Twinsters (2015); The Ladykillers (2004); The Closet (2001); East is East (1999); Straight Outta Compton (2015)

I figure it will be easier to update if I stay on top of my movie blog. I watched 5 movies in one week. Can we say cinephile?

• Twinsters (2015): Watched sola on Netflix. I think I remember hearing about this news item so it was really interesting to see the documentary about it and how it pans out for these two women. I like to think that I could tell the difference between the two of them but who knows if I was right or not. (It may have been because they split their hair differently.) It was a good story and followed a natural storyline progression so it was interesting to see how they met each other and where and how they research their own history together. I'm glad it was well documented and it turned out very well. We live in an amazing age.
  
• The Ladykillers (2004): Watched on Netflix with Andy. I'm intrigued to see what the original was like, as this was very 'Coen Brothers'. It was a motley crue of characters indeed. We didn't really know what we were getting into. We knew it was some heist movie. I like Tom Hanks, but his was a crazy role (slightly annoying at times). I think I was expecting a lot more stuff on the Trivia page on IMDb, but there wasn't terribly much. Sometimes that's half the fun - finding out about the backstory after you watch the film. I liked the cat. Pickles was pretty boss. ;)
  
• The Closet (2001): Watched on Netflix on a personal snow day. Yeah, those exist. It's a French situational comedy film and it was pretty good. Daniel Auteuil is a great actor. I also own his film The Valet (2006) which apparently came out after this one. Ha, I just made a funny! It was interesting to see the truth in it. That only by learning that someone could be gay does perception of said person change. And that times have both changed and NOT changed with relationship to treatment of gay people in the workplace. On a side note, the dang kitten was so cute! I thought the film followed the standard storyline pretty well (both for French and Hollywood standards).
  
• East is East (1999): Watched on Netflix on a personal snow day. It was a great presentation of the difficulties of immigrants and children of immigrants, but also showed the silver lining in people who accept them (in the guise of the young red-headed boy who cared for several people in the family). At first it was hard to tell the 4 oldest boys apart, but eventually one learned the characteristics. There was a lot of comedy, growth, and hard situations in this film. Om Puri is a well-versed actor with 280 credits since 1975 on his IMDb page! You may have seen him in The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014), Gandhi (1982), if you aren't familiar with his work in Bollywood films. Apparently there is a sequel to this movie West is West (2010), which I'd like to see, considering how much I enjoyed this one. I know I should have recognized Linda Bassett and looking at her IMDb page, I've seen her in Calendar Girls (2003), Kinky Boots (2005). There are a few others that other viewers would know too.
  
• Straight Outta Compton (2015): Watched on Blu-Ray with S.O. Andy. It was his choice, but I've been curious about the film for a while since I know it did well in theaters. I'd heard of NWA and Ice Cube, and Dre (and Suge, and Snoop and Warren G, and Tupac), so it was interesting to see the story of the rappers and how they came to be, how they fell apart and how it ended. I didn't enjoy some of the song content, or the crazy parties they threw, but as far as a film and story went, it was pretty dang good. After watching this (or near the end), we both exclaimed something along the lines of 'How in the hell did they not get nominated for an Oscar?!' My personal thought is related to a line Paul Giamatti said in the film: "They're scared of you." And related to rap music and the 'glorification' of the violence. But the film does a good job of contending that they were rapping about what their experience of life was. The film does a good job of showing the unnecessary police brutality and peacocking. It also shows how music artists can get screwed over in the desire to get out of a bad situation. I also couldn't help but think back to the origins of rap, with griots and wordplay contests. The film doesn't necessarily condone bad behavior, but shows it. It also shows the growth of these men, as they mostly settled down (or their own version of it). I know there were plenty of things that were left out from real life, but the film as story alone was pretty powerful. There really is a systematic problem in the film production and award world when a film like this with powerful performances (Jason Mitchell for Eazy-E or even Paul Giamatti for Jerry Heller) didn't get the nominations it should have. As a screenwriter, I know my responsibility is to create more roles for a variety of actors and characters. There are so many stories to be told, even if there is nothing new under the sun...

Hector and the Search for Happiness (2014); Pretty Ugly People (2008); Insurgent (2015); Mommie Dearest (1981); Moscow on the Hudson (1984); ThanksKilling (2009); Bad Santa (2003); A Very Murray Christmas (2015); Tammy (2014); The 33 (2015); The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (2015); Terri (2011); How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998); Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015); See You in Valhalla (2015); That Awkward Moment (2014); Welcome to Me (2014); Dumb & Dumber To (2014); My Way to Olympia (2013); Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List (2015); My Big Fat Independent Movie (2005); Drinking Buddies (2013); Meet the Patels (2014)

Since Oct 26th, I've watched 23 new movies and 3 movies I'd watched before. That's 2 months and 21 days or 82 days. That's a movie every 3 days, but we all know that's not really how it was. I means, sometimes I'd watch 2 movies in one day. ;) Here goes!

• Hector and the Search for Happiness (2014) Watched on Netflix. I'm a big Simon Pegg fan, so I had to check this out. I can't recall much now (man, I really should do these movie blogs more often or this really defeats the purpose....). It was probably mostly okay. It's always nice to see world travels. Believability is probably not so much, but that's where regular cinematic "suspension of disbelief" comes into play.

• Pretty Ugly People (2008) Watched on Netflix. I wanted to see it because I really like Melissa McCarthy. I do enjoy Missi Pyle too. I had a hard time telling apart some of the white guys, mostly because the introductions of them at the beginning were pretty quick, and a couple of them looked the same. The idea is relatable - wanting to flip off the people you hung with that made you feel 'less than', when you think you've attained something special. It took a dark turn, I'll say as much. Octavia Spencer was a fun character. Nice to see her in a comedic role. I'd probably watch it again. 

• Insurgent (2015) Hey what do you know? Octavia Spencer is in this one too. :) It was okay. Long. More or less similar to the book. Hard to remember anything now. I apologize. Rented from the library and watched alone.

• Mommie Dearest (1981) I think S.O. and I purchased the DVD. Watched it together. This movie is crazy. It's legendary, so we knew we had to check it out. Crazy relationship. Grey Gardens in a way with the mother-daughter dynamic. After watching it, we discovered that Diana Scarwid had worked on a film Desperate Lives our mentor Lew Hunter wrote. We also talked to Lew the night we watched it. He called us while we were watching it to ask us why we weren't at a film party a few hours away. How cool is that? :) 

• Moscow on the Hudson (1984) Purchased the DVD and watched sola. I had seen this for sale at a thrift store, and had meant to watch it on Hulu, but then it left Hulu before I had a chance, and I found the DVD for sale again, as part of a double feature with Jakob the Liar (1999) (which I have yet to watch). Robin Williams is one of my loves. I did actually cry at his death, so it was bittersweet to watch him again.  I felt the film is still REALLY relevant today. Immigration is a popular topic, and people like to pin problems on immigrants without having a minute understanding of what they go through and what they are sometimes trying to escape. The idea of giving up the ability to go 'home' by defecting, and trying to make your way in a strange land. Trying to learn a language and a new way of life. Most people never give that a moment of thought. I really recommend this movie as it can hopefully open the door for compassion. It's only a small representation of the immigrant experience, that's for sure.

• ThanksKilling (2009) Found this through one of Roku's horror movie apps. I'm pretty sure we watched it on Thanksgiving night. Boy, was this movie terrible. And I picked it out. And I was still thinking about it the next day, which I've always thought was the sign of a GOOD movie. Oh boy. Obviously, this movie was intended to be terrible. And it came through. I'm not really sure what to say about it. A centuries-old turkey goes on a killing spree. And a group of college students gets picked off. The turkey even masquerades as a human and isn't found out... Yeah. Redonkulous. But somebody is going to watch it anyway. And there's a sequel. 

• Bad Santa (2003) One of Andy (S.O)'s favorites. He says it's a Christmas tradition. He put it on while decorating the tree on the attached porch. I declined to help since I had a sore throat (turned out to be strep), so I sat inside and watched it. Enjoyable. The relationship with the young boy was so crazy. It was great to see the transition of the character from terrible to less terrible. ;)

• A Very Murray Christmas (2015) Watched on Hulu on my lunch break. I've got to say, for as much as I adore Bill Murray, this was a bit of a letdown. I don't know what I was expecting. It's always funny when in a show, some celebrities make appearances as themselves, but other celebrities are supposed to be 'regular people'. The best part was George Clooney popping out from a tree singing "Santa Claus Needs Some Lovin". The rest of it left much to be desired. Miley Cyrus does have a nice voice, which I'd already known from her backyard sessions singing Jolene. 

• Tammy (2014) Another Melissa McCarthy movie. I had heard this one wasn't supposed to be good. In fact I heard it was terrible. I had been itching to watch it, and was waiting til it was a cheap price somewhere. I finally broke down and watched it. And it wasn't as bad as I expected. In fact it was pretty good. Andy was in and out, and he enjoyed what he saw, and said he would watch it again. And so would I. The cast was amazing: Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Allison Janney, Dan Aykroyd, Mark Duplass, Toni Collette, Sandra Oh, and of course Ben Falcone, McCarthy's husband and partner in crime. P.S. to Melissa and Ben, I have a GREAT movie I wrote that you would really like. :) (I figure if I put this out there enough, it's bound to pan out for me... teehee - In fact I was writing this movie the same time Tammy come out and was wondering how similar they would be. Similar but different, for sure).

• The 33 (2015) Saw the film in a second run theater with my beau. It didn't show anywhere else near me, which was disappointing. I lived in Chile for a semester, and this had happened about 5 years after I left. I remember watching the rescue efforts from my work computer 5 years ago. (I also remember my work team's mis-manager suggesting the team dress up as the Chilean Miners for Halloween... and that was before they were safe --- that disgusted me and I demanded they give me the Chilean flag after they were done desecrating it with their little display. To be "fair", by the time Halloween came around, I believe the miners had all been saved. Still, I found this insensitive, at best.) ANYWAY, I convinced Andy to see it with me and he was glad he went. I can't imagine being stuck down there and having to deal with what they did. A true tale of perseverance. And yet it didn't get any nominations this award season. Damn shame. They did a great job of adapting this film from the 70 day experience. Quite a task. I remember attending a film workshop with Howard Rosenman, (producer of The Family Man (2000), Father of the Bride (1991) and Breakfast with Scot (2007) and many others) in which we broke into groups to practice adapting new stories into films. The group I chose was about how one of the miners ran through the mines every day to stay sane. So I already knew this story had cinematic potential. Around the time the movie came out, I wondered, if I was one of those miners and knew that I was going to survive and that  Antonio Banderas was going to play me in a movie... would I go through the ordeal again? What really sucks is the mining company did NOT compensate the men for their time down there. All that said, it was a well-done movie. And directed by a female. And about a bunch of spanish-speakers. So chew on that, movie executives. :P

• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (2015) I think I saw this in the second-run theater. It took a lot for me to remember where the last film left off. It's one of those that feels like it just doesn't end. Or has several endings. But blame that on book adaptations, I guess. It was okay. More of the same.

• Terri (2011) I had seen the trailer for this a while back, and had put it on my Amazon Wish list, so at some point, I ordered it. It wasn't exactly what I was a expecting, but it was decent. A different kind of 'coming-of-age' film, for sure. 

• How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998) I don't know that I'd ever seen the full movie, but I knew what it was basically about. So I watched the DVD I picked up at a thrift store. Angela Bassett, and Taye Diggs, are lovely to look at, and SPOILER: it made me cry when Whoopi Goldberg's character died because I don't want to think about losing my friends. :( END SPOILER. Andy kept reminding me in the real story (based off Terry McMillan's life), the guy turned out to be gay. After reading the trivia....I see this is indeed true... but that didn't come to light until 2004. Wow. The original man also made a cameo in the movie! Talk about a movie having different meaning after a while... Also fun to learn is that Danny Glover had a cameo dressed as an old man. Makes me want to watch it again! Not that Taye Diggs wouldn't be a good enough reason. ;) me-ow!

• Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) Saw this in the theater with beau, the day after Xmas. I haven't seen ALL the Star Wars films in their 'entirities' (I am at a loss for the word), but knew enough to know what was going on and why certain things were significant. I enjoyed that a female was a pilot, and that a black man was also a main character. Finally. Only had to wait how many years?
  
• See You in Valhalla (2015) I'm familiar with Sarah Hyland from Modern Family (2009). I think she's pretty cool. I just got lost in her bio for a while. She's been working for a long time for someone her age. Get it, girl! Okay, so I watched this move on Netflix. It was a quirky family. The Viking stuff reminded me a little bit of The Wild Hunt (2009) in that the family had a Norse background. Here I think the attachment to Viking-ness was from a drug rehab. It got a little unbelievable for me at the end, but "suspension of disbelief" is what is to come into play. There were a couple surprises in it. I liked that even though there were offbeat characters, we can't completely dismiss them.  

• That Awkward Moment (2014) Saw it in the $5 bin at Walmart, so decided why not. It was okay. It started with a voiceover of "why am I sitting on this park bench" so I knew it was going to have to do a lot to redeem itself from that trope. It was basically a guy version of a chic flick. Not sure there was too much special going on. It was okay, I guess. Wasn't as terrible as I thought it might be. 

• Welcome to Me (2014) I like Kristen Wiig and was happy to see something with Linda Cardellini in it. I like her since seeing her in Freaks and Geeks. I feel like I haven't seen her since then, but I obviously haven't been paying attention, because her filmography is pretty long! It was kind of a strange movie, but a good "what if", which is what movies are supposed to be. "What if a person with mental illness won the lottery and wanted to make a tv show about herself?" It felt like a labor of love. I feel like Wiig gravitates towards strange characters. Good for her. Gives us a variety of stuff to watch.
  
• Dumb & Dumber To (2014) Watched with my beau. He bought the DVD. It was pretty good. I always thought it was so funny my 'wealthy' grandparents thought the original was so funny. That just tells you that some kinds of humor cross boundaries, I guess? We enjoyed it. It didn't turn out exactly like one thought, or at least it didn't for me. It made Andy want to rewatch the original, and I wouldn't mind.
  
• My Way to Olympia (2013) Found on Netflix. It had been sitting on my queue for a while. The filmmaker has a disability and wanted to talk to some of the Paralympic athletes. This actually held some significance for me as I had started an online petition for the major networks to give us more television coverage of the 2012 Paralympics. These athletes astound me, because not only are they able to overcome their physical disadvantages, there are able excel in their chosen sports. It makes it seem that much cooler than the normal Olympics, not that I could match ANY of them in any categories. It's inspiring to watch people test their limits when many of us might try to put them on a pedestal. Hard work all around. It was pretty cool to watch. Had I been a little less lazy that day, I would have exercised afterward from the motivation. ;)
  
• Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List (2015) Watched on Netflix. The beginning was kind of unbelievable as it tried to show how these two interacted. It seemed they were pretty superficial. Which I guess is kind of the point. And had a weird attached-at-the-hip relationship. I thought it was going to turn out a bit differently.
  
• My Big Fat Independent Movie (2005)  Found on DVD in thrift store. I think you have to have seen the movies it references to get the jokes, or even understand a semblance of a storyline. The only ones that threw me for a loop was the 3 rabbi. Someone on IMDB said: "Memento," "Pulp Fiction," "Magnolia," "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," "Amelie," "Run Lola Run," "El Mariachi," "The Good Girl," "Pi," "Swingers" and many others." The opening credit sequence is a cartoon about a disgruntled filmmaker who goes into a movie theater shooting everyone up and forcing the projector to play his movie. I found that a little gruesome in light of movie theater shootings that came after. Oops. If you don't know movies and you don't like spoofs, this film will be lost on you.

• Drinking Buddies (2013) Watched on Netflix, by myself. I like the 4 main characters for different reasons, so it was nice to see them together. However, I kept looking at the clock within the first 20 minutes to find out when the story was going to start, what it was supposed to be about. Movies about infidelity make me feel weird about my own relationship, and it left a weird taste in my "mind"/mouth, however you want to go about it. You can tell the pairs are mismatched and that the one couple REALLY should be together so SPOILER it's a little annoying when they aren't together by the end. END SPOILER. I guess I should give them kudos for going against the grain? Eh.

• Meet the Patels (2014) Watched on Netflix. I've spent a lot of time getting familiar with Indian culture, so this wasn't completely new to me. I really enjoyed this documentary, but my major gripe that the Gujarati was not in English subtitles. There were many times when the family members would talk, sometimes switching back and forth between languages and I felt like an outsider, which might have been part of the point: if we were in a room with them, we may not understand. But to me, that's lazy filmmaking. When 1/3 of the dialogue is unrecognizable, help out your audience. I really wanted to know what was being said because I think that would have been helpful. Now, maaaaybe, the lack of subtitles had something to do with Netflix, but I watch EVERYTHING with subtitles, and there was a bit of subtitles. Maybe the subtitles are supposed to be done by Netflix and whoever was in charge had no flipping clue. If that's the case, they should have had someone else be on the dang job! :P I'd watch it again with more subtitles. Oh, also worth mentioning, is the poor 'cinematography'. Ravi's sister was shooting on the sly, essentially, so the quality wasn't great. But that was forgivable. I also just wondered if this was a faux-mockumentary, merely made to look like a documentary. I'll have to look that up. Also of note, I really liked the cartoon bits that moved the story along. Varied it up for us.

Other movies I watched during this time that I have already reviewed AND the entry in which you can see my response:

• Minions (2015) This time with youngest nephew: http://littlemisscinema.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-voices-2014-trip-to-italy-2014.html
• St. Vincent (2014) This time with parents: http://littlemisscinema.blogspot.com/2014/12/monster-squad-1987-hunger-games-2012-47.html
• Juan of the Dead (2011) This time with my S.O.: http://littlemisscinema.blogspot.com/2012/08/moonrise-kingdom2012-burbs-1989-woman.html

Okay, I hope you enjoyed my list! See anything you like? I'll try to let less time go by, because this just took me 2.5 hours to write :(