a good curry!
         I LOVE a good pie!
        I LOVE a great drinky winky!
And I LOVE that this book celebrates women!

The book is beautifully illustrated and would be a welcome addition to any cookbook collection.
  
Rosy the Reviewer says...this cookbook is da bombe!



Thanks for reading!

 


See you next Friday 


for my review of  




"Murder on the Orient Express"  


 and


 The Week in Reviews
(What to See or Read and What to Avoid)


 and the latest on



"My 1001 Movies I Must See Before 

 I Die Project."

  

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