August 2015 – Page 2 – Movie Mom
Posted on August 29, 2015 at 3:32 pm
All are in good health. “I don’t feel any age,” says Morison. “I know I’m old, but I just feel like me.” Lloyd puts it this way: “There’s a conflict between what’s in your mind and what’s in your body.” They each led active lives. Sawyer says, “I always danced, played golf, swam — I was a doer all my life.” “I was playing good tennis up until 100,” says Lloyd, who had a regular game with Chaplin and once played a set with a young man named John F. Kennedy. “It was only after fall that I became aware of my age. I move slowly and I used to move fast. I miss that.”
Previous PostPrevious Trailer: Youth with Michael Caine
Next PostNext Tribute: Oliver Sacks
Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel play friends on vacation in an elegant hotel at the foot of the Alps. Fred, a composer and conductor, is now retired. Mick, a film director, is still working. They look with curiosity and tenderness on their children’s confused lives, Mick’s enthusiastic young writers, and the other hotel guests. While Mick scrambles to finish the screenplay for what he imagines will be his last important film, Fred has no intention of resuming his musical career. But someone wants at all costs to hear him conduct again.
Previous PostPrevious Worst Accents in Movies
Next PostNext Three Hundred Year-Old Actors Are Still Working
Posted on August 28, 2015 at 2:13 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pmfl2NXkVg
Actors Critics Film History Media Appearances Understanding Media and Pop Culture
Previous PostPrevious Grandma
Next PostNext Trailer: Youth with Michael Caine
Posted on August 27, 2015 at 5:50 pm
Lily Tomlin is cranky, feisty, tough, and utterly irresistible in this story of a grandmother who has to visit past decisions about her own life in order to help her teenage granddaughter. Tomlin plays the aptly named Elle (French for “she”), a feminist poet. Her work is respected and influential but that has not translated into financial stability. She has recently cut up her credit cards and made a wind chime out of them.
As we first see her, she is dumping her much younger girlfriend, Olivia (Judy Greer). No “it’s not you; it’s me.” No, “I’ll always remember the good times.” No lyrical meditations on love and loss. Not even any arguments or accusations. Just “It’s over. Leave.”
And then Elle’s granddaughter arrives. Her name is Sage (Julia Garner), and she has a head of fuzzy, soft curls that make her look like a dandelion. She is young and vulnerable but determined. She needs help, and it is clear that she would not be there if she had any other option. She is scheduled to have an abortion that afternoon, but she needs $630. And so Grandma and Sage set off in Elle’s clunker of a car, making desperate visits to people who might be able to help them. So we see a series of encounters, sad, angry, poignant, romantic, score-settling, each impeccably performed by an outstanding cast of actors in small scenes with deepening impact. We learn more about Elle’s life, the wrenching loss she is still mourning, the kindness and unkindness she has shown, and the way she has and has not dealt with the consequences. Standouts include Nat Wolff (“Paper Towns”) as the father, Laverne Cox as a sympathetic tattoo artist, Marcia Gay Harden as Elle’s brisk businesswoman daughter, and Sam Elliott as Elle’s ex.
Writer/director Paul Weitz (“About a Boy”) has taken a story that could be a parody of the worst nightmares of Fox News fans and made it into a very human story of love, loss, and overcoming the fear of intimacy. It is about the families we create and the perfect love we must feel for imperfect people.
Parents should know that this film has very strong and crude language, drinking, drugs, teen pregnancy, and extended discussion of abortion.
Family discussion: Why does Elle break up with Olivia? Why don’t Elle and her daughter get along? Why is the film called “Grandma” and not “Elle” or “Elle and Sage?”
If you like this, try: “The Daytrippers”
Previous PostPrevious We Are Your Friends
Next PostNext Worst Accents in Movies
August 2015 – Page 2 – Movie Mom
Posted on August 29, 2015 at 3:32 pm
All are in good health. “I don’t feel any age,” says Morison. “I know I’m old, but I just feel like me.” Lloyd puts it this way: “There’s a conflict between what’s in your mind and what’s in your body.” They each led active lives. Sawyer says, “I always danced, played golf, swam — I was a doer all my life.” “I was playing good tennis up until 100,” says Lloyd, who had a regular game with Chaplin and once played a set with a young man named John F. Kennedy. “It was only after fall that I became aware of my age. I move slowly and I used to move fast. I miss that.”
Previous PostPrevious Trailer: Youth with Michael Caine
Next PostNext Tribute: Oliver Sacks
Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel play friends on vacation in an elegant hotel at the foot of the Alps. Fred, a composer and conductor, is now retired. Mick, a film director, is still working. They look with curiosity and tenderness on their children’s confused lives, Mick’s enthusiastic young writers, and the other hotel guests. While Mick scrambles to finish the screenplay for what he imagines will be his last important film, Fred has no intention of resuming his musical career. But someone wants at all costs to hear him conduct again.
Previous PostPrevious Worst Accents in Movies
Next PostNext Three Hundred Year-Old Actors Are Still Working
Posted on August 28, 2015 at 2:13 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pmfl2NXkVg
Actors Critics Film History Media Appearances Understanding Media and Pop Culture
Previous PostPrevious Grandma
Next PostNext Trailer: Youth with Michael Caine
Posted on August 27, 2015 at 5:50 pm
Lily Tomlin is cranky, feisty, tough, and utterly irresistible in this story of a grandmother who has to visit past decisions about her own life in order to help her teenage granddaughter. Tomlin plays the aptly named Elle (French for “she”), a feminist poet. Her work is respected and influential but that has not translated into financial stability. She has recently cut up her credit cards and
 made a wind chime out of them.
As we first see her, she is dumping her much younger girlfriend, Olivia (Judy Greer). No “it’s not you; it’s me.” No, “I’ll always remember the good times.” No lyrical meditations on love and loss. Not even any arguments or accusations. Just “It’s over. Leave.”
And then Elle’s granddaughter arrives. Her name is Sage (Julia Garner), and she has a head of fuzzy, soft curls that make her look like a dandelion. She is young and vulnerable but determined. She needs help, and it is clear that she would not be there if she had any other option. She is scheduled to have an abortion that afternoon, but she needs $630. And so Grandma and Sage set off in Elle’s clunker of a car, making desperate visits to people who might be able to help them. So we see a series of encounters, sad, angry, poignant, romantic, score-settling, each impeccably performed by an outstanding cast of actors in small scenes with deepening impact. We learn more about Elle’s life, the wrenching loss she is still mourning, the kindness and unkindness she has shown, and the way she has and has not dealt with the consequences. Standouts include Nat Wolff (“Paper Towns”) as the father, Laverne Cox as a sympathetic tattoo artist, Marcia Gay Harden as Elle’s brisk businesswoman daughter, and Sam Elliott as Elle’s ex.
Writer/director Paul Weitz (“About a Boy”) has taken a story that could be a parody of the worst nightmares of Fox News fans and made it into a very human story of love, loss, and overcoming the fear of intimacy. It is about the families we create and the perfect love we must feel for imperfect people.
Parents should know that this film has very strong and crude language, drinking, drugs, teen pregnancy, and extended discussion of abortion.
Family discussion: Why does Elle break up with Olivia? Why don’t Elle and her daughter get along? Why is the film called “Grandma” and not “Elle” or “Elle and Sage?”
If you like this, try: “The Daytrippers”
Previous PostPrevious We Are Your Friends
Next PostNext Worst Accents in Movies