herbqedi's reviews

From the old bald guy: Very enjoyable and life-affirming. William H. Macy's interpretation of old Jack Buck is one of the centerpieces of this film. John Corbett's performance as John O'Leary's father is even more resonant. All the performances here were spot on. The pacing was excellent. The underlying truths of all this even more so. THere was a lot to take in here and I enjoyed every minute of it,

A number of the usual Hallmark formula story elements are blessedly missing. This allows all attention to be focused on the two superior leads (Warren Christie and Nikki DeLoach) and five charmingly naive football team members. The house setting is also well done as are the few scenes with the wealthy potential donor. Highly recommended.

A seemingly incorrigible and belligerent young teen is pushed by his mother to spend the day with his grandfather (Michael Douglas) in his fishing boat. Shades of On Golden Pond.

It turns out that Douglas, telling the tale of a much younger version of himself, had taken over his father's business successfully, only to have a meltdown after five years. At the meltdown, Barry Livingston (Ernie from My Three Sons 50 years ago) is hilarious in a small bit playing the moderator trying unsuccessfully to calm the situation. At his emotional nadir, our hero gets a call from his estranged father to enter a fishing contest with him in some remote island off the coast of South America and for reasons within himself that he doesn't understand, he agrees.

David Morse plays the father. His take on this well-written and developed character is brilliant. The relationship between father and son develops in unexpected ways and gradually includes another young man (Cameron Douglas) that turns out to be more important than the younger version of Michael Douglas could have imagined.

Interspersed between this story, of course, are interludes with the grandson and learning more about his angst while doing some fishing. Although we've seen this before, this version is worth seeing anyway.

There are lots of funny and delightful surprises along the way.

For an unheralded film I knew nothing about, I was delightfully entertained and still think about it two weeks later. This is very much worthy of recommending. Lots of fun.

From the old bald guy.

This is the best and most creative and well-written suspense movie I've seen in many years. Brilliant direction, editing and location photography. Forget the phony New York you see in most movies. This is the true New York in every sense.

The four leads are beyond perfect in their roles. The lead actor (I was unfamiliar with him) was absolutely magnetic and I believed him completely while Lily James is a force of nature.

But it all starts with the ingenious plot with its many twists and turns and surprises. A true thinking person's thriller that kept me in suspense throughout.

I've liked many of these based-on-a-true-story inspirational stories and disliked some. THis one gripped me the most. The acting, costuming and make-up capturing the era are superb. For a no-name cast, I was extremely impressed - especially the one-or-two scene actors getting everything as if I watching it live. The story seems to have been impeccably researched. There's never a slow moment.

A number of these inspirational films get very religious and preachy. This one barely mentions church, just personal integrity and purpose-of-life. Alma's spirituality is very understated until the climactic scene and even then it's just deeply personal. It's his humility, perseverance and strength of spirit that carries him to achieve what no one before him could do. I thoroughly loved it from start to finish.

This is a rare Hallmark movie where even the dialog associated with the obligatory plot points is executed in a way that doesn't sound cliche. The imaginative games at the bar are a lot of fun with more interesting and quirky supporting characters than usual. The leads are engaging and have good chemistry. The "bubby" and the grandfather are both exceptionally well played. The different dilemmas unfold in the usual Hallmark way but enough fun stuff is chocked into the middle that it all seems more natural somehow. I think the Hallmark genre of movies needs to be rated on their own scale with enjoyment being the main criterion. As such. I enjoyed Hanukkah on the Rocks thoroughly and rate it a 9/10.

I was interested in the Miracle Club from the trailers mainly to see Kathy Bates and Maggie Smith, two of my favorite actors. I had trepidation because some films like this are slow and too talky and mostly because I find Laura Linney to be one of the overrated and annoying actors in the past 25 years from You Can Count on Me and Primal Fear through Hyde Park on the Hudson and everything between except the Big C TV series where her character suited her peripatetic style perfectly.

Well, reverse all those fears. The Miracle Club moves briskly with some very funny moments mixed with many poignant ones. Whether it comes to cinematography, pacing, coaching the acting, background, all of it, the Direction was superb. Kudos to Laura Linney - instead of her usual bleak and two-note performances in the past - she is marvelous as Chrissie using her mother's passing as a journey of discovery. Maggie Smith is magnificent and leant considerable depth to her character -every scene with her was perfect.

I was entertained from the moment the film started until the ending credits rolled and didn't look at my watch once - probably the highest level of kudos I could give any film. I knew some but not all of the story of Sonny Vaccaro but the dialog and acting and editing made what I thought I knew irrelevant.

Whether his scenes were with Affleck, Davis, Bateman, Tucker, Wayans, Messina or any combination of the above, Damon told me more about Sonny than any documentary ever could. Viola Davis was simply non-pareil as Michael's mother. Affleck was perfection as Phil Knight and his directorial touches added impact and levity throughout. My biggest surprise was Jason Bateman whose performances have bored me since Juno. He was perfection here and transcended performance with vitalization. Tucker was also a revelation in a different type of character than I've ever seen him play. Wayans made a terrific George Raveling of whom I am a lifelong fan. I also loved having Jay Mohr, Bob Shugar from Jerry maguire himself, play the caricature Head of Converse sneakers. Hilarious! Extremely entertaining and very worthwhile for me. 10/10.

Enjoyed this tremendously especially Hugh Grant's send-up of himself. Hartnett also hysterical here. Aubrey Plaza dead perfect heroine for this bunch. Cary Elwes and Eddie Marsan also having a marvelous time. And as always, Jason Statham is at his best, smirking, killing and alternately acting p'd off and triumphant.

Anyone looking for an intricately plotted thriller keeping audience on edge of seats should look elsewhere. Looking for deep character studies, Oscar-worthy performances breaking through stereotyped characters. Get serious! This is a Guy Ritchie movie.

That said, the plot and the way it develops scientifically is certainly ingenious enough and well enough crafted for this type of action-comedy. I can see where some action aficionados looking for detailed and lengthy choreographed fighting scenes might feel cheated here. The action here is secondary to the fun and the fun never stops here.