Month: August 2024

Movie 1: Cuckoo

This is horror movie is very confusing. Set in the Bavarian Alps of Germany it had previews that looked promising. However, it quickly gets twisted and dark and we found ourselves spending more time trying to figure it out than enjoying it.

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Movie 2: Between The Temples

This is an absolutely wonderful little drama/comedy. A depressed Jewish cantor starts an unlikely relationship with a former teacher. The storyline, the acting, the humanity is very touching. It is great to see Carol Kane again.

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Movie 3: The Crow

This is a different interpretation of the 1994 movie of the same name. A man comes back from the dead to avenge the death of his girlfriend. That’s about the only thing we understood about this dark, gothic, sinister mess of a movie.

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Movie 1: We Were The Lucky Ones

This excellent and harrowing story, based on Georgia Hunter’s novel of the same name, chronicles the true story, resilience and heroism of a Polish Jewish family during WWII. The story begins with Passover 1937 and ends with Passover 1947. The acting and cinematography (dark, gloomy befitting of the times) are brilliant. This is an 8-part miniseries on Hulu, each episode about 55 minutes, and received 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

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Movie 2: My Penguin Friend

A charming, true story about a Magellan penguin who travels thousands of miles each year to “visit” a human friend near Rio de Janeiro. This is a very satisfying family drama about the unlikely bond between human and animal. And it’s very good to see French actor Jean Reno again.

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Movie 3: The Union

This is a Netflix action-drama about a CIA-like team going after terrorists who have compromised Western intelligence agencies. Halle Berry and Mark Wahlberg have pretty good chemistry together. Nothing extraordinary here, but an OK couple of hours.

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Movie 1: Trap

This is another thriller by M. Night Shyamalan. A father takes his daughter to a concert, only the loving dad is not exactly who she thinks he is. Lots of twists and turns. Not particularly great film making, but very entertaining. Hayley Mills plays a detective. We haven’t seen her in decades!

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Movie 2: Kneecap

This is a drama/comedy about the rise of Irish hip hop and rap in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It’s a powerful and necessary story about how the British government wouldn’t officially recognize the Irish language until 2022. Unfortunately, we found this movie confusing and very disjointed. While the Irish language scenes are subtitled in English, the English language scenes are not and very difficult to understand. It’s not every day you hear Gaelic as the primary language of a movie.

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Movie 3: Harold and the Purple Crayon

Based on the 1955 book of the same name by Crokett Johnson, this movie is an ode to the power of imagination. We knew nothing about the book or movie going in, but thoroughly enjoyed it. The storyline, the color, the artistry between live action and animation were delightful. A good movie for all ages. In fairness we should say national critics and film review boards gave this movie bad to mediocre reviews. But what do they know??

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