June movie reviews

TOY STORY 3. In this newest episode of Toy Story, Woody and Buzz and the rest of the toys are facing tough times, as Andy has grown up and is going to college. His mother is making him clean out his room, and the toys face the garbage bin, the attic, or being given away. They end up at a Day Care Center, which at first they think is the best thing, because children will play with them once again. But the Center's toys are led by a bitter stuffed bear who will ensure that the new toys are assigned to the worst room on the center (with all the toddlers). So the story involves the toys trying to escape the Day Care Center and get back to Andy's house. Sweet movie, but I didn't find it as entertaining as the earlier two Toy Stories. It's actually kind of a deep movie, about coping with life changes. Still good for not-too-young kids though (the end would be pretty scary for real little ones).
WINTER'S BONE. Ree is a 17-year-old living in the Ozark backwoods. Her dad has disappeared and her mom has had a nervous breakdown, so she is the sole caretaker of her 12-year-old brother and 7-year-old sister. The family is dirt poor, often depending on the kindness of neighbors. When the sheriff comes to their cabin to tell her that her dad put their house and land up for collateral to guarantee his appearance in court, and they will lose the house if he doesn't show up, Ree lets the sheriff know she will find her dad. Which she sets out to do. But her dad cooked meth, so she has to contact some pretty sketchy characters, none of whom want to help her, even though some are family. This is a mystery story combined with a real feel for these people and their way of life. It makes for a gripping drama. Well worth seeing.

GET HIM TO THE GREEK. Jonah Hill is a low-level flunky working for record producer Sean Combs, and the company needs to bring in some revenue. Jonah suggests bringing down-on-his-luck rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand in the same role he played in FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL) back to LA to do a reprise of his most successful concert ever, a 10-year comeback concert at the Greek Theater. So Sean sends Jonah off to London to get Aldous back to LA within 3 days. Aldous' last album was a critical and popular disaster, and the pop-star love of his life (Rose Byrne) dumped him. Since then, he has been off the wagon in a big way. Aldous is a serious substance abuser and major party hound, so Jonah, who is not exactly a wild man, has his hands full trying to manage him. Stops in New York and Vegas don't help Jonah's deteriorating relationship with his fiancee, but they certainly broaden his life experiences. Although the movie is not a 100% success (gross out humor that was more gross than humor for me), it's at least usually amusing and certainly has laugh out moments. Some cute and unexpected cameos too. But it wasn't THE HANGOVER, which I guess I was expecting. It has more heart than that, giving the Aldous character some back story and reasons for his issues.

BEST WORST MOVIE. Documentary on the cult status of the 1992 movie TROLL 2. It is apparently a truly dreadful straight-to-video movie that makes no sense whatsoever. But hipsters discover it on HBO and make it a midnight success. The documentary, directed by one of the child stars, interviews fans and the cast members, including a small town Alabama dentist, who truly loves his newfound fame. Very entertaining movie, and quite amusing, but it is brought down a little by the director of Troll 2, and one of the stars, who are completely oblivious to how awful the movie is. Those parts are kinda sad. Otherwise, I enjoyed the film.

JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK. This is a documentary on Joan Rivers, who was a ground breaking comedian when she came on the scene in the early 60's. The filmmakers followed her for a year, plus intersperse the movie with earlier clips of her career. It's a year filled with ups and downs (bad audiences, no work, then Celebrity Apprentice). She was 75 years old when the film was made, and still working her tail off. She can be funny , of course, as well as too crude (for me), but she also has an almost pathological obsession with working and being accepted (which I found disconcerting). Interesting movie.

SOLITARY MAN. Michael Douglas plays a successful car salesman who in the first scene, gets the news that something might be wrong with his heart. Six years later, and his life is falling apart. He is having trouble connecting with his family (because he is mostly obsessed with nailing young women), and his career is also in the dumps. He is really in a downward spiral. At first he seems charming (the salesman in him), and you root for him, but then I realized that his character is so reprehensible that I found it hard to care what happened to him. This movie is the kind that people can actually discuss after seeing, because it has an open-ended finale, but it wasn't entertaining, if that makes sense.

PLEASE GIVE. Katherine Keener and husband Oliver Platt make their living buying retro furniture from the children of the recently deceased. Their daughter is an unhappy adolescent, a typical teenage girl with zits and weight issues. The couple are waiting for the next door neighbor, a cantankerous old lady, to die so they can buy her apartment and double their living space. She is taken care of by one of her granddaughters, a bland young woman played by Rebecca Hall. Her sister, Amanda Peet, is a nasty piece of work, who will pretty much say and do whatever she wants. The movie doesn't really go anywhere, it just shows these people's interactions and highlights their lack of self awareness. The one granddaughter hates her grandmother, for instance, and is really nasty to her, but doesn't realize how much they are alike. Katherine gets annoyed when she finds another store owner buying her stuff and marking up the prices, yet feels guilty that she does the same thing. The movie mostly kept my attention, but the lack of what I would call a plot leaves me cold. I get that the director likes to show everyday life, but that doesn't mean it's that entertaining to watch.