Lovesong (2017)

Split in two parts, the first of which has a young mother and her daughter living in near isolation while her husband is away for months at a time on business. Her college friend comes to visit and they make a short-term temporary family during a road trip. The second half is set three years later, when the college friend is getting married and the mother and daughter travel up to attend.

It’s a quiet film with an overlay of melancholy. Though not a masterpiece, I was moved by its honesty. 

B

Don Jon (2013)

Started off rough -- voiceover of a Jersey bro talkin’ ‘bout rides and hair and bachelor pads and pussy and porn. I might've been watching Entourage. But then the bro meets a babe who just might be able to change his ways… and things started to get interesting. Like in a “that is pretty profound” way.

This is not the story of a good woman making a man out of a bad boy like I kind of assumed it was going to be. It’s smarter than that. It’s better than that.

B+

A Kind of Murder (2016)

A woman is found murdered near a highway diner. The detective on the case suspects the husband but can’t prove it as he’s got an alibi. A local writer in an unhappy marriage becomes fascinated with the story and, eventually, his own wife winds up dead near the same diner.

If we’d gotten to know the writer at all, I may have been able to rustle up some interest in his plight, but the movie didn't bother with any of that. The characters were all just broad strokes on a screen, going through the motions set forth for them by the story. I was just sighing my way through this one.

D+

Sisters (2015)

Because their parents are selling the childhood home, two adult sisters meet up to pack up the stuff they’d left there and throw one last bash. The jokes were fast and funny and the whole party was inventively hilarious.

The one downer bit was probably the subplot about the “screw up” sister’s daughter choosing to live away from home without telling her mom where she was. I was both on the daughter’s side and appalled at the thought of not knowing how to reach my minor children.

B+

Mindhorn (2017)

A goof about a has-been actor from a silly detective show returning to his hometown to help solve a murder. Should have been so much more fun than it was, but the mild laughs it generated were all front-loaded (or maybe the humor just got old fast).

C-

Atomic Blonde (2017)

The overall vibe was just boring. The surprises were unsurprising and  -- with the notable exception of the well-shot fight scenes -- the whole thing moved at a snail’s pace. Very disappointing.

C

Moana (2016)

I decided to watch this because the church we’ve been attending was showing it as part of their celebration of the arts so I wanted to “follow along at home.” For some reason, when this first came out, I kind of turned up my nose at it, but now I don't know why. Am I just getting too old to be excited about a cartoon?

The story is a bit like Whale Rider's: a girl has a destiny that is neither confirmed nor condoned by the elders of the community, so she must fulfill it on her own. Some of the ‘magical’ stuff was a little heavy, but the animation, voice-work, and music were all stellar. I liked this one quite a bit.

But enough with the crazy animal sidekicks. Just because you call “tongue in cheek” attention to the fact that it’s there doesn’t make it a worthwhile trope.

B+

Office Christmas Party (2016)

Fairly predictable, but most of the jokes land. Raunchy fun.

B

Denial (2016)

A Jewish writer/historian is sued for libel by a well-known Holocaust denier and decides to fight him in court rather than to take the easy road of settling. Since this is based on truth, there was this aspect of “hmm, I didn’t know that” working for it, but it was overall too dry to really make its way under my skin.

B-

Ghostbusters (2016)

A really good time, though it got a little by-the-numbers during the big finale. Chris Hemsworth was tons of fun.

B

Bad Moms (2016)

Perfect suburban mom who's taken for granted by her husband, children, and boss finally has enough when she finds her husband cheating on her over the internet. In a flash, she's flipping the school hierarchy on its head, standing up to her boss, forcing her kids to fend for themselves, and bagging the hottie widower.

The story felt pretty lazy, but Kathryn Hahn & Kristen Bell as the new BFFs were a hoot.

C+

Dope (2015)

Ghetto kid  on the brink of getting out and going to college based on his academics gets dragged into a dealer's world. Lots of fun elements, but it steered away from smart comedy and into farce a time or two.

Still, it's fast-paced and smart with a likable leading man, making it a worthwhile watch.

B

Paterson (2016)

Paterson has a routine. He wakes up between 6 and 6:30 next to his beautiful girlfriend (who continues sleeping), eats cereal at the kitchen counter, walks to work, writes a bit of poetry in his notebook, starts up the bus he drives, eavesdrops on riders' conversations, eats lunch, drives some more, walks home, straightens the perpetually leaning mailbox in front of his tiny house, eats the dinner prepared by his girlfriend while giving an ear to her latest aspiration and/or complimenting her newest art project, takes the dog for a walk, and stops off at the local pub for his one beer on the way home.

I liked Paterson. A lot. But I didn't like his silly girlfriend and I got the feeling that he didn't like her as much as he thought he did, either. Maybe I was just projecting; I mean, she obviously wanted to please him and encouraged him in his poetry and expressed pride in him, all of which were reciprocated. But there was something that made me feel as though he was viewing her as more of an exotic pet than as an equal. I saw her as basically the second coming of Fabienne -- Bruce Willis' girlfriend in Pulp Fiction -- but with several hobbies. His feedback to her was always one of patience rather than true admiration or even annoyance. He seemed to experience a deeper connection with two fellow poets met by chance: a young girl he stops to keep company as she waits for her mother and a Japanese tourist who joins him on a bench.

There is beauty in Paterson's world, to be sure -- but I wished that he had a partner with whom he could truly share that beauty.

B-

The Debt (2011)

In 1965, three Mossad agents were tasked with finding, capturing, and delivering for trial a Nazi doctor accused of war crimes against the Jewish people during the war. Though the mission didn't play out as planned, the three have been hailed as heroes at home for more than 30 years. In 1997, a book detailing their story is being published.

The flashback portion of the story is an exciting one. It's when we come to the present that things slow down considerably. All in all, it's successful with a side of frustration.

B

The Last Word (2017)

Harriet is a miserable control freak who passes along her misery to pretty much everyone she meets. She's also depressed and suicidal, but realizes -- almost too late -- that if she doesn't commission her obituary before she dies, she won't be able to control what's in it. Enter Anne the drifting-through-life obituary clerk.

If you saw the trailers (and probably even if you didn't), there are zero surprises here. Anne can't write a good obituary because Harriet isn't a good person. Harriet decides to become someone who will be missed and manages that feat in the space of about a month.

You know, I don't always hate predictability -- if there's heart and some good performances, it can be almost comforting (see Danny Collins). This, however, was just clumsy. It also had a sassy child in it who can't act for beans. But she sure is a cute little firecracker! Ugh.

D