A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST (2014) – My rating: 9/10

A Million Ways to Die in the West is one of the funniest movie to hit the theaters since “The Wedding Crashers”.  I genuinely laughed my head off.  I grant you, the entire movie wasn’t rip roaring funny but the many scenes that were funny, were really funny.  A dorky sheep farmer/cowboy (Albert played by Seth MacFarlane) who is cowardly and afraid to defend himself in any gunfight, is in love with a society seeker who eventually breaks up with him.  She (Louise played by Amanda Seyfried) moves on immediately to a semi-quasi wealthy owner of a local store (Foy played by Neil Patrick Harris).  In the meanwhile, Albert meets the wife (Anna played by Charlez Theron) of the fastest gun in the west (Clinch played by Liam Neeson) and they fall in love.  Of course I can’t reveal what happens but you’re in for some good entertainment.  Since this is a comedy, anything I say will give away what makes this movie so great so I will just say “check this one out”  it’s worth the time and money.

TSOTSI (2005) – My rating: 8.5/10

As I started watching Tsotsi, I had a deep loathing for the main character.  Tsotsi, played by Presley Chweneyagae, was a ruthless gang leader in Johannesburg, Africa.  I wondered what happened to make such a young boy so evil and amoral.  As the movie progressed, I found myself becoming more compassionate but not forgiving because his crimes were not easy to process.  By the end of this film, which spanned over a 6 day period, I was moved to tears.  In 2006, Tsotsi won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film as well as nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Foreign Language Film.  Tsotsi was directed by Gavin Hood who was also nominated for a couple of European awards for his endless work on this film.

Tsotsi has a profound message and will cause you to do some soul searching.  Love can heal many folks.  The absence of love can do much damage and cause many significant problems.  I believe this movie should be seen by all, if only to get you thinking about who you are when it comes to a situation like this in your own backyard.  Tsotsi is on DVD and is available on Netflix’s instant watch.  I urge you to check it out.

 

DANCING ON THE EDGE – (2013) – My rating: 8/10

This mini series takes place in the 1930s in London, England.  Blacks were still not accepted in the mainstream and many laws were still in place to keep them separated from Whites.  This story is about a jazz band and it’s leader Louis Lester (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) who became entangled with England’s upper class resulting in deceit, murder and love.  Most of this is brought on my one character who wasn’t going for a racial incident but who was a mentally disturbed person who performed out of sickness.  Dancing on the Edge has great entertainment through it’s music and divine singing.  John Goodman has a significant role as an extremely rich businessman who has an unusual obsession.  I thought this series ended leaving the viewer with a taste for more.  I really liked the series but I felt it should have given us more information at the end.  There’s a bevy of actors and actresses who make Dancing on the Edge a success.  It’s currently playing on HBO and is considered a mini series.  It’s aired in 6 parts.

BEFORE MIDNIGHT (2013) – My rating: 6/10

Because I hadn’t seen Before Sunrise, I didn’t know what to expect from Before Midnight, so I watched both.  OMG, I was so terribly bored after half an hour of constant chatter.  This movie had maybe 4 to 6 other characters who played very little importance to the film.  Before Midnight is the sequel to Before Sunrise and both were mainly two people meeting on a train and falling in love.  Scenes included endless walking and talking and little to no action.  The sequel offered a little more, as it had a few meaningful characters that contributed little but was a welcome site because I was so tired of Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.  The sequel takes place in Paris and is 20 years after their first meeting.  I’m not sure why this movie was nominated for anything but it has an Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination.  If you look up Before Midnight on IMDB, it has an 8.1 rating.  I’m not sure why, obviously there are many who don’t agree with me but this is a review that reflects my opinion.  I will acknowledge that some good points came out of their dialogue but that’s the only good thing I have to say about the movie.

[BEFORE MIDNIGHT is nominated for Adapted Screenplay]

RUSH (2013) – My rating: 8.5/10

While I’m completely in awe over Chris Hemsworth’s physical physique, beautiful blue eyes and gorgeous locks, I am now, also in awe of his acting abilities.  Chris who also plays Thor, did an outstanding job of playing James Hunt in this “based on a true story” about the revelry between two race car drivers, (James Hunt and Niki Lauda, played by Daniel Brühl).  I loved the great Ron Howard’s directional approach to this topic of race cars, noisy engines and big egos with just the right amount of love interests and morality to keep it balanced and interesting.

Daniel César Martín Brühl González Domingo (his birth name) brought his character, Niki Lauda, to life with all the passion, motivation, and skill required to play this complex role.  Normally, I would have been bored to death watching cars run around a track, as I am not a fan of race car driving but I was totally sucked in to this riveting story.  I think anyone would benefit from watching this action packed film on the big screen.  Anyway, how can you go wrong with Ron Howard at the helm?