The Whole Shebang

The Whole Shebang

Original Voices Inc.

29 August 2001

Comedy*
DVD
C+

This doesn't live up to the potential of its premise or its cast, but it's worth a look.  George Zaloom directed and co-wrote.

*Despite the tagline and that picture, the romance is less important here than the dynamics between and within families.

America's Sweethearts

America's Sweethearts

Columbia etc.

July 20, 2001

Romcom

DVD
C+

I saw this at the time and thought it was all right.  This time, I was most struck by the following:

• It's so weird to have the Internet a non-factor in publicity
• The "Hector" stuff is pretty racist
• Catherine Zeta-Jones is easily the best part of the movie
• Billy Crystal co-wrote a script where his character is in a lust-hate relationship with a dog, that parallels the title characters'.

Anyway, it's still watchable but yeah, mostly as a period piece.  Joe Roth directed, five years before Freedomland.

This is on a Julia Roberts "Triple" pack, but I've already rejected Mona Lisa Smile.

The Terminal (2004)

The Terminal (2004)

DreamWorks etc.

June 18, 2004

Dramedy?

DVD

C-

The concept is intriguing but the execution is sappy and unrealistic.  Also, if even Stanley Tucci can't make me laugh, it's not much of a comedy.  Spielberg directed.

Swing Vote

Swing Vote

Touchstone etc.

August 1, 2008

Comedy

DVD
D+

Neither funny nor insightful.  I tuned out before all the recognizable faces showed up, but I tagged who I saw.  Joshua Michael Stern directed and co-wrote.

Julie and Julia

Julie and Julia

Columbia/Sony

August 7, 2009

Dramedy

DVD
C-

This is the movie that made me dislike Amy Adams for awhile.  (I loved her in Enchanted and it took American Hustle to win me back.)  One review recommended watching just the "Julia" portion of the film and I can attest that that does work pretty well.  Anyway, I gave this a quarter hour today, and there wasn't much Julia in it, so I'm not using the "historical drama" tag or whatever.  Nora Ephron directed and wrote the screenplay, based on both Julie Powell's Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen and Julia Child's My Life in France.  

The Children Act

The Children Act
A24
24 August 2018
Drama
DVD
C-

Depressing tale of a judge (Thompson) whose marriage is breaking up as she takes on challenging cases.  Ian McEwan based the screenplay on his novel.  Richard Eyre directed.

This is the 100th C- I've given on this blog, so a high percentage of the movies I check out aren't terrible but I don't really want to continue beyond the quarter-hour mark.