Movie Suggestion Post #96

Eddie and the Cruisers 1983 (w/ David Wilson, Michael Paré, Helen Schneider, Ellen Barkin) – 3.25 stars – I remember seeing this movie when I was a kid and thinking it was based on a true story, but it is fictional. I remembered scenes from it so clearly. I finally decided to see it as an adult and I still enjoyed it. The main character is a pianist who was in a band called Eddie and the Cruisers in the early 1960’s playing rock ‘n roll. Eddie’s car was found on a bridge and there seemed to be a suicide but his body was never found. Years later people are starting to talk about it and his music is becoming known and his band members reflect on memories, especially the pianist and Eddie’s girlfriend he left behind who was a back-up singer/tambourine player. There are missing tapes that people are trying to find as well. I think this was a well developed story. The music is good too. I really loved the scene where Eddie tweaks a song that the pianist had written and he makes it rock.
content:: kissing, talk of suicide, immodesty, smoking, drinking, heroin paraphernalia shown, language: (“d” word, “s” word several times, “hell” used incorrectly)

Minutemen 2008 (w/ Jason Dolley, Luke Benward, Nicholas Braun, Chelsea Kane, Kara Crane, Steven R. McQueen) – 3 stars – This is an interesting movie about a pair of friends who separate when they get to high school. One of them becomes popular and the other one pretty much becomes a laughing stock and ends up hanging out with two other kids that get mocked. It is one of those typical high school scenario movies. These 3 friends decide to make a time machine so they can help prevent embarrassing moments to occur to other kids in the school. They want to help people out. I think I would have liked this movie if I were a pre-teen or early aged teen. It was a bit cheesy (some of the acting at times) but it was cute.
content: kissing, talks about a girl cheating on her boyfriend, name calling, stereotypes

Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives 1989 (w/ Michael Paré, Marina Orsini) – 2 stars – This is the sequel to the first movie. Joe West is tired of construction work. He misses playing in a band. There has been talk of Eddie and the Cruisers’ band coming back and taking auditions for a “new Eddie.” Unfortunately I can’t really explain this movie too well because it gives away some of the first movie’s plot away. Therefore I will just state that this sequel wasn’t that good at all probably because the main character from the first one (the pianist) is not in the movie. Just stick to seeing the first movie. The plot isn’t even that great.
content: kissing, two people are in bed together making out and some skin of arms and legs shown (implied sex), smoking, drinking, language: (“hell” used incorrectly, God’s name used blasphemously, “d” word, “s” word several times)

G.I Joe: Retaliation 2014 (w/ Dwayne Johnson, Jonathan Pryce, Bruce Willis, Byung-hun Lee, Channing Tatum) – 2 stars – Wait. . .what? I still don’t understand the true plot of this. fighting, fighting, fighting, shooting, . . . . .that’s all I seem to remember, that and lots of ninja running along a mountain. . . oh this is the sequel to the first movie and pretty much has the same story line. There you have it.
content: immodesty (outfits and a scene of a woman wearing a sports bra), A woman’s bum is nearly completely exposed from the back in a thong seen through a muddled reflection, sexual innuendos, loads of violence but no blood other than small cuts shown that I can recall (lots of sword fighting, ninja battles, shooting throughout, punching, kicking), a city gets destroyed, language: (“d” word, small “a” word, “hell” used incorrectly, a middle finger shown to another)

My Girl 1991 (w/ Anna Chlumsky, Macaulay Culkin, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis) – 3.25 stars – This movie takes me back to 2nd grade which I was in when it came out. Ah, the days of telling people I was Macaulay Culkin’s girlfriend (ew). Glad that phase ended. This story is really sweet about a young girl who has had a hard time accepting her mother’s death when her own father barely even pays attention to her as he is so consumed in his job running a funeral home. He hires a make-up artist who tries to help out the young girl and the father. I always thought that Anna Chlumsky did an amazing job in acting and I continue to think she really was very talented in this film. She was cool. Girls wanted to be like her. I first learned about what a menstrual cycle was because of this movie and it made me nervous of growing up but excited. It is very sad story too so you might cry.
content: kissing, making a prank saying a woman is dead when she isn’t, name calling, smoking, immodesty, talk about a sexual revolution (with innuendos), talk about a girl getting her period, talk about death, a young girl is infatuated with her adult teacher, punching, talk about drugs, language: (“d” word, “s” word, God’s name used blasphemously, small “a” word)

Bed of Roses 1996 (w/ Christian Slater, Mary Stuart Masterson, Pamela Adlon) – .2.5 stars – This is about a woman who receives some flowers from a secret admirer. She hopes to figure out who it is. This is a romantic film and it was a bit boring. I have always loved many of Mary Stuart Masterson’s films. Christian Slater on the other hand I never “understood” and don’t really know if he is a good actor or not. He did okay in this. I guess I just never understood how women found him attractive and honestly his acting isn’t that attractive either. He seems to lack emotion. I don’t think there was good chemistry between the two lead characters in this movie. I say, skip it. There are much better romantic films out there. There is a lack of a connection that you gain when trying to learn who the lead characters are. I got confused as to why certain characters were acting certain ways because it wasn’t explained well until later without warning honestly.
content: people who are unmarried are shown in bed together (shoulders shown), kissing, drinking shown (no drunkenness), some language (d word, name calling)

5 Broken Cameras 2011 (documentary) – 3 stars – This film is so sad and definitely something to see considering recent news of things going on between Gaza and Israel. This is about a man who goes through several cameras just filming daily life in the West Bank. It shows the struggles and lack of freedom that is taken away by the Israeli government. It was also eye opening so i suggest you all see it.
content: shooting and daily violence shown, people murdered, blood shown, people attacking others, stones are thrown at people

Ella Enchanted 2004 (w/ Anne Hathaway, Hugh Dancy, Cary Elwes, Minnie Driver, Vivica A. Fox, Eric Idle) – 2 stars – This movie was so cheesy and bad. Ella is given a gift of obedience when she is born by her “fairy God-mother” and grows up hoping to break the spell on her. There is a prince that everyone seems obsessed with other than Ella. There is a king who is the prince’s uncle who seems to have a serpent as a friend to do his bidding for him. This story is strange. It was a nice romantic tale, but was just done poorly. After seeing the movie I was told by my sister-in-law to read the book which is very different and better. Read that instead of seeing this. :: nods ::
content: immodesty (cleavage and midriffs shown mainly), kissing, drinking (drunkenness), sword fighting, language: (“d” word, small “b” word intended at one point but made “witches” instead)

The Gabby Douglas Story 2014 (w/ Regina King, Imani Hakim, Sydney Mikayla, special guest Gabrielle Douglas) – 3.25 stars – I am an Olympic junkie, as I like to call it, and I did watch the last summer Olympics when Gabrielle Douglas won all around and the US gold for the team too and was the first African American to do so. I was in awe of watching her with her big smile and loved that I was watching it live on BBC before the rest of the US got to see it. Therefore, of course I wasnted to watch this because it was shot and I was curious as to her upbringing. It was cute and family friendly. I cried and I don’t know why. haha. It wasn’t AMAZING and was a made for TV film even!
content: someone makes fun of another’s height, a married woman separates from her husband, families pray in this or talk about God but it is not a Christian film, immodesty

Heaven & Earth 1993 (w/ Hiep Thi Le, Haing S. Ngor, Tommy Lee Jones, Joan Chen, Debbie Reynolds) – 1.75 stars – Le Ly grew up in Vietnam and endured being around fights in two wars, including Vietnam War when the US went in to destroy the Viet Cong. Le Ly was in the middle of it all. It is based on a true story. This was based off of two of her books that she wrote, which I have read the first book of. They didn’t get everything right according to the book, but they got quite a bit right. I don’t know much about her time in the US which must be what the second book is about. This movie was very long and a bit boring at times just like the book was! The things that happened to Le Ly are quite sad and I have a really hard time appreciating soldiers during the Vietnam War for the same reasons that the movie shows (my own dad was a soldier and fought in that war even). This shows the struggle of survival that a woman endured. There was a lot of nasty content throughout it and I fast forwarded through a lot of the movie because of how boring it was (but I knew the story so it wasn’t as if I was missing much). I do think this is a very realistic portrayal! For that I give it some credit! The content of course cuts this movie down a lot. Also, since Oliver Stone himself fought in the war and filmed this, I don’t think he’d depict something that would seem untrue to him for how life in the war is portrayed by the way. By the way, the lead actress was born in Vietnam during the war and was a survivor of the war as a child herself, so I am sure this was difficult for her to play this role. You know what angers me though? Since she completed this movie as a lead role, her current roles are so very small. Why can’t Asians be lead roles more often and in films not stereotypical of them? It actually makes me really upset. Less white people in lead roles and more Asian and African people, please!
content:: kissing, bar girls dancing naked briefly seen, a girl getting raped and her breast is shown being handled (ugh, they didn’t need to go that far), a decapitated head of a prostitute is shown, a couple of sex scenes (showing passion and movement but no nudity), a woman’s breasts are partially exposed as she gives birth to a baby, immodesty, talk about “boom boom” in regards to going to prostitutes for sex, a woman is coerced for sex even after many times attempting to refuse (sex not shown but you know it happens), torture is shown (which is depicted as is from the book too), men punching and kicking and beating a woman, war violence shown (shooting, bombing), language: (The Lord’s named used blasphemously several times throughout the movie, “s” word several times, “d” word, small “b” word, long “b” word, small “a” word, “f” word used a couple times), a man threatens to shoot his own wife, talk of suicide, drinking (drunkenness), smoking

Cloud 9 2014 (w/ Luke Benward, Dove Cameron, Mike C. Manning, Kiersey Clemons, Amy Farrington) – 2.5 stars – This is a movie about a girl who pretty much is determined to be a snowboarder even though she is looked down upon by those she knows. One person believes in her and is trying to train her. There is a new snowboard move that has never been successfully landed and she wants to land it called Cloud 9. I like watching snowboarding (never tried it myself) so it was fun to watch. The story line on the other hand was not that wonderful. Also you have the whole girl loses boy, girl mopes over boy, girl has another boy in her life but still mopes, girl likes that guy but still mopes over the other guy. . . .well you can only imagine how you can figure out the whole plot in the first 10 minutes of the film. It is a cute movie for kids though who are maybe 9 and up.
content: kissing, immodesty, people get hurt in snowboarding a few times, a party with kids drinking from red Solo cups (might be alcohol, might be soda)

The Muppets Most Wanted 2014 (w/ Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell, Tina Fey, The Muppets crew) – 3.25 stars – If you saw my review of the last Muppet film, you’ll know my biggest problem with it was that Rizzo the Rat hadn’t been in it. Thank you for fixing that this time, though he only really had one line and was in the background the rest of the film. I am thankful though that he was in it. This takes us from where we ended off in the last movie. The Muppets don’t really know what to do now that they have a career again. They set out to find a manager who could help them go on a tour. The problem however, is that there is a devious criminal behind the whole tour. Kermit gets switched with the criminal. It was a good movie, but I would say it is possibly the worst out of the main Muppet features (as I have been a big fan of them my whole life and would even put The Great Muppet Caper on my top ten list of best movies from my childhood. . .maybe on the top 5 even). There is a bit of a homage throughout the film towards things shown in former films as well. It was a bit of a re-run to see for me though. If I want to watch those films, I will. I think Sam the Eagle and his French detective friend stole the movie and made it funny and grand. My sons liked it a lot. We definitely watched it as a full family and think it is family friendly. The only strange thing really is that a human has a crush on a Muppet. . . not sure how I feel about the idea that it is an animal puppet that they seemed fascinated in. Tina Fey was very funny in this film too. There were many special cameos throughout the movie, which is common for Muppet movies. It seemed a little more violent than normal too (sure we are used to Miss Piggy’s karate chops, but there was more than that in this)
content:: some immodesty, hitting/karate chops, head butting, escape from prison, a building blown up with people still inside, deceit, stealing, name calling, slapping, a woman has a crush on an animal puppet, forcing babies to do crimes, an animal throws another animal around