The Academy Awards have come and gone. What remains are all the recaps of the fashions, the acceptance speeches, the awards and the overall experience. While I've seen better hosts in years past, I am a little surprised by the negative appraisals I have read about James Franco and Ann Hathaway's turns at hosting. True, there wasn't much chemistry between the two of them, but they weren't that bad. Besides, I was focused on finding out who won in each of the twenty-four categories. The other stuff leading up to each announcement doesn't really make much difference to me.
Now, I'll just go back to watching movies without that urgency of having to see as many movies as I can from October to December, until the nominations are announced in late January to see if there were any I haven't seen.
In that regard, here is this week's installment of Movie Monday:
Amreeka is the story of a Palestinian divorcee who brings her teenager to America in search of a better life. Back home, she worked as a bank manager, but in the US, all she could find was a job at the local White Castle. It was really cute.
The Maid, in Spanish with English subtitles, is about a family who has had the same housekeeper for over twenty years. For various reasons, the family tries to hire more help and she feels threatened. The housekeeper makes it difficult for the new hires. It’s a bit of a dark comedy. It was alright.
Gomorrah is an adaptation of a non-fiction book by Roberto Saviano, about the Camorra crime family in Naples. The group infiltrates all socio-economic levels with international presence. The movie portrays the characters and situations without glamorizing them. It was violent and scary. While interesting to learn about these types of real-life activities, it takes a certain level of intestinal fortitude to watch this film.
Cleo from 5 to 7 is a little subtitled French film from the early 1960s that I streamed on the iPad. It is about a singer named Cleo (whose real name we come to find out is Florence), who spends the two hours between five and seven in the evening waiting for the results of her biopsy. She runs the gamut of emotions while she spends this time getting a Tarot reading, singing new music, having a coffee with a friend, shopping and finally walking the streets of Paris to fill the time. It was cute.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was adapted from the children’s book of the same name. It’s about a nerdy kid who grows up to be an inventor. One day, when the town runs out of food, he invents a machine that makes clouds rain any food that is requested. Soon the machine takes on a life of its own, and it is up to him and his friend, a smart weather girl, to save the town. It was pretty cute.
Until next time...
MK out.
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