JENNIFER GARNER IN MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTJzodvavMlLaGaQEO5oH11Du8B0_3x4CmKj4MaGPtxUX-TLMQOZLtqbu70rV6QuBS3GrMR6hdDYJ6bQCzYpELYTkKC_ubEVv9_ffghoXxoUOairo41-R0eDU8jeFjDsr4zphi1c1VX8/s1600/0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTJzodvavMlLaGaQEO5oH11Du8B0_3x4CmKj4MaGPtxUX-TLMQOZLtqbu70rV6QuBS3GrMR6hdDYJ6bQCzYpELYTkKC_ubEVv9_ffghoXxoUOairo41-R0eDU8jeFjDsr4zphi1c1VX8/s400/0.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Did the new Batman dump Jennifer for going all Faith-Based on him?</td></tr> </tbody></table> Thank God this movie, one of many in the somewhat new, semi-popular low-budget genre (the Media has a blast when they fail to succeed, telling us all about it unlike when Johnny Depp projects bite the financial dust, again and again, unless PIRATES are involved) called "Faith Based," wasn't a sequel to Shel Silverstein's THE GIVING TREE... In that case, the sick little girl wouldn't have had a chance, or rather, a prayer. And whether it was that hollowed old tree itself that caused the Miracle, or "Someone or Something" channelling through it, which is the obvious choice; by the time Jennifer Garner's character, real life country mom Christy Beam, realizes her daughter, suffering and basically dying from a rare stomach disease, realizes Kylie Rogers' Annie is cured, the relatively short movie is over, pretty much... And beforehand we get a Lifestyle Channel style project with a decent performance by Garner, desperately getting her daughter an appointment with a doctor/specialist who turns out to be the friendliest human in the world (heck, the man has an Elmo tie) and yet there's an unfair year-long wait list (the real miracle is seeing him at all).<br>

2016, faith-based, jennifer garner, religious

JENNIFER GARNER IN MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN

Did the new Batman dump Jennifer for going all Faith-Based on him? Thank God this movie, one of many in the somewhat new, semi-popular l...

GROUCHY GROWN UP REVIEW OF ALEXANDER AND... THE VERY BAD DAY

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-3e7DiBKv8BsXYk9i080EzebUCYvplYXUueSnUFbt4Zcn0WXce7p1PDtRYDVOn_DpyOboW3rim22PzaQyFZ7MTi6SwvWtmhpfmefx8SutrNCtAF22n28tgKLm1R8QKxew2eZm0XZm0oY/s1600/Alexander-and-the-Terrible-Horrible-No-Good-Very-Bad-Day-After-Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-3e7DiBKv8BsXYk9i080EzebUCYvplYXUueSnUFbt4Zcn0WXce7p1PDtRYDVOn_DpyOboW3rim22PzaQyFZ7MTi6SwvWtmhpfmefx8SutrNCtAF22n28tgKLm1R8QKxew2eZm0XZm0oY/s1600/Alexander-and-the-Terrible-Horrible-No-Good-Very-Bad-Day-After-Poster.jpg" width="155" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: **</td></tr> </tbody></table> It couldn’t have happened quickly enough that ALEXANDER traded off his TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY in the magical fashion of FREAKY FRIDAY and LIAR LIAR, by wishing his family would have an equally awful 24 hours. <br /> <br /> The film’s mopey namesake, played by Ed Oxenbould, isn’t a terrible child actor, but his bumbling reactions to numerous misfortunes aren't very funny, or entertaining.<br /> <br /> So it's a blessing that performers like Steve Carell as dad, Jennifer Garner as mom, and his older brother and sister are left to weather a series of catastrophes, ranging from a zit, the common cold, a job interview and a book signing gone bad with Disney icon Dick Van Dyke.<br /> <br /> Herein Alexander takes a backseat like he's watching someone else play a video game. And while there are brief moments of Disney frolic, the movie is awkward and badly timed, wasting even Steve Carell’s scene-stealing potential.

2014, disney, jennifer garner, steve carell, teen

GROUCHY GROWN UP REVIEW OF ALEXANDER AND... THE VERY BAD DAY

year: 2014 rating: ** It couldn’t have happened quickly enough that ALEXANDER traded off his TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY i...

IVAN REITMAN DIRECTS KEVIN COSTNER IN DRAFT DAY

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkrnaL1McUiup9YIew-MVw7-WPuMR_2fEYMPYmObi5gavQDe6qC9hJFM1SGB_XPPibIOhtuO5veYsvJ1MGrKxzfTijha85TcOvLitMX1fUCRVIYeoGMO2gya9GUEhPtsPFGsZ_QE2czcM/s1600/draft-day-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkrnaL1McUiup9YIew-MVw7-WPuMR_2fEYMPYmObi5gavQDe6qC9hJFM1SGB_XPPibIOhtuO5veYsvJ1MGrKxzfTijha85TcOvLitMX1fUCRVIYeoGMO2gya9GUEhPtsPFGsZ_QE2czcM/s320/draft-day-poster.jpg" width="214" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: #073763;"><b>year: 2014 rating: **</b></span></span></td></tr> </tbody></table> It's 2014, and Kevin Costner returns in one of several "comeback" vehicles…<br /> <br /> Just yesterday he was a slowburn action hero in THREE DAYS TO KILL, and now he only has one day, that’s right, DRAFT DAY, where Costner’s brooding Sonny Weaver Jr., the Cleveland Brown’s general draft manager and son of the recently-departed beloved ex-coach, has to make an extremely important decision… <br /> <br /> Although you’d never know Junior has anything on the line, at least not during the talky first half as director Ivan Reitman – in revitalizing the split-screen device by having characters invade the frame of the neighboring square – centers more on glossy aesthetic than moving the story along.<br /> <br /> Weaver's peripheral romance with Jennifer Garner’s executive lawyer, Ali, is dull and pointless, as are the conversations with his opinionated mother (played by Cult Film Freak’s favorite actress, Ellen Burstyn). In the lead, Costner remains in the kind of mellow mode he’s gotten away with in the past, and now just seems lethargic, hardly commanding the screen at all. <br /> <br /> But Kevin and sport's fans alike, have patience: behind the meetings and phone-calls there's an actual plot unraveling, which, surprisingly, is more like Clint Eastwood’s TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE than MONEYBALL: when a lucrative quarterback seems the <i>all too perfect</i> candidate to save The Browns, not only is there a light at the end of the tunnel, but an actual tunnel is formed… <br /> <br /> Thus DRAFT DAY gets somewhat intriguing: as the minutes tick down to the televised event the film's named after, we learn more and more about the desired QB’s Achilles’ heel (which only Weaver can spot), adding a mysterious element to a story that’s all talk and no play otherwise.

2014, ivan reitman, jennifer garner, kevin costner, sport

IVAN REITMAN DIRECTS KEVIN COSTNER IN DRAFT DAY

year: 2014 rating: ** It's 2014, and Kevin Costner returns in one of several "comeback" vehicles… Just yesterday he was ...

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJc7YXjGxK1-7fEy0aI-DR4y1KStUtWNy9zd2VUOYdiv0jRWwn8PNwBYK6AUKtDFLzFfCA5izB-NHloKtux6rqeRMaXo3VGa1O8KNYmeuOEwQZWKbIpa65hwy3oBVUhiwaMK1QSyAtW8w/s1600/dallasbuyers_a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJc7YXjGxK1-7fEy0aI-DR4y1KStUtWNy9zd2VUOYdiv0jRWwn8PNwBYK6AUKtDFLzFfCA5izB-NHloKtux6rqeRMaXo3VGa1O8KNYmeuOEwQZWKbIpa65hwy3oBVUhiwaMK1QSyAtW8w/s1600/dallasbuyers_a.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 cast: Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, Griffin Dunne, Steven Zahn rating: *** </td></tr> </tbody></table> Ron Woodruff, played by a shockingly thinned-down Matthew McConaughey, is a <i>homophobic</i>, rodeo riding, womanizing, boozing, drug-addict electrician, showing his true colors before receiving the diagnoses that he contracted HIV: While playing cards with his red neck buddies, Ron’s heard griping about actor Rock Hudson, the first AIDS related death to put the fatal disease on the map. Here we learn, in a somewhat forced manner, what kind of person he is… or was. But THE DALLAS BUYERS CLUB truly succeeds at taking a trip to the mid-eighties, when AIDS was <i>only</i> linked to homosexuality. Woodruff, basically given a thirty-day death sentence, goes from a bitter addict in denial to a maverick businessman forced to cope with the disease, selling a “cocktail” of vitamins and other drugs, acquired in Mexico, which were healthier and more successful than the government sponsored AZT.<br /> <br /> On the forefront is Woodruff’s gritty, determined persona, initially street-dealing and eventually getting patients legitimately signed up for a program (the “Buyers Club”) to receive more helpful medication. Too bad the film never fully discusses what transactions were legal or illegal at the time,  painting the DEA as a one-note villain as Woodruff becomes somewhat over-glorified, without having too many obstacles, blunting both his roguish intensity and the needed suspense of a story centered on taking big risks, worldwide. Meanwhile the friendship between Ron and his sympathetic doctor, played by Jennifer Garner, provides an essential bittersweet friendship (a non-romantic romance) remaining bland and peripheral.<br /> <br /> Oscar buzz is already being thrown in McConaughey’s direction, but the dark horse candidate is Jared Leto’s cross-dressing Rayon, becoming Woodruff’s business partner, confidant and, ultimately, his gateway to understanding the lifestyle he once abhorred. In a sense, Rayon is liken to Tom Hanks’ character in PHILADELPHIA while Woodruff, surly and narrow-minded like Denzel Washington’s lawyer, eventually grows enlightened. Though the film loses steam in the final act, becoming more of a political statement than a wheeling-dealing biopic, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB remains entertaining and enlightening the whole way through.

2013, biopic, disease, drama, griffin dunne, jared leto, jennifer garner, matthew mcconaughey

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB

year: 2013 cast: Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, Griffin Dunne, Steven Zahn rating: ***  Ron Woodruff, played by a sho...