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Movie Reviews by Carolyn
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Movie Reviews
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The Hamiltons ☺☺
I watched this 2006 independent horror movie at home out of boredom. I was pleasantly surprised by a movie called "The Hamiltons (2006) ". The movie is about ordinary family living extraordinary lives. When their parents die, one of the siblings does not like the activities of his sister and two brothers. If I say more it would take away from the thrill of watching the movie. It’s a slow start, but the end makes it worth it.
Hard Candy ☺☺☺
This 2005 thriller had me chewing my nails to the very end. Ellen Page as Haley gives a tour de force performance as a teenager locking horns with a much older photographer, played by Patrick Wilson. This is essentially a two person movie. Each character tries to outwit the other with devastating results. I won’t say more except that I slept with the lights on when it was over.
Rotten Tomatoes gave a 68% positive rating. Watch this independent, money making movie if you want to be kept on your toes.
Pineapple Express ☺ ☺ ☺
This is a funny, exciting movie, with lots of slapstick, corny scenarios and cliches, and plenty of references to marijuana. It works because the underlying theme of the movie is about bro-man friendship. James Franco and Seth Rogan are totally believeable as a drug dealer and his customer, who both go on the lam when the customer (Rogen) sees a man get killed. The character actors are equally supportive and hold their own.
Saw VI ☺ ☺
The number of fascinating ways to kill is the main reason to watch this movie. The story goes to past episodes to keep everyone in the loop. There are some surprise guests that will keep Saw fans interested. Why the killing continues is similar to a been-there-done-that scenario, but the ending is worth watching. VH1 1st Season Scream Queen Tanedra Howard does justice to her acting debut. Look for her again.
Pandorum ☺ ☺
Starring Dennis Quaid. A surprisingly intricate science fiction movie with several surprise endings. It gets a little slow in the middle, and could have been shorter. If you can stick with it to the end, for a late night showing and some popcorn, this movie will entertain you.
2012 ☺ ☺ ☺
Forget whatever negative comments the critics say. This is an exciting, fantastic, on-the edge-of-your-seat, and suspenseful/explosive movie. The trailers are just a fifth of the excitement this movie provides.
2012 is a reflection on the Human Condition and our possible responses to a disaster that cannot be controlled. Make sure you go to the rest room before you see 2012. You won’t want to miss anything!
Precious ☺ ☺ ☺
Oscars will be handed out for this movie, for the actresses, to the wardrobe, to the photography. Like The Color Purple, men take a back seat to the plot, except to be cruel to the young ladies trying to survive a hostile environment and public employees that provide little support. Precious is our Celie, determined to be more than a statistic for the educational and welfare system. A dark film set in the 1980's, Precious will keep you engrossed by this story of urban life for teenage girls.
Four Christmases ☺ ☺
I was pleasantly surprised by the laugh out loud comedy in this film. After their vacation to a much warmer spot is cancelled, two free spirits visit their respective divorced parents for Christmas. The parents are characters, which allow us to relate to the failed attempts of Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn's to hide their eccentric relatives from each other. This is a good film to play when the relatives arrive for Christmas dinner.
Orphan ☺ ☺ ☺
A couple adopts a girl to replace the daughter they recently lost in a horrific frozen pond accident. She is the Eddie Haskell of the family, smiling with one face, and conniving with the other. Everyone is alienated by her manipulative behavior. If only that was the worse thing she does. An excellent horror film with an unpredictable ending.
Last Chance Harvey ☺ ☺
A middle aged couple take one more chance at love. Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson are perfectly matched for this movie
The Uninvited ☺ ☺ ☺
Two teenage girls resent the arrival of their step mother after their mother is killed in a fire. Their efforts to put her in a bad light with their father takes a turn for the worse.
The title does not do justice to this mystery/horror movie. Believe me, the ending will surprise you.
Gran Torino ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺
If this is truly Clint Eastwood's last acting movie, he does justice to the direction and starring role all the way. Eastwood plays a senior citizen reluctantly drawn into the lives of his next door Asian neighbors due to a violent gang. A captivating series of events will keep you riveted to the screen.
Taken ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺
The daughter of an estranged father is kidnapped overseas by a white slavery group. This puts him back into the espionage game with a vengence, having lost none of his skills. The father proceeds to do anything and everything to find her within a short period of time, or lose her forever. A truly good action/adventure
Star Trek 2009 ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺
A new young cast ushers in the first of hopefully a new series of Star Trek movies. Even if you never saw a Star Trek episode, this movie will make you a fan.
Friday the 13th 2009 ☺½
Too much screaming, falling, blood shed, and bad decisions. Jared Padalecki of the TV show Supernatural is the reason to watch.
Underworld 3 - Rise of The Lycans ☺ ☺
Kate Beckinsale is missed here, but the cast does its job in creating the story of the Vampire and Lycan rivalry.
Paul Blart - Mall Cop ☺ ☺ ☺
This movie shifts slightly from the usual comedy formula and creates a pleasant and funny experience, expecially for Kevin James fans. He plays a security guard with hyperglycemia trying to prevent a robbery at the mall after work hours.
Beyond the Sea ☺ ☺
If you remember singer/actor Bobby Darin from the 1960's, this movie will bring back good memories. If you do not, this movie will do little to help.
Medea Goes to Jail ☺ ☺ ☺
A lot of fun with life messages from the young and elder characters in between. A feel good movie that will make you think through the laughter.
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Assimilationism in a Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry
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When one assimilates, does it improve the quality of life, or does it sacrifice or damage the spirit and soul of the person who accepts the culture of another ethnicity? This is the dilemma of A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry.
In her play set in the 1950’s, there is an African American family living not very well in the South Side of Chicago. Their apartment is clean, but it is dark, small, cramped with five people, and in need of paint and repair.
Mrs. Younger and her husband believed that patience was a key element in working toward a new life. They worked hard for many years, one eventually dying, the other retired in pursuit of that dream. Mr. Younger’s expected $10,000 life insurance check would help the family finally achieve the dreams of the parents. Mrs. Younger believes that leaving the ghetto to a house in the suburbs will help the family’s quality of life. She seeks assimilation for a higher level and standard of living, not just daily survival. That assimilation also happens to be in a white neighborhood, a fact that appalls the entire family.
Each family member has his or her own dream of what should be done with the money. Walter Lee, the son, wants to assimilate most of all. His dream of owning a liquor store is the epicenter of the play. Every family member is forced to respond to Walter Lee’s business ambition. It’s all he talks about every day. Coincidentally, it involves a substantial financial investment with his other partners.
Walter Lee, who must chauffeur his boss around all day every day, has no patience to wait for his dream to be fulfilled. He is tired of working for The Man, and wants his own business. His dream to assimilate is so powerful, he overlooks who he is dealing with, the details of the liquor store business investment, and the possibility that one person’s dream is another man’s hustle.
The daughter Beneatha swears she does not want to assimilate. However, her foot stays firmly in both worlds, safe either way she chooses. She is not studying to be a schoolteacher, the traditional career for African Americans in those days. She has not entered missionary service. Rather, she attends medical school. Her boyfriend George Murchinson, an African American man, is so far assimilated that he taunts Beneatha about her stand against it. Yet, she continues to date him. Despite flirting with an African suitor who encourages her to seek her African roots, Beneatha’s dream is to use the insurance money to finish medical school.
Ruth, Walter Lee’s wife, just wants a better life. She wants to support her husband’s dreams, but also believes that Mrs. Younger should decide what to do with the insurance money. Discovering she is pregnant, she stays quiet about it. Fearing that a baby may tear the already stressed out family apart, and feeling strangled by her cramped and impoverished life, Ruth almost has an abortion. Unlike most of the adults, she ultimately finds the strength to stick to her values.
Each member almost succumbs to their desires, sinking to new lows. To Mama’s horror, Beneatha declares she does not believe in God; Walter Lee can’t tell his wife not to have an abortion when she tells him she is pregnant again. He also takes the bulk of Mrs. Younger’s insurance money and invests it with his partner Willie Harris, who leaves town with it.
In the end, Mama’s aspiration of homeownership in the suburbs prevails over each member of the family’s selfish and competing dreams. At least for this family, assimilationism seems to be the right decision. It appears to have saved them, just in time.
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“Lifeboat” Explores Human Nature ☺☺☺☺
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What happens when you put almost a dozen people together in a small cramped space for several days or weeks? This is explored in the Oscar winning, 1944 Alfred Hitchcock directed movie ‘Lifeboat’. The movie showcases the risks of survival of the fittest, far better than the current Survivor television series.
In this black-and-white movie, no one gets voted off the boat. People are either thrown off, or jump to their deaths. Walter Slezak plays a member of the Master Race, who is rescued from the water by the lifeboat passengers. He eventually lulls each of them into complacency as he manipulates their behavior and reactions to him. All while rowing the boat into Nazi controlled waters.
The movie shows that everyone has a weakness that can be exploited, given the right set of circumstances. Anyone can turn into a monster under certain conditions. The victims of a Nazi torpedo attack try valiantly to maintain their humanity. Still, their survival demands victims or casualties, and Hitchcock directs us through how it happens.
It isn’t claustrophobia that causes their eventual animalistic behavior. It is the survival instinct that governs this crew. They have been thrown together by war and circumstance. Among the passengers are Tallulah Bankhead as a jaded writer; William Bendix as a severely injured crew member of the ship; John Hodiak as a drifter; Canada Lee as a former pick pocket trying to change his life for the better; and Henry Hull as a very wealthy man. With no water, no food, in a crowded lifeboat, regardless of race, color, creed, intellect, or economic fortune or fame, they are now all equal. Equal except by the level of their desperate willingness to live despite the torpedoed end of their passenger ship.
War brings out everyone’s essential character, especially when put in an unstable environment. The movie proves that the nature of the human will for survival does not necessarily mean the same as animal instinct. Heck, even in war, romance still finds a way onto the cramped space of wood.
In the beginning, they are all for one, and one for all. They give and allow ranting and raving speeches; love blossoms as the others turn their heads; they share their individual war stories. They even show compassion for the very enemies who blew up their ship. Everyone helps out, not considering that they really had not left the war just because they were all in the same boat.
In the end, they each betray oneself and the others in order to survive. They ultimately become an angry mob, crazed from lack of food, water, and dignity. Someone is killed. When they realize they are about to be rescued, they are humiliated by their monstrous behavior. As small as the lifeboat is, they try to avoid each other. No one knows who will survive what he or she has done.
“Lifeboat” is a movie about the human condition. People can and will change from right to wrong depending upon circumstances. Whether prince, pauper, pickpocket, writer, or mother, each of us has the will and determination to survive. Regardless of our upbringing, we will always do what we must to live. And afterward, we will be ashamed for what we did, perhaps for life.
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