Beauty Is Embarrassing

What I liked:

• It's an entertaining and fascinating look at the life of artist, Wayne White.
• Fantastic footage, interviews, and images.
• It brings up a good point: Why do people have a hard time thinking that something that is funny can't be considered art?
• "Is There a Ghost" by Band of Horses

Missed Connections

What I liked:

• It's a hilarious take on the modern dating world.
• The dialogue was smart, funny, and real.
• The acting was well played.
• I like all of the serendipitous moments.
• It was written by and stars Kenny Stevenson.
• It also stars Dorien Davies, Shane Elliott, Alex Enriquez, Abraham Smith, Julie Mitchell, Avi Rothman, Samantha Klein, Scott Beehner, and Mitch Sipla.
• It has a great soundtrack.
• There's a running joke about Three Men and a Baby.

What I didn't like:

 ...

http://missedconnectionsmovie.com/

To see a clip from the film, click here

Winner of the American Independent Award at the Cleveland International Film Festival.
Check out Dorien Davies' blog about her experience at CIFF here.

Grade: A

Mirror Mirror

What I liked:

• The opening animation sequence was delightful.
• Lily Collins is lovely.
• Armie Hammer was wonderful when under the Queen's spell.
• A nice supporting cast of Mare Winningham, Jordan Prentice, Mark Povinelli, Joe Gnoffo, Danny Woodburn, Sebastian Saraceno, Martin Klebba, Ronald Lee Clark and Sean Bean!
• Creative costumes.
• There's a modern twist to the movie.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

What I liked:

• Great acting from Amr Waked, Emily Blunt, and Ewan McGregor.
• Kristen Scott Thomas steals every scene that she is in.
• It's an interesting story based on the book Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday.
• Lovely writing full of witty and sarcastic humor.

Being Flynn

What I liked:

• Wonderful acting by Paul Dano, Julianne Moore, and Robert De Niro.
• Great supporting cast of Olivia Thirlby, Lili Taylor, Victor Rasuk, Liam Broggy, and Wes Studi.
• Interesting story based up the book Another Bullshit Night in Suck City: A Memoir by Nick Flynn.

Nesting

What I liked:

• It's an entertaining story about how to connect the person that you use to be with the person you are now.
• Written and directed by Cleveland native, John Chuldenko.
• Great acting by Todd Grinnell, Ali Hillis, Kevin Linehan, and Alexi Wasser.
• Erin Gray!
• Realistic, smart, and funny dialogue.
• Fantastic soundtrack.

Be Carried Away - The 36th Cleveland International Film Festival

American Reunion

What I liked:

• The old gang was back together!  Jim, Michelle, Oz, Kevin, Vicky, Stifler, Heather, Finch, the MILF guys, Stifler's mom, Jim's Dad, Jessica, Nadia, and even Sherman!
• They paid a lot of respect to the first movie.
• Props to Jason Biggs for going there.
• Great '90's soundtrack including "Sway" from Bic Runga.
• It was gross and funny and gross again.
• 30 Rock's Katrina Bowden
• Rebecca De Mornay?!
• NPH!
  

The Movie Rating System

I have never understood the movie rating system.  I don’t understand the criteria that the board uses to rate a film.  It doesn’t appear to be consistent or in the best interest of those that it is meant to protect. 

I bring up this topic because it’s in the media a lot right now because of two movies: Bully and The Hunger Games.   Bully, a movie about kids being bullied, has been given an R rating by the board due to language.  Full disclosure: I haven’t seen Bully yet so I can’t talk specifics.  I have, however, seen the Academy Award Winning film, The King’s Speech, which was also rated R for language.  The King dropped one too many F words for the board’s liking.

The Hunger Games, a movie about kids forced to fight each other to the death, has been given a PG-13 rating.  This doesn’t make sense to me.  How can language be worse than violence?   

The Hunger Games

What I liked:

• Great job on casting.  Jennifer Lawrence is terrific.  Watch Winter's Bone to she her breakout role.  
• Wonderful supporting cast of Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz, Wes Bentley, Donald Sutherland, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Toby Jones, and the almost unrecognizable, Elizabeth Banks.
• It's an interesting story.
• Fantastic costumes.  Loved Katniss' red dress and everything that Effie wore.

DVD Day

New to DVD:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Grade A-
Read full review here

The Muppets - Grade A-
Read full review here

The Sitter - Grade B
Read full review here

Carnage - Grade B+
Read full review here

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Grade B
Read full review here

Jeff Who Lives at Home

I have a soft spot for films that have to do with fate and destiny and this was no exception.

What I liked:

• It was nice to see Jason Segel and Ed Helms play more dramatic roles without losing their comedic flare.
• Susan Sarandon was great as an unhappy single mother of two grown men.
• Judy Greer!
• I thought that the story was interesting.  I liked the twists and turns that it took.

Friends With Kids

What I liked:

• Fabulous cast: Jennifer Westfeldt, Adam Scott, Maya Rudolph, Chris O'Dowd, Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Edward Burns, and Megan Fox.
• Kelly Bishop!
• Westfeldt not only starred in it but also wrote and directed it.
• The writing was fantastic.  The characters felt real.  They talked, thought, and acted like people that I know.
• The story was very current and fresh.  A modern day, funny, RomCom.
• Great soundtrack.

A Separation

What I liked:

• It's a fascinating story with an interesting look at life in Iran.  
• Wonderful acting by everyone involved: Peyman Moadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, Shahab Hosseini, Sarina Farhadi, Merila Zare'i, and Ali-Asghar Shahbazi.
• Won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Project X

What I liked:

• I think what helps sell this movie is that the actors are relatively unknowns: Thomas Mann, Oliver Cooper, Jonathan Daniel Brown, Kirby Bliss Blanton, Brady Hender, and Nick Nervies.
• Miles Teller!
• Martin Klebba!
• Fantastic party soundtrack.
• Full of "college humor".
• It's a great example of why parents should never leave their teenage kids home alone.

21 Jump Street

What I liked:

• Oscar Nominee, Jonah Hill, was great and heavily involved as he co-wrote it.
• Channing Tatum is good at playing the dumb pretty one.
• The supporting cast is filled with stars from the small screen:
• Nick from New Girl (Jake M. Johnson)
• Erin from The Office (Ellie Kemper)
• Ron from Parks and Recreation (Nick Offerman)
• Rob Riggle from The Daily Show
• Cole from Scrubs (Dave Franco)
• Ice Cube from Barbershop
• Kate from United States of Tara (Brie Larson)

Movies + Basketball = Love