Movies I've Seen Lately...

Movies I've Seen Lately...

I don't know about the rest of you, but this is the time of year I go into hibernation. The cold winter nights make me want to stay in and curl up on the couch. Fortunately we haven't had much of a winter this year, but the dark-by-dinner-time evenings still make me want to stay in. We have lots of choices when it comes to sourcing our movies. We subscribe to Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Playstation Vue, not to mention owning a whole drawer full of dvds (over 100).

 

"Microbe & Gasoline" (France, 2015)

This movie first drew my attention when last summer I saw it listed among the films playing at our local campus (independent) movie theatre called The Gateway. We were on vacation while it was there, so we didn't get to see it. Last week I came across it in an old email and checked Amazon to see if it was available. Not only was it available, but it was free to stream for Prime members. Serendipity!

Anyway, the plot revolves around two teenage (14) boys (their nicknames are the title of the film) who decide to escape their families for the summer by building their very own 'tiny house' on wheels. Why not? That sort of thing is quite fashionable now. Of course not everything goes according to plan, but the boys certainly had some exciting adventures. If you like this movie, check out "The Kings of Summer," (2013) an American movie filmed partly in Ohio. There's no subtitles to read either.

"Must Love Dogs" (2005)

This movie was amongst a cache of films I bought when Blockbuster went out of business (2010?) which I've never gotten around to watching until now. It could have been a garage sale or thrift store purchase either. I digress...

The plot of this movie, if you couldn't guess from the title, involves a middle-aged divorcee looking for love among the Single ads (spurred on by her meddling sisters). She does actually meet someone promising while also deciding where things are going with the father of one of her students. It's a good kind of problem to have (though a bit tricky), and the situation gradually resolves itself so that the movie has a happy ending (though I wouldn't have minded seeing her with the runner up either).  If you like this film, you'll love "When Harry Met Sally" which is the standard all boy-meets-girl movies should hold themselves up to.  "Must Love Dogs" is kind of the watered down version of Harry and Sally.

"Joe Somebody" (2001)

My first thought when I saw this movie was how young Julie Bowen and Hayden Panettiere looked in this (Tim Allen pretty much looked the same). I selected this film because I like the message it delivered that sometimes you start out as a nobody/underdog, but if you believe in yourself and take action to change things, you can come out on top. In this case, Tim Allen, aka "Joe Somebody" is a "schmuck" (in the words of Greg Germann's character) who gets 'bitch slapped' in the parking lot in front of his 12 year old daughter and dozens of his coworkers.

Warning, possible spoiler alert:
Utterly humiliated, he takes some time off work and is a bit despondent until confronted by the director of his company's health & wellness department (Julie Bowen aka 'Claire' on "Modern Family"). It's only when she asks him, "What do you want?" that he decides he wants a rematch with the coworker who humiliated him. Having this goal in mind, he seeks out some self defense lessons from Jim Belushi's character. Joe's coworkers rally behind him and he suddenly becomes big man on campus with a promotion, bigger office, company car, etc. Not everyone is happy with his new status and behavior, and it's the fight scene where the moral lesson is learned. Yes, a lot of this movie is cliche, but at least it's well done, and I like the casting as each actor seemed perfect for their role.

Upcoming films I hope to see.....

The new "Lego Batman" movie and the trio of Indiana Jones films (yes, I've seen them, but after a recent discussion at church about the Ark of the Covenant, I feel compelled to watch them again).

Have a good week everyone!