Animal House (1978) Film Review

It’s 1962 and it’s a US College. There are good frats and bad frats, and then there is the Delta Tau Chi Fraternity, who are absolute disasters. Filthy, drinking, crazy. But ultimately, with heart. Or whatever – it’s really just like a series of ridiculous skits, and it is fun, but stupid. Oh so stupid. What I liked the most? All the familiar faces – I mean, John Belushi, ah, what a shame. Then there is Karen Allen from Indiana Jones, the magnificent Tom Hulce, Kevin Bacon, Donald Sutherland.

Is it worth watching? Perhaps for the nostalgia. Perhaps.

 

X-Men : First Class (2011) Film Review

It’s the early sixties, and Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) is starting to get quite vocal about his discoveries about mutants. Meanwhile, Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender as the character who becomes Magneto) is seeking revenge on the Nazis, in particular Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), who killed his mother. Then there is Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) who is trying to find her place in the world. Oh, but the world doesn’t really know about them. As they are revealed, people are scared.

Fun and exciting with cool characters who (mostly) I am really enjoying. I really love the depictions of the sixties, the styles and fashion and getting these parts of the characters’ backstories.

 

Sleepers (1996) Film Review

Hell’s Kitchen, 1960s. Four boys, best of friends, hang out, are altar boys together until they play a prank that results in them being sent to juvenile detention. Inside, they are abused horrifically by four of the guards. Fourteen years after they are released, two have become notorious gang leaders and killers, one is a journalist and the other is an assistant DA. A series of events lead to them attempting to get some justice.

At the end of the film, there are statements from several places stating that the several official channels deny the events of the film, but the author of the book it is based on claims that, with changed names and dates, the entire story is factual. Even if this series of events is not true, it is not that much of a stretch of the imagination that such abuse would happen. I think it is an excellent though very tough film; one hell of a cast doing top performances.

Sleepers was nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Score

 

Apollo 13 (1995) Film Review

Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) and Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) are astronauts on the Apollo 13 trip which is meant to land on the moon, only things go wrong. Back on Earth, fellow astronaut (Gary Sinese) who was supposed to be on the flight works with mission controller Gene Krantz (Ed Harris) and the whole team to find ways to bring the men in the broken ship back home to his family.

Ron Howard usually gets it exactly right. This is an amazing story, told with magnificent tension and torment. It’s a melodrama, a real melodrama, along with all of the swelling music and tight close-ups, and gee, that is wonderful. I loved it when I watched it in the cinema back in 1995 and I loved watching it on DVD just recently.

Apollo 13 won Oscars for Best Sound and Best Film Editing and was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Ed Harris), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Kathleen Quinlan), Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published, Best Art Direction – Set Direction, Best Effects, Visual Effects and Best Music Original Score.

Crazy, Stupid Love (2011) Film Review

Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) is devastated when his wife, Emily (Julianne Moore) asks him for a divorce, seemingly out of the blue. He moves in a nondescript apartment and spends his nights sitting alone at a local bar moaning about David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon), the man his wife slept with. Ladies man Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling) takes pity on him and helps him to reinvent himself, but all Cal wants is his wife and family back. Meanwhile, Jacob meets a woman that makes him question his life choices, Cal’s son is in love with his babysitter, and the babysitter is in love with Cal. It’s a complex series of plots, and that hasn’t even gone into half of it.

I make no apologies of my love of the performing of so many members of this cast; Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling, Kevin Bacon; even Marisa Tomei has a hilarious role. Plus, the film is so well-structured that I did not pick the twist and I thought it was a doozy. It’s not an easy film to watch; there are elements that are like an emotional car crash, but it’s just wonderful.