Thursday Movie Picks: Married Couples Movies

"Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder today. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam...And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva... So tweasure your wuv."
- The Impressive Clergyman, The Princess Bride

I have been married now for fifteen months. It still amazes me sometimes. I mean, I've been with my now wife, Amanda, for almost five years total, but I look at her sometimes, and I'm like I can't believe I'm somebody's husband.

I love the theme this week. Suggested by Wendell from Dell on Movies for Wandering through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks Meme, this is an exciting one to tackle. And a bit troubling. I couldn't decide how to mix-up my nearly ten original ideas. Which three should I go with? I decided on three vastly different movies that all feature a marriage as their driving force. All three of these marriages range from rocky, to say the least, all the way to downright scary.

Blind Spot 2015: It's a Wonderful Life

 
Things to happily check off my list: Watch It's a Wonderful Life. Check. Watch a Frank Capra movie. Check.

I am patting myself on the back for putting this up first on my 2015 Blind Spot list, a genius idea for a blog feature created by Ryan McNeil at The Matinee. I loved every minute of it.

I was a stubborn young man. My Mom constantly tried to get me to watch "old" movies. I always acted like a little punk about it. I don't know why. I wish my Mom had kept trying when I really started loving movies, began actively watching anything I possibly could at around the age of 17.

You hear some people scoff at the idea of watching a black-and-white film. I read that, this one, after making it's way into public domain territory was "colorized." How sad. This is a beautiful film, a portrait of a lovely small town, shot in glorious black and white. I'm glad I'm seeing it now. And this way. 

For some reason, It's a Wonderful Life eluded me...until now. My Dad recently asked me if I'd ever seen this movie. He couldn't believe I hadn't. It made this choice even sweeter that I got a random recommendation after I'd already made this my first Blind Spot. How happy I am to have seen it.

Movies from 2014 (That I Haven't Talked About), Part II

So, here is round two of my 2014 Movie Cram. I've been going back through the ones I missed in theaters. This list is a total mixed bag. All of them had something to admire.

Thursday Movie Picks: Movies with Color in the Title

All I could think about was the word blue when this category came up. That's all you're getting. Nothing old, everything new, all blue. 

So glad to be a part of Wandering Through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks once again. 

Cynicism Aside: More Thoughts on American Sniper

I'm having trouble deciding how I should feel right now. Today is one year to the day since I began really taking my blogging and movie reviews seriously. Today is the first time I've felt truly upset by some of the movie talk out there right now.

To begin, I recently watched two American films about American men, who made choices to believe in something greater than themselves and to fight for that belief. To fight for those who needed fighting for. The gossip surrounding these two films I'm sure you know. I'm talking about Ava DuVernay's story of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s march for voting rights called Selma and Clint Eastwood's adaptation of a best-selling memoir by U.S. Navy SEAL, Chris Kyle, a man who did kill many men in a devastating travesty of a war, called American Sniper. Both of these men are heroes, and nothing is gonna stop me from knowing that to be true. For me, American Sniper was the better movie and deserves what praise it is getting. It doesn't deserve to be slandered before being seen.

There Goes My Hero, Part 1: Selma

Selma      ★★★ 1/2

A Review by Kevin Powers

As the latest criticisms of the recently announced Academy Award Nominations continue to stew, I so continue my quest to see all the Best Picture nominees. In the midst of all the negative press on the lack of diversity in the Nominations, I saw director Ava DuVernay's powerful new film Selma.

It's a worthy Best Picture nominee, not only in its power but in its craft. It's a well-made film about a time of great upheaval and change. I want to go on record and say that "NO. I don't think the Academy voters are being racist, but I do think they've missed by not nominating this film's director." She is a force to be reckoned with and found a lead actor in David Oyelowo who matches her will.

Selma recounts the days surrounding the emergence of Dr. Martin Luther King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in a small, rural town of Selma, Alabama. The fight at this point in the Civil Rights Movement is for voting rights.

There Goes My Hero, Part II: American Sniper

American Sniper     ★★★★

A Review by Kevin Powers

If there is still any question out there as to whether or not Bradley Cooper deserves his somewhat unexpected Best Actor Nomination, I'll answer. He does. He came in and edged out Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler) and David Oyelowo (Selma), and I just can't argue. This is Cooper's third Oscar nomination in as many years, and this is his most convincing work yet.

As Chris Kyle, "the deadliest sniper in U.S. Military history," Cooper drives a film that requires just that...drive. It is a role that proves just how good he is as an actor. He can seemingly do anything. And Kyle is so much more than his reputation as a killer would suggest. I am grateful for that.

Chris Kyle came from Texas, the oldest son of a hard, yet loving father. As a young man, he lived the life of a cowboy. Riding bulls, drinking beer, chasing women. At 30, he was already an old man when he joined the Navy and made his way up the ranks as a member of the elite Navy SEALs.

The early scenes of this movie build this character with immense skill. The editing team of Joel Cox and Cary Roach win the Oscar if I have a say-so (sadly, I don't). The opening sequence of this movie will be familiar if you've seen the trailer, but its the transition out of that and into the chronological structure of this story that get you hooked.

When I Was Thirty: The Ocean's Trilogy

Steven Soderbergh baffles me. He's one of those filmmakers who just doesn't seem to stick with anything. And most of his work has just seemed off-putting to me. I've just never seeked his work out. Of his roughly 25 feature films, starting with 1989's Sex, Lies, and Videotape, I've only seen 7, including the only thing he ever truly stuck with in the comedy-caper colossus of cool known as Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, and Ocean's Thirteen.

What's funny is that the other four of his films I have seen (Behind the Candelabra, The Informant!, Traffic, and Out of Sight) are all what I would consider favorite movies. So, if you are a Soderbergh fan and are reading this, please recommend some sort of place to start with the rest of his films. I can't seem to figure the guy out, but I am willing to see all of his movies.

If my last entry in this series (for those of you who aren't familiar with this series, click here) on The Bourne Trilogy was all about badassness, then this entry on Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Trilogy is all about cool. Just straight up good-looking, sexy, funny, entertaining, COOL.

Thursday Movie Picks: Musicals

There are only three musicals, excluding Disney movies, I've actually enjoyed enough to see twice. That's what you'll find here this week in yet another fun entry in Wandering through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks.

I've also decided to go with musicals in the traditional sense. No movies that feature music as a theme or movies about music or musicians. There are plenty of those I love, one of which will get an honorable mention, but I'm going musicals in the classical sense, sort of.

Inherent Vice: An Experience

Inherent Vice     ★★★★

A Review by Kevin Powers

I feel I should be up front. Paul Thomas Anderson's seventh feature, an adaptation of a recent novel by Thomas Pynchon called "Inherent Vice," defies my star-rating system. It is seemingly pretty bad at times, good at times, and perfect at times (I mean, like, best movie you've ever seen...at times).

While it certainly won't appeal to everyone, to me, it is a wonder, a mystery, one of the most unique and original experiences I've had with a movie. Fittingly, that's what this movie is about as well... an experience.

Something that really kick-started my love for this movie, despite being a die hard P.T. Anderson fan to begin with, is that I recently listened to a nearly-two-hour interview with the director on the podcast, "WTF with Marc Maron." It is one of the greatest interviews I've heard. It clears up a large part of Anderson's thinking about making this movie, while spoiling nothing. And he even alludes to a secretive agreement between him and the author of "Inherent Vice," the reclusive literary genius, everybody's favorite author to try and fail, Thomas Pynchon.

A large part of Anderson's conversation with Maron is about the shared thesis of many of this film's reviews: the disintegration of the more liberal, free-lovin' 1960s into the paranoid conservatism of the 1970s. Having an understanding of this as a jumping-off point truly enriched my "experience" with this movie.

Thursday Movie Picks: Movies that Feature an Irreparable Mistake

The brilliant themes just keep on rolling over at Wandering through the Shelves. This weekly series has been a blast so far. I'm gonna get deep and dark on this one.

Oftentimes, as movie lovers, we delight in the choices of our favorite characters. We enjoy identifying with mistakes that people make, mistakes we've made ourselves. Other times, we cringe knowing that our hero is setting him/herself up for a huge embarrassment, even some catastrophe.

And then there are the mistakes that keep on coming. Mistakes that build tension, dread, suspense, even horror. Mistakes that haunt the characters. Mistakes that, in turn, haunt us, sending a sensation through our bodies that cannot be described with words.

A Machine and an Enigma

"The Imitation Game"     ★★★★

A Review by Kevin Powers

"Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine."

The greatness of director Morten Tyldum's "The Imitation Game" as a whole didn't hit me until the very end. Going in, my want to see this movie had waned a bit, and I was expecting just another WWII-period drama. I knew very little of this true story, had read no reviews, and had no expectations other than I was sure I was in for a great bit of acting from British actor, Benedict Cumberbatch.

All expectations were exceeded.

Movies from 2014 (That I Haven't Talked About)

So, now that the New Year is upon us, I am currently in the midst of playing catch up. I will spend most of January and some of February (most likely) seeing movies I missed over the course of 2014. Most of my reviews leading up to Oscar night will be shorter and in bunches.

Let's get this started.

Thursday Movie Picks: Bank Robberies

Happy New Year, everybody! I'm happy to start a fresh year with Wandering through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks.

Bank Robberies? Sweet!

I love this category. That's really all I can say. I have a few picks that contain your non-traditional bank robberies. I easily could've gone with well-executed bank heist scenes a la Michael Mann's Heat or Chris Nolan's The Dark Knight. Alas, I feel this one calls for some more oddball bank heists. Robberies that, in the end, aren't really all about stealing money.

True Stories, Part I: The Wanderer

Wild     ★★★★

A Review by Kevin Powers

Think about your life: your losses, your loves, your family, your happiness, your sadness, your problems.

Now. Imagine hiking a thousand miles in the wilderness alone. Imagine what your thoughts, your inner monologue might be. That is the essence of director Jean-Marc Vallée’s Wild, an adaptation of the real life memoirs of Cheryl Strayed.

Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) was a woman, like so many, who grew up the child of a single parent, a mother named Bobbi (Laura Dern), seeking refuge from an abusive husband. When her mother died, Cheryl and her brother, Leif (Keene McRae), were left, like so many, to figure out how to pick up the pieces of a broken life.

True Stories, Part II: The Wrestlers

Foxcatcher     ★ 1/2

A Review by Kevin Powers

Man, was I excited about this movie! That probably explains why I feel so let down. It also didn’t hurt that I saw Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher directly after seeing Wild, which is one of the best movies of the year.

Bennett Miller is a director known for three “Based on a True Story” movies. First, 2005’s Capote, starring the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, chronicled the writing process of In Cold Blood and suffered from being so brutally slow and bleak. His next work was an adaptation of Michael Lewis’ book about Oakland A’s General Manager, Billy Beane, the immensely likable Moneyball (2011), starring Brad Pitt. Finally, he ends up with Foxcatcher, telling the “True Story” (haha) of American billionaire John E. du Pont and his relationship with Mark and Dave Schultz, Olympic Gold Medal-winning wrestlers. Like Capote, it boasts incredible, transformative performances beaten down by a painfully slow, nearly dead-in-the-water movie.

This is NOT the actors’ fault. It’s the filmmakers’ fault.