The Bling Ring (2013)

This movie just didn’t dig very deep. Kids break into a celebrity’s house, post to facebook, party, and repeat. In fairness to Coppola, the subjects were probably too shallow to go much deeper...but, since that's the likely case, why try to make this TMZ fodder into a movie?

D+

The Spectacular Now (2013)

Popular high school kid is coasting on charm straight towards alcoholism until he gets to know one of the girls outside of his usual group. I believed absolutely everyone and it just broke my heart.

The closest movie comparisons I can think of are The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Breakfast Club. Like those films, The Spectacular Now just "gets" that end-of-high school/brink of adulthood time of life and puts it out there without gloss. That's enough.

B+

Peacock (2010)

Cillian Murphy is basically living like a benign Norman Bates. His mother died and he’s gone quietly and harmlessly nuts. He’s a woman (dresses & wig) for the household chores and a socially-backward man when it’s time to go to work at the bank. When a freak train wreck plows into his yard bringing the neighbors running, they find him in chick mode which opens up a whole can of crazy...but somehow it's boring crazy.

Aside from my oft-spoken declaration that Cillian Murphy is BEAUTIFUL being proven accurate regardless of gender, I don’t know why this movie exists or how they convinced this pretty decent cast to sign on.

D-

The Words (2012)

I really liked the way this movie was told… a writer is reading his work, which we see springing to life as he narrates. The man in the story in turn reads a book, which springs to life. It was beautiful and haunting and had tons of potential.

Ultimately, however, it failed because I wasn’t sure of 1) what exactly happened at the end and 2) what it was supposed to mean. The journey to the disappointment was quite an absorbing one, though.

B

Guys 'N Divas: Battle of the High School Musicals (2009)

This is a good documentary in the same way that the drama teacher at Jeffersonville is a good playwright (trust me, if you’d seen the movie that would be HILARIOUS). I was hoping it'd be about the experience of theater, but instead there was no clear through-line and I often forgot which school was which. I DID, however, remember how glad I am to be an adult and no longer embroiled in the manufactured drama of high school relationships.

C-

Locke (2014)

A man alone in a car on a highway has a very bad night. His situation is revealed over the course of a series of phone calls he makes and receives during his drive. It’s a feat that we see no flashbacks -- we have only these conversations and Hardy’s face to go on -- but we’re not lost. Our understanding shifts as does our opinion of the driver, but it’s exceptionally well-done. In the end the story may have been too slight, but I surely didn’t feel that way during the telling.

B

Quick Change (1990)

Gary and I have remembered this fondly for more than 20 years, but we must’ve been starved for entertainment back then as this just doesn’t hold up. The comedy is extremely mild and the "wackiness" is way too tame.

C

The History of Future Folk (2013)

What a surprising charmer of a movie. I love the concept: alien sent to earth to eradicate the population instead hears our music and cannot bear to snuff out the ones who thought to arrange sounds into beauty. So, of course, he’s playing at open mic nights until his home planet sends someone after him.

My son and I just ate this up. Slow in some spots, but a winner overall.

B+