steiner-sam

It's a drama about seniors' loneliness and companionship set in the 2010s in the fictional town of Holt, Colorado. It follows the relationship of two widowed seniors who live in the same neighborhood. Louis Waters (Robert Redford) is a retired school teacher who cheated on his wife in life, but supported her as she died from cancer. He has one daughter, Holly (Judy Greer). Addie Moore (Jane Fonda) has a troubled son, Gene (Matthias Schoenaerts), and a grandson, Jamie (Iain Armitage). Addie's daughter, Connie, died in an accident at age 11, with a negative impact on Addie's marriage. Gene's wife has left him, and he has work problems. Addie knows more about Louis than Louis knows about Addie.

Addie, from the blue, says to Louis that she is lonely, suspects he is too, and suggests they try spending the night together for companionship. After some thought, he agrees. The film follows the development of their relationship, the mixed response of friends and family, and the impact of Jamie when he spends the summer with his grandmother. Various events impact Addie's and Louis's relationship by the movie's end.

"Our Souls at Night" incorporates good humor and a strong chemistry between Redford and Fonda. The dialogue sounded authentic to this 78-year-old, though Addie's extroverted, who-cares-what-the-neighbors-think persona felt a bit much. Redford walked like he was 80 years old, but Fonda didn't look like most 80-year-old women, though that was her age when the movie was made. The film has a gentle spirit, though I think it presumed a more scandalous reaction than would happen in a 2025 North American world. "Our Souls at Night" is a fine, understated film.

It's a drama set in 2007 about U. S. military policy in three simultaneous settings--in Afghanistan, a California university, and a Senator's office in Washington, D. C. One setting is Political Science Professor Malley (Robert Redford) is challenging brilliant, wealthy student Todd (Andrew Garfield) to give a damn. He talks about two earlier students - African American Arian (Derek Luke) and Mexican American Ernest (Michael Peña) - who wanted to make a difference by joining the military to finance their graduate education. The second setting is a seasoned cable TV reporter, Janine (Meryl Streep), who is called to Republican Senator Jasper Irving's (Tom Cruise) office, where he discusses a newly implemented battle plan in Afghanistan, stating, "We need to win in Afghanistan." The third setting follows Arian and Ernest as part of the new military plan on a mountaintop in Afghanistan.

"Lions for Lambs" was a flop with critics. It was too word-heavy and obviously from a perspective critical of the military morass still occupying America in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2007. I suspect the film was unpopular because it lacked heroes and triumphal action scenes that overcome evil. The movie probably needed big-name stars to get anyone to watch it. You don't feel good when the film ends. Nonetheless, "Lions for Lambs" is worth watching in 2025 to force reflection on whether the world is any further ahead now than it was in 2007. I'm glad I saw it. One critic said it was not Redford's best film, but was his bravest.

It's a historical costume soap opera set in 1930 in London and Yorkshire. All the surviving Crawley family upstairs and downstairs people are present, but several are in transition. Charles Carson (Jim Carter) and Beryl Patmore (Lesley Nicol) are retiring from service, and Robert (Hugh Bonneville) and Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) Crawley are passing estate leadership to Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery). Finances remain an issue, not helped by Cora's brother (Paul Giamatti), who suffered greatly during the stock market crash in 1929. I won't review all the other characters. There's one easy-to-spot villain and a class crisis for the Crawleys, but things nicely wrap up by the film's end.

"The Grand Finale" is entertaining for viewers who are devoted to the Downton Abbey TV series and want to know how things turned out. For us, it's a nice, cheesy ending. For persons whose memories of Downton Abbey are nonexistent or thin, the film makes little sense despite the summary provided at the movie's beginning. It's nice to see the old estate, and to see Edith (Laura Carmichael) and Tom Branson (Allen Leech) show continued maturation. Alessandro Nivola is too obvious as the villain. Some of the Noël Coward (Arty Froushan) wordplay is fun.

RIP Downton Abbey.