AYURVEDASUBSCRIBE to the NEWSLETTER!Book a Session with Lissa on Intro
Coffeytalk on Facebook
Coffeytalk on Youtube
Coffeytalk on Instagram
Coffeytalk on Amazon
Coffeytalk on Spotify
Lissa Coffey Podcasts on iTunes Connect
Book a Session with Lissa on Intro
Internet Movie Database
buttonlayer2
04 Jan

Midnight in Paris

Grade: A-

Owen Wilson plays the Woody Allen role in this Woody Allen film, Midnight in Paris.  We’re in Paris with an engaged couple, Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams and her parents.  He’s a successful screenwriter who years to be a meaningful novelists, while she wants him to continue in his high-paying career.  While she parties with friends, he explores Paris – and finds himself taken back in time, where he meets  Hemingway, Picasso, and many of his artistic influences.  He begins to question his life, and learn about what is important to him.  This is a cerebral comedy, what else would you expect from Woody Allen?  I loved it.
Share this
04 Jan

Michael Clayton

Grade: B+

Michael Clayton is George Clooney’s Erin Brokovich.  He’ll likely get nominated for this role as the attorney his firm goes to when they need to clean up “messes.”  He’s got messes of his own, including money problems from a failed restaurant venture, a gambling problem, and trying to be a good divorced dad.  Most of the time, the guy is understandably stressed, but he manages to get through the day looking like he’s got it all together.  When his mentor has a crisis of conscience and starts to turn on a multi-million dollar case, it’s Clayton that is sent to fix the situation.  It’s more than any one guy can handle, and Clayton ends up being a target as well.  Desperate and confused, our flawed hero doesn’t know who to trust.  Tilda Swinton eats up the scenery as the opposing attorney, well rehearsed and calculated, yet teetering on the edge of a breakdown.  Well written, smartly directed.  One caveat: No love scenes, George is fully clothed the whole time.
Share this
04 Jan

Miami Vice

Grade: I’m probably dating myself if I say that I remember the TV series Miami Vice.&nb

I’m probably dating myself if I say that I remember the TV series Miami Vice.  And I wasn’t really a fan.  So when the movie came out I wasn’t rushing out to see it.  But it was my husband’s birthday, and his choice, and after dragging him to dozens of chick-flicks I figured I owed him.  In this version, directed by Michael Mann, we’ve got Colin Farrell playing Sonny Crockett and Jamie Foxx playing Ricardo Tubbs.  The clothes are better, the cars are faster, the guns are bigger… but it’s really the same old Miami Vice.  Lots of action, lots of style, not a lot of substance.  And in this case, it’s a little difficult to follow the story – mainly because you can’t understand anyone who is speaking!  Colin Farrell doesn’t do a good American accent, and many of the other characters are foreign and English isn’t their first language.  They don’t enunciate, and Greg and I were constantly looking at each other quizzically with “what did they say?” There are some strong female characters – I always like that.  All in all the movie wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.  So it was a fun evening out – we laughed all the way home.
Share this
04 Jan

Men in Black 3

Grade: B-

It’s Men in Black, 3 for 3D.  Our two heroes are back, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones.  However in this scenario, the movie is set in the past, before the two met.  Will has to go back in time to change the course of history and save his partner.  Josh Brolin plays the younger version of Tommy Lee Jones and he is spot-on!  Nice story, but it lacks a lot of the fun and novelty that we got with the first two.
Share this
04 Jan

Memoirs of a Geisha

Grade: A-

I’ve been waiting a long time for Memoirs of a Geisha to come out. I think a lot of people have! There’s been talk about it ever since the book got optioned, and several different directors have been attached at different points, including Steven Spielberg, who is credited as a producer. Rob Marshall, who so successfully directed “Chicago” eventually got the job, and he did it well. The look and feel of the movie is lush, rich, it’s a drama that sweeps you away in the story. The characters are well defined and each serves a specific purpose. The locations are amazing, the costumes are beautiful, the music is enchanting. I love that the women characters are strong. Even the lead character, the little slave girl who becomes the acclaimed geisha “Sayuri” takes control of her life and her destiny. In a way the movie is like a fairy tale because it’s set in a place and time that really doesn’t exist anymore. For older kids it will teach some history. There are some scenes of violence. I think this movie will get a few nominations come Oscar time – I’d guess Adapted Screenplay, Costumes, Musical Score, Make-up, Cinematography.
Share this
04 Jan

Melinda and Melinda

Grade: C+

Interesting premise: the same story told two ways simultaneously, as a drama and as a comedy. This is very much a Woody Allen movie, and this time Woody stays behind the camera and gives his role to the versatile Will Ferrell. All of Will’s lines are classic Woody! Radha Mitchell plays both Melindas, and she really delineates the characters. She’s one to watch, I know we’ll be seeing a lot of this actress. Amanda Peet is delightful, as always, as Will’s wife, a film director. The comedy version was superior to the drama version. I think it’s more difficult for Woody to play it straight. So many of the lines in the drama were melodramatic – it was a little over the top.
Share this
04 Jan

Meet the Fockers

Grade: B+

“Meet the Fockers” has set all kinds of box office records over the holiday weekends, and with good reason. This movie is hilarious. It’s the kind of movie where you can just laugh – and don’t we all need a laugh around this time of year? Especially with the relatives in town? And it’s not so much that we’re laughing at the movie as it is that we’re laughing at ourselves. We can all relate to these characters, as exaggerated as they are. It’s just a fun time.

Ben Stiller returns in this sequel as Gaylord Focker, engaged to Teri Polo, and still trying to ingratiate himself with his future in-laws Robert DeNiro and Blythe Danner. This time the happy group goes on a road trip to meet his parents, winningly played by a charming Dustin Hoffman and the effervescent Barbra Streisand in a long-overdue return to the big screen. Streisand is a hoot! She has some of the best lines in the movie, and got some of the biggest laughs.

Of course, hilarity ensues and love wins out – but this movie is definitely worth the ride!
Share this
04 Jan

Match Point

Grade: C

Woody Allen wrote and directed Match Point, but this is not your typical Woody Allen movie. It’s dark and dreary and there’s not a neurotic New Yorker in sight. And everyone sleeps with people who are age-appropriate. The movie is well written, and there are a few lines which are pretty signature Woody. But overall, the whole thing plays very dismal. It comes in at 2 hours, but it feels like 3. It’s heavy, with lots of dialogue, and yet the plot is really full of holes. There is so much that just doesn’t make sense. When that happens it makes the characters look stupid. But there is a point to the whole thing, and the structure is sound, the technical aspects are solid. Scarlett Johanssen is so screen-worthy, her features are flawless and she can act circles around her costars. Definitely thought provoking, though – but better as a rental, during the day, when you’re less likely to fall asleep.
Share this
04 Jan

Martian Child

Grade: B

John Cusack stars as the widower who takes in a troubled child.  John is a science fiction author, a little eccentric and a little sad, which makes him the perfect foster parent for Dennis, a quirky and damaged little boy in much need of acceptance and a loving home.  The title comes from the fact that Dennis insists he is from Mars.  And there are times when we might just believe him!  Joan Cusack is John’s sister, nice casting choice – she’s wonderful and funny and very real.  Amanda Peet is the love interest, his sister-in-law who really “gets” him.  It’s warm and sweet, a little corny at times, but it tugs at your heart.  And it has a happy ending.
Share this
04 Jan

Marley and Me

Grade: C+

Based on the book by columnist John Grogan which is based on his own life experiences with his family and his dog, “Marley and Me” is promoted as a heart-warming comedy.  Though there are funny parts to the movie, it is more accurate to use the term “dramedy.”  Drama with comedic elements.  You will cry more than you laugh.  It’s all about the dog, Marley.  We meet John (Owen Wilson) and his young wife Jenny (Jennifer Aniston) right when they get married, and start their family with a rambuctious yellow labrador puppy, Marley.

The movie spends the first half showing just how misbehaved Marley can be.  Kathleen Turner (Kathleen, what are you doing in this part?) makes a cameo as a dog trainer who kicks Marley out of school.  This doesn’t really endear us to Marley as much as make us wonder why the heck anyone would put up with a dog like this.  I think it’s a little overdone.

John goes through a career change, the couple has kids, and Marley adjusts to all of it by just being himself.

Then as the kids grow up, Marley grows older, and the waterworks start.  I cried and I don’t even like dogs all that much.
Share this

© 2024 Coffey Talk. All rights reserved.