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He’s Just Not That In To You – rm – We decided to watch this movie on a recent NY-LA flight. We thought that this film with Jenifer Anisten, Ben Afflick, Drew Barrymore, Scarlet Johannson and Kevin Conolly (from Entourage) might be a light movie that would fit the bill. After seeing it, we didn’t quite agree on how to score it so we averaged or our ratings. Susan thought it was a fluffy but enjoyable movie which depicted well contemporary dating relationships of young people but in a humorous fashion, Michael thought it was a unimaginative film which wasn’t worth the time even on a boring plane trip (He should have stayed with his book). It did demonstrate how cell phone, texting, email, Facebook and MySpace (they seem to have left out Twitter) all are a crucial part of the singles scene. Maybe, Michael took it a little too seriously, but he also thought it was demeaning to women. We hope this analysis doesn’t peak your curiosity to see it. 2009

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Casablanca – nf – We had to see this classic so should you even if you have seen it awhile back. It is amazing to appreciate that this film made in 1942 about wartime Casablanca and the interface of various people who want to escape the iron hand of the Nazis, before anyone really knew how things would work out. Beautiful Ingrid Bergman and debonair and yet tough Humphrey Bogart in their classic performance. You will be reminded of all those classic film lines such as “Here’s looking at you kid “. Thoroughly enjoyable. 1943

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Gigantic – sp – This is another one of those Independent film that picks up some well known actors which in this case it is why it probably gets distribution. Twenty eight year old single man decides he wants to adopt a Chinese baby. He meets and is attracted to quirky and somewhat unstable girl whose father played by John Goodman grabs your attention, as did the young man’s father played by Ed Asner. Despite it being well acted, we didn’t think the movie was really worth seeing. Screen writer and first time director Matt Aselton was the guest speaker at our film course and confirmed how the characters were not meant to be fully developed and how the story was supposed to keep the viewers off balance and really not be clearly understood (which we noted and agreed). He couldn’t explain, nor could we guess, the reason for the title of the movie. 2009

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Garden State – nf – Kind of a slacker movie, “days in the life…” of some offbeat, but affecting young people having trouble growing up. 2004

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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – nf – We had the thought that we better write this review before it was erased from our minds. Actually with this movie you had to buy into the idea that you could arrange to have the memory of a person and everything associated with him or her completely eliminated from your brain. Jim Carey who has been known to play in movies with unusual concepts plays Joe a nebbish guy who falls in love with Clementine a somewhat flakey girl with blue hair played by Kate Winslet. She is really into him and they get along great until she tires of him and decides to sign up to completely erase him from her memory. He gets wind of this and is very hurt so he decides to likewise with any memories of her. Wouldn’t you know it that while he is in the induced sleep having the memories removed, he and she in his thoughts decide not to go through with this. However the erasing team is far along in the process. In fact the team has their own issues which are a subplot in the movie. Now we enjoy a good comedy and science fiction story but we both felt that his movie didn’t really work. Perhaps the movie was raising the question can true love triumph even when people recognize each other’s flaws. However it was a long tedious pathway to get there and we hope to lose the memory of this movie to make room for better ones. 2004

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Easy Virtue – sp- Noel Coward was obviously a genius and this movie is based on a play that he wrote when he was 25 years old. It is a period piece set in England where a young man (Ben Barnes) comes back to the family manor with a new glamorous American wife (Jessica Biel) who just came in first at the Grand Prix auto race in Monte Carlo. Most of the stuffy British family especially the mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) can’t handle her and her modern ways. Colin Firth does an excellent job portraying the father who has his own history. The plot has depth to it and the screenplay is true to the Coward genre, which includes many witty lines from him as well as from writers Stephen Elliot and Sheridan Jobbins (the latter was a guest at our course). Although it is not a musical, there is a most enjoyable musical background with many pieces by Coward. 2008

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Baby It’s You – nf – This movie was made 26 years ago in 1983 and it is about growing up in the mid 1960s. Those of us who were around at that time should be able to attest that it depicted this era quite well. The setting is senior year of high school in New Jersey where a college bound upper middle class Jewish girl played by Rosanna Arquette has a romance with blue collar Italian boy played by Vincent Spano. She goes away to Sara Lawrence and he follows his not so obtainable dream working in Florida. The trials and tribulations of a young woman in her first year at an all girl’s school with dorm life, alcohol, marijuana, and visits from the guys from Princeton etc are nicely captured by Director /Writer John Sayles with the help of an appropriate sound track. Some resolution of the unfinished high school romance has to be played out as is often the case in all generations. We thought this movie can be evocative for those who lived through those years or thereabouts and yet could also find meaning to today’s youth who would be using their cell phones or texting rather than the dormitory hallway telephone. That almost make this a classic. 1983