Released in 2013
Belle
Belle is the true story of a girl, Dido Elizabeth Belle, (awesome name) born to a black woman and fathered by an upper class naval captain in 18th century England still in the midst of the slave trade. By some miracle, he does right by her; when her mother dies he takes her to his uncle and aunt’s home to be raised as a member of the family. As a young woman she finds herself in the difficult position of being every bit an upper crust, English lady by environment and education. The only difference between her and Elizabeth Bennet is skin color.
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(Click on Picture for Full Review)
Frozen
Anna has been isolated from people her entire life without knowing why and is bouncing off the walls – at times, literally – to experience the world. Elsa is terrified of the breaking of this isolation because of her inability to control her powers.
At the coronation ball when Anna brings Prince Hans to meet her sister and to announce her engagement, Elsa prohibits the match because they had freaking just met that day. Thank you, Elsa. However, during their quarrel, Elsa’s powers are revealed and she flees into the mountains. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Elsa, she has plunged the kingdom into an eternal winter. Anna takes off after her sister and encounters Kristoff, his reindeer…and Olaf.
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At the coronation ball when Anna brings Prince Hans to meet her sister and to announce her engagement, Elsa prohibits the match because they had freaking just met that day. Thank you, Elsa. However, during their quarrel, Elsa’s powers are revealed and she flees into the mountains. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Elsa, she has plunged the kingdom into an eternal winter. Anna takes off after her sister and encounters Kristoff, his reindeer…and Olaf.
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American Hustle
I wrote this weeks ago but I’ve been afraid to post it for fear of backlash. But the week after I saw American Hustle I was bothered more and more as I looked back at it.
I was really excited to see American Hustle. All the critics were singing its praises, it’s been nominated for everything, and I’m a huge sucker for Jennifer Lawrence. However, I found myself… confused. Why was Amy Adams trying to convince Bradley Cooper that she wanted him? Wait, how did they catch the politicians? And hold up, isn’t this entrapment? I thought that was illegal. It was basically watching a business deal being done by interesting people, but you know what business deals are? Complex and boring. (Click on Picture for Full Review)
I was really excited to see American Hustle. All the critics were singing its praises, it’s been nominated for everything, and I’m a huge sucker for Jennifer Lawrence. However, I found myself… confused. Why was Amy Adams trying to convince Bradley Cooper that she wanted him? Wait, how did they catch the politicians? And hold up, isn’t this entrapment? I thought that was illegal. It was basically watching a business deal being done by interesting people, but you know what business deals are? Complex and boring. (Click on Picture for Full Review)
The Book Thief
This adaptation, based on the Markus Zusak novel, is faithful and lovely. Seeing the story come to life was a magical experience. It’s been a few years since I read the novel, but it felt the same. In a world where free thought and knowledge are the most dangerous things you can possess, Liesel fearlessly and secretly cultivates her collection. She also learns that despite the overwhelming forces against her attempts to gather knowledge, the attempts often lead her to rare individuals with similar passions who aid her efforts even in the face of danger.
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(Click on Picture for Full Review)
Philomena
Based on a true story, Philomena was an unwed mother in the 1950s in a very conservative, guilt-fueled, Catholic community. She is sent to a convent to give birth and to later live and work as slave labor with her child in danger of being adopted out from under her at any time. And when he is three years old, that is exactly what happens. She doesn’t tell this story to anyone for years. It isn’t until nearly 50 years later that she finally divulges the truth to her grown daughter who then seeks out a down on his luck journalist, Martin Sixsmith, to help her mother locate her long lost son. Sixsmith is a pragmatic, intellectual man who is disgusted with having to resort to a “human interest story” and who finds Philomena to be weak minded and tedious.
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(Click on Picture for Full Review)
Before Midnight
For those who saw Before Sunset in theaters, they had to wait another nine years for this newest installment of Jesse and Celine’s story in Before Midnight. (I only had to wait two years). Because of the lack of the usual open-ended final scene, I surmise that this is the final story in their saga.
I was relieved that this wasn’t a story about a couple who has been together so long that they are bored and need to rekindle their relationship. They are jokey and comfortable together and the relationship that garnered all their loyal viewers is still present and yet realistically evolved as the couple ages together.
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I was relieved that this wasn’t a story about a couple who has been together so long that they are bored and need to rekindle their relationship. They are jokey and comfortable together and the relationship that garnered all their loyal viewers is still present and yet realistically evolved as the couple ages together.
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Oz the Great and Powerful
Unlike most productions and retellings of The Wizard of Oz, this story begins with the wizard. Producer Joe Roth learned during his years working with Disney that it is difficult to find a male protagonist in a fairy tale and this revelation was one of his motivations in telling the story of the wizard of Oz. In the black and white portion of the film, Oscar, or Oz, is a hack magician with a ragtag circus in Kansas. He flees by way of hot air balloon into a tornado. Quite effective. This delivers him to the land of Oz, where he and I both experienced the most stunning display of visual splendor we’ve ever seen. Which is hard to do in this day and age where we see all CGI with jaded eyes. Once you get to Oz this movie is just a feast for the eyes.
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(Click on Picture for Full Review)
Warm Bodies
When I asked my friend what he thought of Warm Bodies after we left the theater he commented that a lot of times movies can be both scary and funny but not very often do they manage to be scary and cute.R hasn’t completely lost his humanity; it’s like a dream that he just barely can’t remember. Which is why he brings Julie back with him into his zombie world instead of eating her. It’s a little like Beauty and the Beast I tried to focus on that notion rather than the thought that this was further proof that being a hot blonde may someday save my life and since I am the opposite of that description my brains will mostly likely be promptly digested. C’est la vie.
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(Click on Picture for Full Review)