A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)

So silly. Seth MacFarlane sends up westerns á la Blazing Saddles with slapstick deaths, anachronistic dialogue, beautiful cinematography of buttes in Monument Valley UT, and a host of stars in cameos. MacFarlane (covered in Ted) directs, co-wrote, and stars as a cowardly sheep farmer who talks too much. Giovanni Ribisi (last in Gangster Squad) is his meek best friend, Amanda Seyfried (most recently in Chloe) his gold-digging girlfriend, Sarah Silverman (profiled in Take This Waltz) a foul-mouthed (of course) prostitute and girlfriend of Ribisi, Charlize Theron (last in Prometheus) the beautiful woman from somewhere else, Liam Neeson (most recently in Unknown) her scary outlaw husband, and Neil Patrick Harris (best known for his TV and stage roles, he has played a character named Neil Patrick Harris in all the Harold & Kumar movies as well as in The Muppets) MacFarlane's rich rival for Seyfried. The trailer includes a couple of seconds of Harris dancing, which is about all we get, sadly, in the movie.

MacFarlane's writing partners from Ted, Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, do the same here and the Aaron Copeland-like score by Joel McNeely matches the sweeping cinematography by Michael Barrett.

Most people probably won't see this, with its Rotten Tomatoes averages of 33% critics and 45 audiences, but I giggled hysterically for parts of it and Jack enjoyed it too. If you do rent it or watch it on free cable, stick around for the bonus.

Palo Alto (2013)

This independent movie has a lot to offer besides its familiar story of good kids in California doing dumb things. The acting is strong, the pace is certain, and there are so many famous relatives your head will spin. James Franco wrote some short stories and Gia Coppola, (daughter of Francis' late son Giancarlo and niece of Sofia) adapted them into the script for her directorial debut. Franco (last blogged in This Is the End) co-stars as the soccer coach, but the movie belongs to Jack Kilmer (son of Val and Joanne Whalley; Jack Kilmer's screen debut) and Emma Roberts (daughter of Eric, niece of Julia; most recently in We're the Millers) as the sweet kids Teddy and April making bad choices. Teddy's loose-cannon best friend Fred is played by Nat Wolff (son of Polly Draper and musician Michael Wolff; covered in Admission) and he's very good. Gia's mother Jacqui Getty (after Giancarlo died she married Peter Getty, son of J. Paul; she had a small part in something else and here's some tabloid coverage) plays April's mom and Val Kilmer (last in When You're Strange) her eccentric stepfather. April's naughty friends include  Zoe Levin (bitchy daughter in The Way Way Back), Olivia Crocicchia (most recently in Terri), and Margaret Qualley (daughter of Andie MacDowell). Jack spotted Don Novello (best known as Father Guido Sarducci on SNL) but we both missed Talia Shire in cameos.

The soundtrack is by Devonté Hynes (Blood Orange) and Coppola's cousin Robert Schwartzman, and includes tracks by Nat Wolff and Jack Kilmer. This link tells you about the soundtrack on Spotify, but once on the app, I had to search for Palo Alto and got some different tunes. Still good.

Rotten Tomatoes critics come in at 72% and audiences at 65. We saw it three weeks ago in its limited run. You may want to check it out when the DVD comes out September 9, 2014.

Ida (2013)

This beautiful black and white movie is not for the impatient, although there's a big surprise in the third act. A lovely young nun-to-be in 1962 Poland meets her only living relative and discovers she's the Jewish child of Holocaust victims. Agata Trzebuchowska, in the title role of Ida (EE-da, but her Catholic name is Anna), had never acted before, but that's okay because she has few lines, and they're in Polish. Agata Kulesza has won three awards so far as the worldly aunt who takes Ida on a road trip to show her her roots. Along the way they meet a jazz saxophonist who plays Coltrane (one of my favorites, Naima, and Equinox are on the soundtrack, along with many other tunes).

Director/co-writer Pawel Pawlikowski (I loved Summer of Love (2004), in English, which starred a young Emily Blunt, but haven't seen any of his other works) keeps the pace slow and steady, all the better to reflect on the cinematography by Lukasz Zal.

Relax and enjoy it, as did 90% of Rotten Tomatoes critics and 84% of its audiences.

Words and Pictures (2013)

Jack liked this a lot and I absolutely loved it. Two damaged yet passionate prep school teachers spar intellectually as they bring their honors classes into a competition between their art forms. Clive Owen (covered in Duplicity) is the charming dipsomaniac Jack who reveres language and Juliette Binoche (last blogged in Certified Copy) the prickly art teacher Dina who feels the same about painting. Supporting strength comes from Bruce Davison (Oscar-nominated for Longtime Companion (1989), Davison usually plays supporting roles, too many to deconstruct) as fellow teacher Walt, Valerie Tian (I don't remember her small part in Juno (2007)) as student Emily, Adam DiMarco (new to me) as bad boy student Swint, Christian Scheider (24-year-old son of Roy, in his feature debut) as Jack's son Tony, Amy Brenneman (my favorites are Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her (2000), Off the Map (2003), Nine Lives (2005), Mother and Child, 138 episodes of Judging Amy (1999-2005), and 111 episodes of Private Practice (2007-2013)) as bejeweled trustee Elspeth Croyden of the Croyden School where the movie is set, and Navid Negahban (Abu Nazir on Homeland--I did not recognize him!) as the principal. Trivia: the actress who plays Binoche's sister Sabine is Janet Kidder, niece of Margot.

Binoche is an accomplished painter in real life and all the artwork attributed to her character Dina is Binoche's own.

Director Fred Schepisi (I loved Roxanne (1987), A Cry in the Dark (1988), Six Degrees of Separation (1993), I.Q. (1994), and the TV movie Empire Falls (2005)) is no stranger to brainy romantic comedies, e.g. Roxanne and I.Q., and I distinctly remember liking the wordplay in Empire Falls. Nor is screenwriter Gerald Dipego (I liked Message in a Bottle (1999) a lot and saw Phenomenon (1996) again recently and enjoyed it just as much as the first time). My friends know I am wordy and this script, full of multisyllabic vocabulary words and Latin derivations, made me happy.

Schepisi's regular cinematographer Ian Baker does the honors with Vancouver, British Columbia, standing in for Maine. And every painter should have a studio such as Dina's.

Although I found this soundtrack album list, no CD nor download has been released.

Oh, the haters. Pay no attention to the haters (Rotten Tomatoes' critics' average is 38 and audiences 60) and enjoy the words and pictures in this movie.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

The mutants of 2023 travel back to 1973 to alter history in this time-bending, violent romp with occasional flashes of humor. Fans will love it. I was so sleep-deprived last Wednesday I missed parts of it and Jack cat-napped a little, too. But we enjoyed what we saw of the sequel to X-Men: First Class, including Patrick Stewart (176 episodes of Star Trek and four other X-Men movies, among many) and James McAvoy (last blogged in Trance) meeting their past and future selves, respectively, as Charles Xavier; ditto Ian McKellan (Oscar-nominated for Gods and Monsters (1998) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), I liked him in Scandal (1989), Six Degrees of Separation (1993), Cold Comfort Farm (1995), The Da Vinci Code (2006), and three other X-Men movies, among others) and Michael Fassbender (most recently in 12 Years a Slave) as Erik/Magneto. Hugh Jackman (last in Prisoners) as Wolverine is the only actor to have appeared in every episode of the X-Men series (he's up to seven). Apparently director Bryan Singer (covered in Valkyrie) wouldn't go forward with the project until he had contracted Stewart and McKellen, coincidentally touring together in a stage production of Waiting for Godot, and Jackman.

There's a huge cast of returnees and newbies, most notably Anna Paquin with star billing for her three second scene and Halle Berry for not much more.

Fans may want to stream the entire 68 minute soundtrack by John Ottman (worked with Singer at least six times as well as other directors) on youtube, and should definitely wait for the bonus at the end of the credits. Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences clearly stayed awake-er than we did, rating it 92% and 94% respectively.

Million Dollar Arm (2014)

Fun for the whole family, this story of a desperate sports agent and the young men he brings from India to America to be trained as baseball pitchers is inspiring, touching, and feel-good entertainment, based on real events. Jack and I were craving a baseball movie and were immensely satisfied. Jon Hamm (last blogged in Clear History) is slowly moving away from Mad Men's Don Draper (he won't complete the move until he messes up his hair) in the starring role of J.B. Bernstein. Glad to see Lake Bell (most recently In a World...) as the down-to-earth neighbor, Aasif Mandvi (Premium Rush) plays harried so well as Bernstein's partner, and Alan Arkin (last in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone) brings comic relief as always, this time as a semi-retired sports scout. Suraj Sharma (his acting debut was in Life of Pi), Madhur Mittal (I didn't mention him in Slumdog Millionaire, but he played the brother), and a Hindi actor named Pitobash are sweet as the pitchers and an eager sidekick in this classic fish-out-of-water tail, er, tale.

Director Craig Gillespie (Mr. Woodcock (2007), Lars and the Real Girl (2007), 6 episodes of United States of Tara 2009-10) leads with an albeit Disney-fied sure hand from a script by Thomas McCarthy (most recently wrote Win Win, another satisfying movie with a sports theme). Hungarian Cinematographer Gyula Pados brings us the colors and crowds of India contrasting with the lushness and luxury of Los Angeles and Atlanta.

A.R. Rahman (most recently scored People Like Us) returns to his native roots with a fun score that you can stream song by song and possibly download free from this page. If for some reason the link expires because someone at Walt's company catches on, just search for "a.r. rahman million dollar arm" on youtube and you'll come up with quite a few links. I particularly liked this one and this.

Definitely don't run out of the room when the credits begin, as you would miss a photo essay of the real guys. Rotten Tomatoes' critics are lukewarm at 61% with audiences slightly hotter at 76. We liked it!

The Immigrant (2013)

Beautiful photography, intense performances, and impeccable set dressing and locations define this sad story of a woman coping with desperation and bad choices after arriving in 1920s New York. Marion Cotillard (last blogged in Rust and Bone) and Joaquin Phoenix (most recently in Her) play the woman and the moody charmer who takes her under his wing. Jeremy Renner (last in American Hustle) is in about a third of it. Director James Gray co-wrote the script with the late Richard Menello, in the same jobs they filled in the Phoenix-starring Two Lovers.

Kudos to Production Designer Happy Massee (he also worked on Two Lovers and my favorite segment of Movie 43, though production design had nothing to do with why I liked "The Catch") and Cinematographer Darius Khondji (To Rome With Love). They actually got to shoot at Ellis Island in New York Harbor, which was fun for Jack and me since we visited there recently.

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes are averaging 86% to viewers' 59, likely due to the former's ability to get past the depressing plot and see its beauty.