#56 "Beautiful Boy"

Stats: 2010. Starring Maria Bello and Michael Sheen. R.

Background: I remember hearing buzz about Beautiful Boy while it was on the film festival circuit, but I didn’t think too much about it, just that I’d probably add it to my (insanely long) queue if it ever showed up on Netflix streaming. Then it appeared in one of my Amazon Vine newsletters, and since I didn’t have offers for any amazing electronics, I chose it. (That was a joke, by the way. Some "Viners" get offered insanely expensive products, but most of us get newsletters stuffed with books and food. Not that I'm complaining, though—I've gotten some great stuff, including a portable clothes dryer, a baking stone, a great camera ... and lots of food and feminine hygiene products!)

Plot: Kate and Bill are on the verge of separation when their son Sammy (Veronica Mars’s Kyle Gallner) opens fire on his college campus, killing 17 others and himself. As they struggle with their grief and guilt, they realize they need to rely on each other if they want to survive.

Reaction: Bello and Sheen are fabulous in their roles as parents of a mass murderer. This film is worth watching for their performances alone, though the supporting actors were all excellent, as well. (Loved Alan Tudyk of Firefly and Dollhouse as Kate’s brother, and Gallner—who plays "troubled" very well—did a great job with his limited scenes.) One scene in particular stood out to me. They were staying in a motel because reporters were camped out at their home, and Bill convinced Kate to go out for dinner. As she sat at the table waiting for Bill to return with their menus, her strong exterior melted, and she dissolved into sobs. Bello totally sold the scene, which could have come off as overdramatic. Instead, it was the most touching scene of the film. This movie is quiet and understated with an underlying desperation. It’s a well-made look into the lives of people we often don’t consider—the parents of killers.

While I enjoyed the movie, there is a pretty intense sex scene halfway through the film. As I've determined not to own movies with that kind of content, I’ll be getting rid of it.

Verdict: Throw away (after 6 months, which is how long I’m contractually obligated to keep Vine products.)

#55 "Family Plan"

Stats: 2005. Starring Tori Spelling, Jordan Bridges, Greg Germann, Abigail Breslin. PG.

Background: Family Plan is one of those movies I couldn’t help but watch every time I came across it on cable. It ran on the Hallmark Channel, and I’m always a sucker for those movies. (If I could purchase a subscription to watch Hallmark Channel movies online, I would totally do it. Why haven't any cable channels done that yet?) One night, I even stayed up until 2 a.m. watching it—even though I’d seen it before!

A few weeks ago, I needed $7 worth of stuff added to my Amazon cart in order to qualify for free shipping. This was $8. Easy sell. (I have this compulsion to always get free shipping when I shop on Amazon, which I wrote about on my other blog.)

Plot: When the company Charlie (Spelling) works for is bought out by family-oriented Walcott Cookies, she fears for her job. You see, Mr. Walcott (Germann) thinks that family and honesty are the two most important aspects in life, and he doesn’t quite trust someone who doesn’t have a family. In their first meeting, Charlie mistakenly gives Walcott the impression she is married, and she doesn’t do anything to correct his assumption. Suddenly, Charlie needs to “create” a family in order to keep her job. She hires Buck (Bridges), a struggling actor, and her friend’s daughter Nicole (Breslin) to act as her stand-in family. In the process, Charlie discovers that a family just might be the thing she wants most.

Reactions: Could this happen in the real world? Probably not, but it’s certainly fun to watch it play out on television. While I’ve never been much of a Tori Spelling fan, I certainly enjoy watching her in this movie. It’s not deep; it’s not thought provoking. What it is is fun, and that’s sometimes all you need!

Verdict: Keep

#54 "Christmas in Wonderland"

So I watched this movie months ago, wrote the review, and then forgot to post it. I am SO THANKFUL I wrote about it then because watching it again now would be torture. No lie.
Stats: 2007. Starring Patrick Swayze, Tim Curry, Chris Kattan. PG.

Background: I remember seeing commercials for Christmas in Wonderland a couple years ago—I’m pretty sure it ran on Hallmark, ABC Family, or Lifetime during the Christmas season—and I remember being completely uninterested. The only reason I have this movie is it was part of a Christmas 4-pack sold in Walmart’s $5 bin, and my mom gave it to me in my stocking because I absolutely love one of the other movies (Borrowed Hearts—see my review here).

Plot: Wayne Saunders (Swayze) moves his family from L.A. to Edmonton, Alberta, because of a new job. His wife (who stayed behind for some reason I can’t recall) is stranded at LAX, and it’s the day before Christmas, so Wayne decides to take his kids to the mall so he can go Christmas shopping. Wayne leaves his two younger kids with teen-age son Danny, who in turn leaves them in line to see Santa while he goes off moping about how horrible Canada is. When Mary and Brian discover a bag full of money, they decide to go on a spending spree—and find themselves being chased by bumbling counterfeiters (including Chris Kattan).

Reactions: Please don’t waste your time on this movie! The kid who played Brian was the only “natural” actor in the bunch—everyone else came across as either completely over the top or bored. Tim Curry as the Mountie in charge of the counterfeit money investigation was slightly humorous … he played the same over-the-top character he seems to always play—but I couldn’t get over his Scottish accent. What was up with that? At one point, the plot when all "Home Alone" … only it was probably more like Home Alone 4. Do you think it’s funny when a villain gets covered in ping pong balls? Didn’t think so. The most laughable part (and not in a good way) was a scene that’s supposedly taking place at the North Pole. Brian opens a door that leads to the North Pole, and instead of real elves, he sees CGI elves … circa 1995. It looked like an old-school video game. They obviously had to pay someone to create the scene … so why couldn’t they just pay two guys to dress up in elf outfits and pretend to put together some toys?

Verdict: Keep—only because throwing it out would mean throwing out Borrowed Hearts.

P.S.: The cover lies. Patrick Swayze, may he rest in peace, will not melt your heart in this film.

#53 "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"

Stats: 1986. Starring Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, and Mia Sara. PG-13.

Background: I’d heard of Ferris Bueller long before I saw it. It was one of those movies I’d hear guys talking about, and I never really had much interest. Then, somehow (I can’t really remember the circumstance), I saw it. And I really enjoyed it. When a friend gave me a gift card to a local video store, this is one of the DVDs I came home with.

Plot: Ferris (Broderick), his best friend Cameron (Ruck), and his girlfriend Sloane (Sara) take a day off of school to go into the city. Hijinks ensue, and Charlie Sheen makes a cameo appearance.

Reactions: Ferris Bueller is fun … in a way that I’d like to see maybe once every five years! I think this is one of those movies where the parts are greater than the whole. I always think of this movie fondly—“Bueller…Bueller…Bueller;” the contraption Ferris rigs in his room to make it appear he’s there; the Chicago parade scene; Ed Rooney’s face-off with Ferris’s sister when they're both trying to prove Ferris is lying. But when I actually sit through the entire movie, I find my mind wandering. If I waited five years to watch it again, I’d probably love it!

Verdict: Keep

the state of this blog

I was just noticing that in the first "year" of this blog (which was really just the last five months of 2009) I posted about 35 films. And that was without posting at all in November, during which time I wrote a novel! (The novel was truly terrible, though, and it will never be seen by anyone's eyes but my own.) I only wrote about 7 movies in 2010, and I've written about 10 films so far in 2011.

So what's the difference? Why did I write so much at first and so little in the years following? Well, for one thing, I now review tons of books. Sometimes I bite off more than I can chew in that department, as it's extremely difficult for me to pass up a book that sounds interesting! (I currently have 14 books waiting to be read and reviewed. Ridiculous, I know.) Netflix also has something to do with it, I'm sure--now that I have thousands of movies and TV episodes that I can stream through my Wii, I'm less inclined to watch a movie I've already seen. (I'm also less inclined to buy a movie, so I guess that's a good thing.) But I think I'll soon be watching more of my already owned films. Why? Because I'm working on a new, top secret project that will require the use of my hands but not all of my attention. So I plan to plant myself in front of movies that also don't require all of my attention (since I've already seen them) while I work--and then blog about said movies immediately! (No more of this "I watched this film while preparing to move out of my apartment a year ago, but I'm just now getting around to writing about it" stuff. Seriously. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of this blog?) I only have one more "already watched" movie to blog about, and then it'll be back to the proper movies in the proper order. At least I hope so.

Stay tuned!

#52 "Diary of a Mad Black Woman"

Stats: 2005. Starring Kimberly Elise, Steve Harris, Tyler Perry, and Shemar Moore. PG-13.

Background: This is the first Tyler Perry movie I saw snippets of—back when I had cable (those were the days!), TBS ran it non-stop some weekends. So I knew the basic plot, and when I saw it in Walmart’s $5 bin, I couldn’t pass it up. (A Tyler Perry movie for $5? I don’t know if I’m even capable of passing that up!)

Plot: Helen (Elise) and Charles (Harris) have a seemingly perfect marriage—at least to those looking in from the outside. In reality, Helen has quietly suffered while Charles carries on affairs, physically abuses her, and demeans her existence. On their 18th wedding anniversary, he throws her out of the house, announcing his mistress—with whom he has two children—is moving in. Enter Orlando (Moore), the man hired to load up Helen’s belongings and take her wherever she needs to go. This is definitely not a “meet cute” kind of situation, and Helen soon kicks Orlando out of the truck—basically because he’s a man?—and goes to stay with her grandmother, Madea (Perry). Helen and Orlando meet again, and he slowly wins her heart. Just as he’s proposing, she learns that her soon-to-be-ex-husband (the divorce petition had been granted and they were in the 30-day waiting period) has been shot. She rushes to the hospital, where his mistress is prepared to let him die. Helen insists the doctors do everything they can to save Charles, and after he is released, she returns to their home to care for him. Will she choose love with Orlando or revenge with Charles?

Reactions: Yes, there are things I dislike about this movie. Sometimes it seems too “play like” (and this film was adapted from the Tyler Perry play of the same name)—such as when Madea takes a chainsaw to Charles’s furniture, saying half of it should belong to Helen. Madea’s brother Joe (Perry again) is a crass, perverted old man. And I hate the way Helen devolves into a raging “mad black woman” while taking care of Charles. It also bothers me that Helen leaves Charles after he’s repented and truly changed.

The positives outweigh the negatives in my opinion. Madea is absolutely hilarious (I know she’s an acquired taste, though—I couldn’t stand her in the first few Tyler Perry movies I saw), even though her advice is truly terrible! I love the story line with Brian (also Perry) and his wife. She became a junkie, leaving him to raise their two children. Eventually, she goes through rehab and returns home—where Brian welcomes her with open arms. Cecily Tyson as Helen’s mother is a wise woman who loves the Lord and her daughter—in that order. She is the one who urges Helen to truly forgive Charles and stop using her new position of authority in his life to abuse him as he abused her in the past. Also, Shemar Moore is pretty easy on the eyes!

Have Tyler Perry's movies gotten better in the years since Diary of a Mad Black Woman came out? Absolutely. But this is an enjoyable film in its own right, and it's one I'll watch again.

Verdict: Keep

#51 "August Rush"

Stats: 2007. Starring Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers. PG.

Background: I saw August Rush with my mom and sister at our favorite theater—The Warren in Wichita, Kansas. The Warren is like an old-time theater—the workers wear white gloves, a velvet curtain rises when it’s time for the film, and they even (sometimes, though I haven’t seen one in a long time) have cartoon shorts. It’s my favorite place to see a movie.

I recently picked this up out of Walmart’s $5 bin. So many of my favorite movies end up there; why don’t I just wait?

Plot: Evan is the product of a one-night stand. He’s never known either of his parents, but he believes they’re looking for him … and he believes music will bring them together. As he searches for his parents, he joins up with a group of young street musicians (this is where he gets the stage name "August Rush") and then earns a scholarship to a Juilliard.

Reaction: I love this movie—with one caveat; I absolutely cannot stand the Robin Williams plot line. (Williams plays Wizard, the "father figure" for the musicians.) I know it’s important to the story, but I just hate it! In the future, I’m pretty sure I’ll be fast forwarding his scenes.

August Rush is completely unbelievable, yet also completely charming. It's a heartwarming story that I'm sure I'll enjoy again and again.

Verdict: Keep