Some Good Movies, some not so good

Most of these I have watched on Netflix DVDs. (Yes, we still get Netflix through the mail.)  Some are classics and some I know I've seen before but don't remember.  These are in order that I watched them.

1. Captain America.  You know that I love my husband because I sat through this at the theater because he wanted to see it.

2. Up in the Air.  Funny and not funny at the same time. George Clooney. 

3. O Brother where Art Thou.  OK. 

4. Libby, Montana.  Documentary. Excellent but chilling. 

5. Miss Potter. Excellent. 

6. Saving Private Ryan.  Excellent but very hard to watch in places. 

7. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I loved the books and the movies are remarkably true to the books. 

8. Coal Miner's Daughter.  Pretty good.  Not my usual taste though. 

9.  Braveheart.  I flat didn't like it. YMMV. 

10. Philomena. Pretty good. 

11. The Comstant Gardener.  Nope. Just didn't like it. 
  
12. I Remember Mama. So good. Warm fuzzies

13. Doctor Zhivago. I had forgotten just what a spectacular movie this was. Excellent. 

14. Charlotte Grey.  Pretty good. 

15. The Sound of Music.  Can't help singing along. 

16. The Help. Very good. Another movie remarkably true to the book. (But the book was better.)

17.  The 100 Foot Journey. We saw this in the theater. It is a pleasant movie but probably not worth the tick/popcorn/drink price. Definitely worth a Netflix view. 

18. Casino Royale. Good 007 flick. 

19. The Way. Meh. 

20. The Nun's Story. Coming from Netflix tomorrow. 


Do you have some movie suggestions?

Good movies via Netflix (mostly)

 

Most movies that we watch come via Netflix. I absolutely love Netflix and consider it one of the best bargains around. I am so old that I remember when you had to go to the theater to watch a movie and once it left the theaters, well, it was gone for good. There were some re-releases but not many. Anyway, love my Netflix. 
Recently, I've had some very good movies, some OK, and one stinker. Here we go:

Frozen - very good for young children; awful for me. (We actually went to the theater for this one. Aargh!)
Up! - Best animated story I've ever seen. 
Room with a View - excellent. 
A Walk in the Clouds - wonderful romance. 
Monuments Men - excellent! WW II true but little known. (This was really worth seeing on the large screen.)
Mansfield Park - an old favorite. 
Rob Roy - Ack! This was so bad that JMM and I tried to blame each other for putting it in the Netflix queue. (It was him!)
The Godfather - Classic. 
To Sir with Love - Good but dated. 
American Hustle - OK but certainly not worth the Academy Award hype. 

Have you watched any good movies lately that I can add to my Netflix queue??

The Monuments Men

The Monuments Men is based on the true story of an unlikely WW II platoon which had been tasked to rescue works of art which had been stolen by the Nazis and to return them to their rightful owners. While this film is no Saving Private Ryan or Schindler's List, it is unabashedly heroic and without cynicism. The characters are well drawn and human. There is comradeship, humor, and pathos. Definitely worth seeing. 

100 Movies Worth Watching

I started this because I saw someone else's list of favorite movies and didn't like half of them. So I thought I would come up with my own list.  This is a work in progress.  I will add them as I watch them on Netflix.  What would you suggest that I watch and add to the list?

My 100 Favorite Movies

The African Queen
Amadeus 
Apollo 
Argo
The Artist
Avatar
Captain Phillips
Chariots of Fire
Coralline
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood 
Forrest Gump
Gandhi
Gone with the Wind
Gravity
The Hunger Games
The King's Speech
Les Miserables
Lincoln
My Afternoons with Margueritte 
Oranges and Sunshine
The Queen of Versailles 
State of Play
Searching for Sugar Man
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Titanic
Zero Dark Thirty

Captain Phillips

Captain Phillips

We went to see this movie last weekend. It is based on the actual kidnapping of Captain Phillips from the Mersk Alabama by Somali pirates.  I wanted to see it because my father was a Merchant Mariner and had his Captain's license although he usually sailed as 1st Mate. My father sailed for Lykes Bros. on the Stella Lykes. But back to the movie. 

The actors who played the pirates were Somalis who were living in the United States. They had no maritime experience and had to learn how to handle the outboard motor boats in the open ocean. It was filmed on an actual ship and not on a set. They also filmed at sea rather than by special effects. This really added to the realism of the movie. 

If I didn't know that this really happened, I would say that the plot was completely implausible. The Somali pirates in a tiny boat commandeering a vast container ship seems very improbable. But it did happen and the movie makes it so real that you feel the sea spray. 

The last third of the movie is the reason you should not get a large drink at the beginning of the movie. Even though I knew that he would be rescued, I didn't know when or how. And that will keep you glued to the edge of your seat despite the large drink. 

It's a good action suspense movie and Tom Hanks deserves an Academy Award for his performance. Actually the guy who played the head Somali pirate deserves an award too.  So sit back and enjoy a good movie. 

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

I went to see this fully anticipating loving it...but I didn't.  Of course, Maggie Smith is a world treasure and Judy Densch is marvelous but the movie was trite and cheap and didn't hold together.  I felt like every aspect of this film was obligatory--the obligatory gay man, the obligatory death of one of the characters, the obligatory star-crossed young love, the obligatory husband-wife antagonism, and the obligatory happy ending.  The premise could have been so interesting but they went the cheap, easy route. Too bad.

Paris after Midnight

We went to see it Saturday evening and thoroughly enjoyed it.  The story delves into the way that people look back onto another era as a golden age.  Some see the 1950's as a better time and others look at the Victorian age as a golden time.  I know people who think this way but I certainly don't.  I can't see why any woman would want to live in a time where there was no birth control or no antibiotics, where women could not pursue advanced education or a profession, where she had to have her husband's permission for financial matters.  No thanks.

If you want to see a good movie--beautiful Paris and an interesting story--Paris after Midnight is a nice evening's entertainment.

Inception

JMM and I went to see it today. JMM really liked it; I thought it was pretty good--better than I had expected. The special effects were excellent, story and acting good--maybe a little too much shooting, car chases, and fights, but hey, it's a summer action movie so to be expected. The thing I have against it is purely personal--pseudo-science talk annoys me to no end. Taking something that is false and wrapping it in scientific language to make it sound believable just grates on me. If something is fiction that's fine but leave off the science talk. It reminds me of the late night radio show where people call in with their paranormal experiences. (Maybe if I'd ever been able to levitate anything, I'd think differently about it.) Anyway, if you need a summer action movie with some good plot twists and turns, it may be a dream come true for ya'.

Defiance

I watched a really good Netflix movie this evening, Defiance. It is the true story of Tuvia and Zus Bielski who led a group of Jews into the forest of BelaRussia for 3 years during the Nazi invasion and occupation. By the end of the war, the group numbered 1200. Amazingly, after the war the brothers immigrated to New York City where they operated a trucking company for 30 years. Just an amazing story.

Good Reading (Listening) and Watching

I have a long commute (70 miles round trip) to work 4 days a week. Since this commute plus work time cuts into my time available for reading, I have come to really appreciate books on CD. You know the book is really good when I am driving slowly on the way home so that I can "finish one more chapter". Such a book is Uncommon Carriers by John McPhee. Last night I was creeping along so that I could finish the section on towing the barges on the Illinois River. I had already finished the chapters about the HazMat chemical trucker driver and the one on the school for ocean going sea captains. McPhee just puts you up there is the cab of the 18 wheeler or the pilot house of the tugboat and gives you a real appreciation for the skill of these men. How I wish my father who was a Merchant Mariner could be here with talk to about this book.

I've been waiting for Dr. Finlay to become available through NetFlix and it finally did--It was worth the wait. It is a series about a young doctor who comes home to Scotland after WW II to practice medicine in the village of Tannochbrae. Warm, touching, understated humor, and the beauty of Scotland. Enjoy.

Thought for the Day:

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." Leo Buscaglia

Julie and Julia

Rarely do I enjoy the movie more than the book but that is the case with Julie & Julia. These days with people griping and mad at each other so much, it was a delight to see someone happy with their life, work, and spouse. In all honesty, I wish the movie had been all Julia; to me the Julie parts were mostly an interuption until we could get back to Julia. Such zest for life and such pleasure and enjoyment of cooking and eating. Don't miss it.

Tell No One

Add this movie to your Netflix queue and move it to the top-- right now. It is the best mystery that I have seen in quite a while. It takes a bit to figure out all the relationships but hang in there--it is good to the very last scene.

Star Trek

While I have never been interested in reading science fiction, I was an early watcher of the original Star Trek television series. It seemed that there was purpose and future in exploration of the unknown. Then there was Star Trek: The Next Generation which I thought was every bit as good and thoroughly enjoyed. However, the Star Trek movies were mostly stupid and forgetable attempts to take the old Star Trek, dress it up a bit with special effects, make it longer, and pass it off as a movie. So I was rather skeptical when I heard that there would be a new Star Trek movie coming out. Would it lean too far back and be another blah re-hash? Or would it lean too far away from the past and leave out important characteristics of the main characters? Would the actors be believeable in their roles? Would the story be any good?? To my great surpirse and even greater pleasure--it was terrific! The actors were perfect for their roles, there was enough of the old to anchor the new, & a reasonably good sci-fi story. All in all a really, really good movie. I look forward to the sequels.