"Little Fockers" — It made me mad

What a disappointment "Little Fockers" turned out to be. The relationships between grandparents, parents, and in-laws have endless potential for humor - mostly overlooked in this script, or confined to only the most squirm-inducing setups. [We often have discussions at my book club on the perils of relationships with our childrens spouses and their in-laws ... many of our casual topics could be used as scenes in a funnier script than the "Fockers" followed.]

I went to this movie with one of my peeps, because we had enjoyed the first Focker movie. Our children were getting married at the time and we identified with that film. Now we both have grandchildren, and we were looking forward to some hearty laughing. However, we just felt pissed off , I was ready for a good belly laugh.

Dustin Hoffman did provide a few intervals of comedy, he is always great. I would have liked to hug him for that one laugh.

That's my opinion and I am sticking with it, what's yours???

Black Swan "Its Art"

This has been a tough movie for me to review and I have spent several weeks digesting it. Natalie Portman transformed herself into Nina, a troubled, at times mentally ill, ballerina. There was never a moment in the movie that I doubted she WAS Nina. Her performance was artistic as well as amazing. It was a complicated movie of good, evil, beauty and self mutilation (cutting). The viewer goes in and out of the character's psyche, and the transfer from Nina's reality to her insanity was genius and added significantly to the suspense.

The innuendo in the movie was — of course —  "its the mothers fault." I felt like rolling my eyes — in fact, I DID roll my eyes. 

The lesbian sex was way to explicit for me — another eye-roller. I like to get lost in a movie, but when I'm thinking "yuk — are they really going to show this much?" the movie looses something.

A friend (one of my peeps) in California saw the film in a theatre near Berkeley. The audience was laughing most likely when Nina sprouts feathers.

Black Swan seems to be in the same genre as some of Alfred Hitchcock's movies.

I believe this movie will become a classic. That's my opinion and I'm sticking with it.

POST SCRIPT

The New York Times (Constance Rosenblum) did a piece on Annette Bening being the top contender for an Oscar for "Kids Are All Right." Come on — Annette played herself. She is the mother of teenage children, and although her spouse is male I bet he is not harder to live with than her on screen wife. By comparison Natalie Portman completely transformed herself.

I have noticed that reviewers seem to give higher ratings to movies that include hot lesbian sex so I was surprised to see that Constance gave such high praise to "The Kids." The sex was much more explicit in "Black Swan." In case you haven't guessed, I prefer not to watch other people have sex. I believe it can be shown in an artful way without feeling like I am voyeur. 

As I said: That's my opinion and I'm sticking with it — whats yours????

Yogi Bear

Max who is seven years old gave me a call from the car after seeing Yogi. He asked me to include it in the blog He said it made him laugh and laugh.  I wish I could have been with him. Love to hear Max laugh.

"The kings Speech" a timely feel great movie

Colin firth and Geoffrey Rush were wonderful and certainly will be in the running for an award on Academy award night.

Its a pleasant movie about the present day Queen Elizabeth's father King George VI . He suffered from stammering and this true story tells about his struggle and his relationship with his speech therapist. With his Great Grandson William's impending wedding,it gives us another peek into the "royals"

Besides great acting, wonderful scenery and inspirational story, I loved the costumes. I enjoyed the hats of the late 1930s and early 40s as well as their hair styles and clothes.

My only complaint was it ended too soon and I would have liked to see more of the King's leadership during the war. Perhaps another movie???

True Grit Gets Picked

The book was simple and straightforward and rather like an old fashioned western dime novel.  The movie was also straightforward but not as simplistic as the westerns of my youth. Jeff Bridges played "Rooster" Cogburn as a  tough sloppy drunk, but underneath that smelly looking exterior you could see the "good guy".  I think Jeff Bridges is genuinely a good guy and its hard not to see that under the layers of his character.

The people sitting around me seemed to be enjoying the movie and I heard many positive comments on the way out.

I was interested in the scenes with horses. I had read it was a difficult part of the filming. The horses had trainers and animal protection officials were on the set watching the filming.

Full disclosure: I played Annie Oakley or Dale Evans to my brothers Roy Rogers as a child and always look forward to a good western and this fit the bill !!!!

This would qualify as a first date movie.