The Lobster is a very dark futuristic comedy that I think of as eccentric. I found The Lobster hard to stay focused on and extremely strange. David (Colin Farrell) discovers that his wife has left him for another man and is escorted to a hotel. The hotel manager, (Olivia Colman) reveals that singles have 45 days to find a partner, or they will be transformed into an animal like David’s brother who is a dog. David chooses a lobster, due to their life cycle and his love of the sea. David makes acquaintances with Robert (John C. Reilly), a man with a lisp, and John (Ben Whishaw), a man with a limp, who become David’s quasi-friends. John explains that he was injured in an attempt to reconnect with his mother, who had been transformed into a wolf. YOU CAN ALREADY SEE HOW WEIRD THIS HAS BECOME!
The hotel has many rules and rituals: masturbation is banned, but sexual stimulation by the hotel maid is mandatory, and guests attend dances and watch propaganda extolling advantages of partnership.
When Robert is caught masturbating, the hotel manager burns his fingers in a toaster. Relationships require partners to have a distinguishing trait in common. John is told a woman has arrived with a limp, but he says she limps from an injury that will heal and is not a suitable match.
Residents can extend their deadline by tranquilizing single people in the forest; each captured “loner” earns them a day. On one such hunt, a woman with a fondness for biscuits offers David sexual favors, which he declines. She tells him that if she fails to find a mate, she will kill herself by jumping from a hotel window.
The remainder of The Lobster is even crazier, so I’ll leave it to you to watch if you dare. Obviously, I didn’t like it and I don’t recommend it. The Lobster was a little too weird and convoluted for me, however it’s now on DVD/Blu-Ray for those of you who would like to see how it ends.
[THE LOBSTER is nominated for Original Screenplay]
Very slow getting out the starting gate. Astronaut, Molly Woods (Hallie Berry) is on a 13 month mission in out-of-space. She’s shown going about her daily routines, floating around, fixing anything broken and looking very Hallie. Suddenly, she begins to have illusions of an old boyfriend being right there on the ship with her, even though he’s been dead for a couple of years and this is a solo excursion. When she returns to Earth and her awaiting husband, John Woods played by 
While I am a staunch Christian, I didn’t like this version of the life of Jesus. It didn’t flow, it was choppy and all over the place. It seemed to highlight many significant events from the “New Testament” instead of telling a complete story. I’m not sure why they made “Son of God”. Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ” is hard to follow. There is also another older TV mini series (“Jesus of Nazareth”) that was excellent. “Son of God” is a spin-off of the History Channel’s mini-series, “The Bible.” In” Son of God” I found several differences between scripture and the movie. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave, he never went into the cave. Jesus simply shouted “Lazarus, come out!” (John 11:43). This really doesn’t change anything but movies like this teaches people who may not know what happened. I also didn’t understand why Jesus (played by Diogo Morgado) was always smiling, even when He was angry. That doesn’t lend itself to the reality of His feelings about what was going on. There were a couple of other inconsistencies but again, insignificant. I feel the filmmakers lacked respect for true scripture. My biggest problem was how choppy the movie was and one problem I’ve always had, the Bible says Jesus’ skin is bronze and His hair white, like lamb’s wool (Rev 1:12). Also in that part of the country, people were not white. I’m not saying Jesus was Black but he certainly was not white with blue or light gray eyes. There was nothing different, only lacking in “Son of God” and other than spreading the Gospel, which in this case was not completely accurate, I can’t recommend that anyone should see this movie.
Downton Abbey is one of my most favorite series. I love period pieces. This one is before World War I and is brilliantly told. The series revolves around a British, aristocratic family and their servants. The family presently includes Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham, Lady Mary, Lady Edith and Robert’s mother, Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham. The major servants include Head of all servants, Mr. Carson, Mrs Hughes, Head of kitchen staff, Mrs. Patmore, John and Anna Bates, Valet to Lord Grantham and Lady Maid to Lady Mary, respectively. The personal stories that take place between the staff and the Crawley family and friends makes for a fascinating series. I’ve been mesmerized by Downton Abbey since it first started. Just to see how the upper crust behaves in Britain — one wonders whose idea was it to have maids dress you every day. The whole setup is rather complicated, so I’ve displayed a couple of charts that show the actors, characters they play and the positions they hold at Downton Abbey. Just perusing the charts, gives you an idea of how the story flows. Learning the positions and hierarchy of the staff will be challenge. Overall, Downton Abbey takes you away to a world we don’t really know but can find entertainment and fun in watching.
CAROL's WORLDS 