FILM: Life Itself (2018)

STARS: Oscar Isaac, Olivia Wilde, Olivia Cooke, Antonio Banderas

WHERE: AMC Creve Coeur 12 (Creve Coeur, MO)

PREMISE: A film about the connectedness of lives and how looking for the heroes and villians in life stops us from looking at the full story.

HE SAID: The movie was well acted but predictable. It just didn’t move me. SCORE: 5 (on a scale of 1 to 10)

SHE SAID: I should have been more wary when I saw written and directed by the same person.  That is usually a signal to me that it is going to be longer than it should be because the “writer”-side is attached to certain aspects or scenes that someone who is exclusively a “director” would say need to be left out, modified, or edited down.  While some truly gifted writer/directors can overcome that, I find most can’t.  Such was the case here.  Examples, the first 3 minutes of so of the movie are pretty much unnecessary for the film itself.  Yes, there is meaning, but it is covered elsewhere and is superfluous to the rest of the film.  Also, Antonio Banderas’ characters long monologue backstory.  Once again superfluous to the the rest of the story and could have been edited way down.  He does a great job delivering the monologue, but to what point for the film? As for the overall film, it covers different stories that predictably intersect by the end.  You know where this is going by the half way point and are just along for the ride.  The actors performance are all good, that is not an issue here.  I found myself wanting to explore the first story more especially with how abruptly that story changed/ended while the other stories were slower to develop with too much detail.  And for such an emotional movie, I found myself only crying crying once or twice in the film and at odd points.  Overall, this film was a case of too much and not enough all rolled into one.  SCORE: 5 (on a scale of 1 to 10)

 FILM: Juliet, Naked (2018)

STARS: Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke, Chris O’Dowd

WHERE: Plaza Frontenac Cinema (Frontenac, MO).  Great place to catch an independent film.  No stadium seating and the bathrooms are a hike to get to. BUT they make up for that in have great concession choices at different price points.  (Love that I can get a hot tea here with about 8 different flavor options.)

PREMISE: Reclusive former rockstar Tucker Crowe develops an unexpected connection with the woman whose boyfriend is his biggest fan.

HE SAID: ….(Would like to see it, but it was a girls night out. So he stayed home.)

SHE SAID: Overall I really liked the film, but I didn’t love it. Rose Byrne is endearing as Annie, and Chris O’Dowd makes a great pop culture professor, but Ethan Hawke steals the show as the aging former rockstar Tucker Crowe whose earlier life seems to be a series of poor choices that stopped his transition to adulthood.  Facing up to his past and responsibilities has been a long time coming.  Can he move forward or will he remain stuck?  Since it is overall a rom-com, the movie does a good job for the first 3/4 of the film making you wonder who is actually the better guy for Annie (if either of them.) It then becomes clearer and choices are made.  Probably because the characters are right at my own age, I found the movie very relatable.  I’ve spent some time wondering why I didn’t ultimately love the film, and I think it has to do with the choices that are made and then not dealing with some of the fallout of those choices after the majority of the film was about the results of choices from our past.  It helped tie everything up at the end, but I think the film did a disservice to itself by not addressing the affect of those choices.  SCORE: 6.5 (on a scale of 1 to 10)

Film: The House With a Clock in its Walls

Stars: Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Owen Vaccaro, Kyle MacLachlan

Where: Marcus Cinema (Des Peres, MO) NOTE:  If you haven’t been to this theater in awhile it has been totally redone.  I miss a few of the display items in the lobby (namely the full-size Han Solo in carbonite that was there), but overall it is a big improvement.  More comfy seats, but they seem a shade narrower then other revamped theaters in the area.  Still a comfortable movie-going experience this time.

Premise: In 1955, a young boy, Lewis, is sent to live with his estranged uncle after the death of his parents. His uncle Jonathan is an eccentric character living in an equally eccentric old house with A LOT of clocks.  But those clocks can’t cover-up the ticking noises coming from inside the walls of the house itself.  What is his uncle searching for in the house at all hours of the day and night?  What does Uncle Jonathan’s friend and neighbor, Mrs. Zimmerman, have to do with any of this?  Armed with his magic eight ball, googles and dictionary knowledge, Lewis sets out to conquer a new middle school and answer the questions of the house.

He Said: …. (Wasn’t at this one)

She Said: It was a fun film overall. Very colorful and imaginative.  It reminded me of the first Jumanji movie in that it had a family-friendly story that could be engaging to both kids and adults.  Jack Black was a wonderful choice for the eccentric Uncle Johnathan, who had a more than perfect foil in Cate Blanchett’s Mrs. Zimmerman.  Their pater and barbs were perfectly paced and timed, but never gave you the impression of anger toward each other.  Only of friends that were comfortable enough in their friendship to be able to say what they are thinking without fear of losing that friend.  Other than that, the action of the film was predictable but enjoyable.  Enjoyable enough to get me interested in seeing what the rest of the book series the movie is based on holds. SCORE: 6 (out of a scale of 1 to 10)

Film: A Simple Favor (2018)

Stars: Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding

Theater: Ronnie’s 20 (St. Louis, MO)

Premise: A suburban, single mom with a cooking/crafting vlog agrees to simply pick-up her new best friend Emily’s kid from school. But her best friend doesn’t return in hours or even days. Why did Emily disappear? Is she just being her eccentric self, or has something more sinister befalling Emily?

He Said: Going in, I thought it would be a chick flick thriller mystery. After seeing it, I would have to upgrade my description to DARK humor a little out there but still fun who-done-it Nancy drew/Scooby Doo mystery. . SCORE: 7 (scale of 1 to 10)

She Said: Surprisingly fun and twisty. Maybe a little too twisty to be great, but a really fun ride. I don’t want to give too much away though. Blake Lively gives a great performance and Anna Kendrick does a great every woman with a quirky side really well. If you are looking for a fun night out with an interesting mystery storyline, this would be a good one to catch. SCORE: 7.5 (scale of 1 to 10).

Since our relationship began over 10 years ago, my significant other and I have bonded over going to the movies together.  We have been to well over 250 films just in the theater alone!  Over that time, the movie going experience has changed.  Nicer seats, more variety in concessions, etc.  But one thing has stayed constant, we love going to the movies.  Seeing a good film takes you to another time, another place, and puts you in the middle of the action.  Whether that is fantasy, history, or a modern day slice-of-life film, it takes us out of ourselves and helps us look at the world from a different perspective.

Over the years we have developed two habits.  The first is to get there for the previews, so after each one we can turn to each with one of the following: eager anticipatory nodding, grimaced head-shake “no”, or the shrug of indifference.  There are also the occasional films labeled “girls night out” or “boys night out” if the other one has no interest at all.  The other habit is to rate each movie individually on a scale of 1 to 10, our own little He Said/She Said at the movies.  I figured it is time we shared our personal views with everyone else.  We know it is our own opinions, so you can take them anyway you please.  We will start this experiment tonight as we go to the film, A Simple Favor.   Check in tomorrow for of first review!