Sam’s Place

Twisted (2004)

Sam: ***

• Emma is known (at least by me) as The Movie Prophet due to her ability to predict future events in movies we’re watching. But still, she & I predicted every plot “twist” here. On the plus side there are unusually good shots of San Francisco. Turns out the filmmakers live here.

Emma: **

• Yeah, nice shots of San Francisco. But Ashley Judd was playing a role that we’ve seen before — the possibly-guilty protagonist.

This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006)

Sam: ****

• Documentaries are like healthy food; you think it’ll taste bad but it doesn’t. The Last Mogul: The Life and Times of Lew Wasserman showed the mob investing in Hollywood after Prohibition ended, through Lew Wasserman. Wasserman then hired LBJ’s special assistant Jack Valenti. This Film picks up the story of what Valenti did in Hollywood.

Emma: ***

• Interesting to learn about the film rating board, but I don’t know what this movie will change.

Children of Men (2006)

Sam: ****

• Too violent & it drags a little late in the movie but otherwise a very good near-future flick that’s really a warning to Britain about the dangers of Bushism. Also nice to see a movie on the big screen for a change.

Emma: *****

• A little violent & depressing but I like Clive Owen & Michael Caine.

Petulia (1968)

Sam: ***

• San Francisco in the late-’60s. Great cinematography. But that’s about it.

Emma: ***

• Ditto. I especially liked the shots of Red & White Fleet.

Cambridge Spies 

Sam: ***

• Some good acting (& some bad), some not-very-good dialog. I like that this 2-disc set includes a (History Channel) documentary. Add a star if you’re an Anglophile or interested in the Cold War.

Emma: ****

• Good acting, other than Anna-Louise Plowman, a British actress with an annoying American accent.

 Together (Tillsammans, Swedish, 2000)

Sam: ****

• Set in a Swedish hippy household in the mid-’70s. Doesn’t succumb to the temptation to merely mock hippies.

Emma: ****

• I like the ending & the Abba.

Sorted (2000)

Sam: ***

• A young man from Yorkshire goes to London after his brother dies, & becomes involved in drugs & clubbing. Tim Curry seems to be in a different movie as a cartoonish villain. Not bad.

Emma: ***

• Nice views of London, interior design touches such as a tin bathtub. Not a very good story.

Trauma (2004)

Sam: **

• Another set-in-London suspense film, this time w/ Colin Firth, & not very good.

Emma: **

• Seemed a bit pointless.

Hopscotch (1980)

Sam: **

• Weak & dated Walter Matthau Cold War comedy.

Emma: **

• Nice to see scenes of Europe, and especially England, circa 1980. Hard to believe government offices didn’t have computers then.

The Wire: Season 2 (2003)

Sam: *****

• Wow, Season 2 was even better than Season 1, imo.

Emma: *****

• Omar & Bunk are my favorite characters. And I liked the part when English actor Dominic West played Baltimore cop McNulty trying to affect an English accent.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)

Sam: ***

• A court-room drama/horror film. Started off strong but fizzled. It was supposed to raise questions about demonic possession vs mental illness, but didn’t, for me at least.

Emma: **

The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004)

Sam: ****

• A well-made, slow, depressing tale set in the ’70s. Sean Penn’s acting is great — before seeing this I thought he couldn’t act! 

Emma: ****

• Good but the violent ending was hard to watch. Good Sean Penn acting.

Old School (2003)

Sam: **

• Maybe I was influenced by the fact that I had a stomach bug & vomited while this was playing, but it just didn’t seem funny to me. Though not as unwatchable as, say, American Wedding.

Emma: **

• Not very funny.

A Home at the End of the World (2004)

Sam: ***

• This is actually a pretty good movie, imo, but so depressing that I can’t recommend it.

Emma: **

• I didn’t like Colin Farrell in the lead role & wasn’t very interested in the story. There’s more chemistry among the leads in the comedy Keeping the Faith (see below) than here.

Family Stone (2005)

Sam: ***

• This has what I think they call an “ensemble cast” — stars taking turns overacting. It’s got the Hollywood technology, but it’s both unbelievable & predictable.

Emma: ***

• FS’s formula has been used so many times now that it’s gotten boring. I find Diane Keaton annoying, & Dermont Mulroney always seems to play the same Middle American part. But Luke Wilson & Sarah Jessica Parker were OK.

The I Inside (2003)

Sam: ***

• I usually like unstuck-in-time movies but the rules of the different time tracks have to make sense & the plot should lead up to something.

Emma: ***

• Similar to Memento & Butterfly Effect, but less good than either. I liked the Maine location shots. More movies should be filmed in Maine.

Keeping the Faith (2000)

Sam: ****

• A feel-good romantic comedy, with beautiful shots of NYC.

Emma: ****

• The best of these 4 movies.