Armchair movie reviews.....

Ok, well its been a while since I've reviewed some movies for you.....simply because I haven't really watched any. I had my nose stuck in books and reading blogs.

But here goes. First movie is an older one; THE PIANO with Holly Hunter and Sam Neill. This movie won the Academy Award the year it came out, which I can't remember right now. Also Holly Hunter won best actress for her portrayal of a young mute woman. This is basically a love story set back in the early 1800's in another country which is pretty darn primitive. Her father marries her off to a man whom she's never seen or met and she travels to his home where she and her young daughter will live with him. Her biggest love is her piano and it makes the trip with her. Probably a lot of people would get bored with this movie as its not that fast-moving and there isn't much action, blood, gore, fighting, etc. I liked it because it portrays a woman being forced into a circumstance of which she has no control.....her bravery is amazing. The living conditions are awful....with mud up to your knees and you have to co-mingle with the tattooed, loin cloth wearing natives whose lives are deeply influenced by their superstitions and beliefs. Its an interesting movie and an unusual love story. Some of the landscape is just breathtaking. It does have full frontal nudity of both male and female so make sure no kids are around when you watch it.

The second movie is PRECIOUS starring Mo'Nique and Mariah Carey sans makeup and/or any enhancements. Both of them pleasantly surprised me with their acting abilities. This is a raw movie. Not suitable for children or even young teens as far as I'm concerned. No nudity but the language is laced with obscenities and its used a lot. The subject matter is incest. I can't say that watching it made me a better person for they offered no guaranteed workable options for those who live like this and I am getting the idea that there are many more living this way than I ever dreamed of. Its depressing in one way but uplifting in another because Precious wants her life to be better and she knows she has to be educated for that to happen. Instead of sitting back and just collecting welfare and stagnating like so many in her situation do, she fights for something better. Even so, you know this is not a ....."and they lived happily ever after" type of movie. You hate Mo'Nique's character (mother of Precious) in this movie just like you're supposed to.....she is a true monster and you want her punished but realize her only punishment is having to live with the memories. She doesn't perceive things as a normal mother would. You won't come away from this movie feeling happy. What you will feel is a question in your mind.....how many people live like this, how can it be stopped and no wonder social workers are so cynical.........they've seen and heard it all.

Seeing that made me crave something uplifting and in a hurry so I grabbed THE HANGOVER, which I had been told is full of belly laughs. The movie is full of crude jokes and obscene actions plus male and female nudity. Obscene language as well as gestures. Its about the exploits of 4 guys in Vegas for the Bachelor Party of one of them. In my mind, I felt it was a genuine "guy movie" and probably every guy out there will absolutely LOVE it. The plot was pretty good though, throwing a bit of a mystery in there and it held my interest so it just wasn't a T&A type movie. It basically condones infidelity and the ....."whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" .....mentality, which doesn't set well with most women, me included. It was ok but in my opinion it wasn't as funny as my favorite stand-by....Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Finally.......DRAG ME TO HELL. I quit looking at scary movies a while ago.....there was just TOO much blood and gore. They have overdone it horribly and it's ruined the scary movies for me. I got this movie and watched it because I read that there was some comic relief in it so I thought I'd give it a try. It wasn't bad. It had a pretty good plot. She works for a bank, old gypsy woman is losing her house to foreclosure and begs bank for yet another extension. Its her job to tell the old woman....sorry, but no can do. The old woman gets mad and puts a curse on her. So all these strange and scary things start happening to her and she finds out from a medium that she only has 3 days to live under this particular type of curse. So she sets about to find a way to counter-act it or reverse it somehow. The special effects are pretty good and even though there are a lot of parts that make you go.......ewwwwwww.......there really isn't a lot of GORE. And yes, there are a few parts that are a tad funny so it lightens things up a bit. Not a bad movie, just don't watch it while you're eating supper. No nudity and I don't think the language was bad but some words may have slipped by me.....I'm almost getting used to hearing them in movies anymore.

Well, kids, that's it.....my reviews. Hope you find them helpful. If you watch any of these, I hope you enjoy them. Keep smilin'.