Another Earth

I have been fortunate lately to pick some really good movies to watch. Another Earth is an excellent movie. If you hear about it or see the trailer you might think that it is another sci fi flick, but you would be totally wrong. While it uses sci fi as the framework for the story, Another Earth is really the story of the struggles of two people, John Burroughs and Rhoda Williams played by Brit Marling, and William Mapother, respectfully. John and Rhoda are brought together by a tragedy caused by Rhoda. Another Earth was a Sundance winner in 2011 and was co-written by Brit Marling, who someday is going to be a big star, and Mike Cahill, the movie director. Check it out.

Unknown (2011)

Unknown with Liam Neeson, and Diane Kruger is both a mystery and thriller rolled up into one. Dr. Martin Harris, Liam Neeson, and his wife travel to Berlin for a biotech conference, but things get complicated when Dr. Harris is in an auto accident when he goes back to the airport to retrieve the briefcase that he had left behind. After the accident he goes into a coma and does not regain consciousness for four days. The entire thrilling plot is based on his amnesia after the accident. Everything has changed including that his wife does not recognize him and says she is married to the real Dr. Harris. This is a good movie for a Friday night.

A Place in the Sun

A Place in the Sun's plot is not too different from my previously reviewed movie, Splendor in the Grass. In both the lead character is from the wrong side of the tracks, but becomes involved with the rich and famous. In both the outcome is not good. In A Place in the Sun, a very poor George Eastman, played by Montgomery Clift, makes a fellow worker, Alice Trip, played by Shelley Winters, pregnant. However, at the same time he meets and falls in love with Angela Vickers, played by Elizabeth Taylor. Angela has it all and is beautiful and rich. The storyline from here becomes very complicated.

This is an exceptional movie with exceptional acting. As a result of this, it won six Academy Awards.

Splendor In The Grass (1961)

Splendor in the Grass stars Natalie Wood, Warren Beatty and Pat Hingle, was directed by Elia Kazan, and was written by William Inge who makes a cameo appearance as a preacher. With actors like Wood and Beatty, it is hard to go wrong.

I know I have not previously seen this movie and would have been uninterested in such a movie when it came out because I was senior in high school.

This movie, a romantic drama, shows the effects of the mores of this time (1920-30) and social standing in the US on the lives of the main characters. The Natalie Wood character, Wilma Dean Lewis, is in love with the Warren Beatty character, Bud Stamper. Unfortunately, Wilma Dean is from a poor family, and Bud is the top football player from the richest family in town. For those that have seen this movie you know that the relationship failed because these two young people could not overcome their parents and society. Splendor in the Grass also delves into the stigma of people who are confined to "mental institutions." I recommend this sad movie highly. I also think it should have been nominated for an Academy Award, but it was not.

Super 8

Super 8, directed by J. J. Abrams, is a Spielberg movie. While it is easy to tear apart this movie with some of its unrealistic happenings, I thought that it was a super movie to watch. It follows a group of kids who save the day after a train wreck unleashes an alien, who is relentlessly pursued by the military, into their small town. I guess I enjoy movies that have kids as the principal actors similar to that of Stand By Me. It also has a flavor of ET. Why not? I recommend that you watch this movie and be transported back to the uncomplicated 1970s.

Ship of Fools (1965)

Ship of Fools is a classic movie that won two Academy Awards. Vivien Leigh, Simone Signoret and José Ferrer, Lee Marvin, Jose Greco, and George Segal are the principal stars in this movie adaptation of the Katherine Ann Porter novel of the same name. I enjoyed seeing this movie again because of the great acting and unique story. For those who have not seen this movie, it takes place in 1933 on a German ship that is transporting the cast of characters from Mexico to Germany. Additionally, about six hundred Spanish farm workers are on the ship because of bad economic times in Mexico.

The entire film follows the interactions and relationships of the passengers. As the title suggests, the movie and book focuses on the foolishness of most human interactions. It covers the full spectrum of interactions including those of the family, male-female, different religions, different nationalities, old-young, . . . This movie will give you a lot to think about in the future.

The Way We Were

The Way We Were with Robert Redford and Barbara Streisand is not a movie that I watched when it was first released in 1973. I guess I was too busy working on my Ph. D. while teaching full time.  It is not a great movie but it does show the collision of two worlds, a Protestant hunk and Jewish activist, which was a really big deal in the times depicted in the movie (WW II, McCarthy era, and Ban the Bomb). As you can guess it was well acted and directed with top stars like Redford and Streisand. I did enjoy revisiting the times when I was growing up and US was far different from what it is today.

Melancholia

If you would like to see an intense, though-provoking, well-acted drama, then you should see Melancholia. It is the story of two troubled sisters who face the possibility of the end of the earth with the approach of a rogue planet from behind the sun. Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kiefer Sutherland do a great job in expressing the powerful emotions presented in the movie. You will be thinking about this beautiful, artistic movie for a long time.

Mystic Pizza

I know that I saw Mystic Pizza when in came out in 1988, but I cannot remember anything about the movie other than I enjoyed seeing it. I watched it last night and enjoyed seeing it again. It takes you back to the 1980s, a time very different from today. I liked seeing the young versions of Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts and Lili Taylor.

The A-Team

If you want to see a fun action-adventure, I recommend The A-Team. This movie is based on the TV series, which I never watched. Of course, if you saw the show you would know the characters on the team. They are each strange and interesting in their own right. This is what makes this movie fun.