Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die (2025)

This unhinged science fiction comedy had us scratching our heads a little–Jack said it’s destined to become a cult classic–but we kept at it. Sam Rockwell's character, a suicide bomber claiming to be from the future, appears in a Los Angeles diner in order to draft the customers on a mission. Rockwell is a terrific actor, as is the supporting cast, which includes Haley Lu Richardson, Zazie Beetz, Michael Peña, and Juno Temple.

Directed by Gore Verbinski from Matthew Robinson's script, it probably isn't meant for our boomer demographic, but that seldom stops us. I am enjoying Geoff Zanelli's soundtrack on Apple Music, including a snappy title track, as I type.

Rockwell was last blogged for See How They Run, Richardson for Love at First Sight, Beetz (we loved her in 30 episodes of Atlanta and other TV) for Nine Days, Peña for Ant-Man and the Wasp, Temple for Roofman (and 34 episodes of Ted Lasso), Verbinski for The Lone Ranger, and Zanelli for House of D, a 2004 release we watched in 2020 on our very last Netflix hard copy DVD (he has scored dozens of projects since then). This is Robinson's fifth produced feature screenplay.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are having a bit of fun with this, averaging 81 and 85%. Overcome by our very, very long list of movies, we went off-list on April 17 from a Apple TV recommendation and rented it on April 17.

Random food movies

Updated 7/16/25.

Years ago Vivian asked me for a list of food movies. Here's a yummy trip around the world (with plenty of laughs). Live links will take you to my blog posts about the named movies.

1. Babette's Feast (1987), of course. About a French chef, named after me, who works for some elderly and austere Danish sisters and prepares a most amazing dinner.

2. Tampopo (1985), a Japanese noodle western. Loved this. The etiquette class is top ten. The movie is one of my faves.

3-4. Mostly Martha (2002). Some of you may be more familiar with the American remake, No Reservations (2007), starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart, and Abigail Breslin. I liked that, but this, in German, is way better. Both are about an uptight single chef who becomes guardian of her orphaned niece.

5. Eat Drink Man Woman (1994). Directed by Ang Lee long before anyone thought of Brokeback Mountain (2005). A father insists on serving elaborate old-fashioned Taiwanese meals for his modern adult daughters.

6. Tortilla Soup (2001). Again, a chef father (Hector Elizando) with three adult daughters (including Elizabeth Peña), but this time they are Mexican-American. Oh, yeah, that's because it is based on Eat Drink Man Woman.

7. Woman on Top (2000). Penelope Cruz is luscious as a chef who gets her own cooking show and says about her recipes, "The most important ingredient is love." Also featuring, as her gorgeous transvestite best friend, Harold Perrineau, better known for playing Michael on the TV show Lost.

8. What's Cooking (2000). Four families (Latino, Jewish, African-American, Vietnamese-American) live on the four corners of an intersection in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles. They are all preparing for Thanksgiving amidst various family challenges.

9. Pieces of April (2003). Pre-Tom Katie Holmes is adorable as a free spirit who invites her estranged family (including Oliver Platt, Patricia Clarkson, and Allison Pill) from Pennsylvania to her New York apartment for Thanksgiving. Her struggles with cooking are central to this wonderful indie movie, but don't expect fabulous food stylings, as you should from the rest of this list.

10. You might think rats in a kitchen are a bad thing until you see Ratatouille (2007)

11. Big Night (1996). Tony Shaloub and Stanley Tucci play Italian brothers named Primo and Secondo in this 1950's piece about their "true" Italian restaurant competing with a spaghetti and meatball palace run by Ian Holm across the street in coastal New Jersey. Wonderful menu, and it won the Best First Screenplay Independent Spirit award for Tucci and Joseph Tropiano. Directed by Tucci and actor Campbell Scott, who is the son of George C. Scott and Colleen Dewhurst and has a cameo. Also features Allison Janney in an early role.

12. Amy Adams as Julie Powell tries to channel Julia Child, masterfully portrayed by Meryl Streep, in Julie & Julia (2009).

13. Julia Roberts never gains an ounce as Elizabeth Gilbert does the following: Eat Pray Love (2010).

14. Celebrate the Italian holidays in Mid August Lunch (Pranzo di ferragosto - 2008).

and for dessert:

15. Chocolat (2000). Juliette Binoche stars as a chocolatier who puts chilis in some of her sweets and riles up her prim French town, especially the mayor (Alfred Molina), by opening her shop on Sunday and by being a never-married single mother. With Johnny Depp. Lots of nominations, a few wins.

16. Lick your lips waiting for the crowning of Kings of Pastry (2009).

But wait, have seconds!

17. Laugh and eat at the Soul Kitchen (2009) in Germany.

18. Celebrate Passover in Mexico in Nora's Will (Cinco dias sin Nora - 2008).

19. Travel across northern England (no longer a culinary wasteland) in The Trip (2010).

20. You won't want to wake up when Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011).

21. High-class Chef (2014) goes out on his own and connects with his adoring ten-year-old son for the first time. Delicious.

22. You'll work up an appetite in The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014) from the classic French restaurant across the street from Maison Mumbai in the south of France.

23. Madcap Brits Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon reunite for The Trip to Italy (2014).

24. Gorgeous food, and such small portions! in Burnt (2015).

25. Take a mouth-watering trip around Los Angeles' ethnic neighborhoods in the documentary City of Gold (2015).

26. Paris can wait for you to savor the yummy food stylings of Paris Can Wait (2016).

27. More road-tripping, comedic riffing, and gourmet eating from Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon in The Trip to Spain (2017).

28. The Cakemaker (2017) will induce hunger for delicious pastries!

29. Ali Wong's celebrity chef designs some fancy food stylings in Always Be My Maybe (2019).

30. There's no pork, but Nic Cage's former chef whips up a few gourmet recipes in Pig (2021).

31. Roll up the rice and enjoy some East Side Sushi (2014).

32. You may never leave after tasting The Menu (2022).

33. Watching The Taste of Things (2023), you may long for a kitchen garden and a couple of sous chefs.

34. If you're lucky, your grandma will cook as well as these Nonnas (2025).

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Jack, Greg, and I really enjoyed this sequel, chock-full of special effects, science fiction, and, especially, jokes. Returning from the original Ant-Man we have Paul Rudd as Ant-Man (and co-writer), Evangeline Lilly as the Wasp, Michael Douglas as her father, Michael Peña (last blogged for The Martian) as Luis, and director Peyton Reed (all but Peña most recently in these pages for the 2015 movie).

This time we have additional talents of many, including Laurence Fishburne (last blogged for Passengers) and Michelle Pfeiffer (most recently in Murder on the Orient Express).

Reed directs from a script credited to four other co-writers: Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers (last blogged for Spider-Man: Homecoming), Andrew Barrer (his second produced screenplay), and Gabriel Ferrari (his first), and it moves along nicely, with plenty of laughs, as noted above. We saw it the day after it opened about two weeks ago, so my memory isn't solid.

Jack wanted me to be sure to include the parallel with the TV series The Streets of San Francisco, starring Douglas in the 1970s, which often had chase scenes where cars zoomed off hills and smacked down below, and the same thing happens in this movie.

Composer Christophe Beck's (most recently in these pages for American Made) action-y score can be streamed from this playlist.

Many have pointed out that no one has appeared in as many MCU (marvel Cinematic Universe) movies as writer/producer/actor Stan Lee. We were worried about Lee (he's 95 years old!) when his Deadpool 2 cameo was just a wall painting--so inconsequential I forgot to write about it then but I went back and added to the original post. He's back in fine form for this one with a funny bit, about 3/4 of the way through, during yet another car chase.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics at 87% and its audiences at 79 agree, for the most part, with us. It's still playing pretty much everywhere.

The Martian (2015)

Jack and I really enjoyed this long (2:14), special-effects laden story of an astronaut stranded on Mars in the near future. There are no lulls, as the action flashes back and forth between the red planet, our planet, and the crew of the spaceship. Matt Damon (last blogged in The Monuments Men) is as charming as ever as our hero, who keeps a video diary so he doesn't have to talk to a volleyball to let the audience know what he's feeling.

On the spaceship we have Jessica Chastain (most recently in A Most Violent Year), Michael Peña (last in Gangster Squad), Kate Mara (last in 127 Hours), and Sebastian Stan (not blogged but had a small part in Rachel Getting Married, played Bucky Barnes in Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and was one of the sons in Ricki and the Flash), and they alternately banter and work. In the serious NASA crew on earth the heavy hitters are Chiwetel Ejiofor (Oscar winner for 12 Years a Slave), Jeff Daniels (last in Looper), and Kristen Wiig (most recently in The Diary of a Teenage Girl). Notable cameos come from Donald Glover (after his 89 episodes of Community he played one of the MCs in Magic Mike XXL) and Mackenzie Davis (20 episodes starring as a computer geek in the AMC series Halt and Catch Fire) as computer geeks.

Ridley Scott (last blogged for Prometheus) directs from Drew Goddard's (wrote some things I haven't seen and nine episodes of Lost) adaptation of Andy Weir's book. Many of the best lines are taken straight from those pages, e.g. "I'm going to science the s*** out of it." That line, which is in the trailer, is why I was eager to see the movie. On another note, it's a really good ad for duct tape.

Harry Gregson-Williams' (last in the blog for Monkey Kingdom) score can be streamed in its entirety from this link (which has some stopping and starting at the beginning, and is supplemented by a fun selection of disco music, some of which is listed here.

Despite the mother who brought into our small theatre a toddler who alternately whined, cried, or sang with joy until removed after an hour's time (I stormed out and hissed at an employee, to whom I later apologized--Jack said he was "caught in the crossfire"--and someone from management asked them to leave), we had a great time. It has been playing for four weeks now but is still available in 3D, though we didn't spring for it. Rotten Tomatoes critics and audiences are loving it as we did, averaging 93% all.

Grandma (2015)

Jack and I really liked this story of a prickly woman and her granddaughter searching for cash to fund an abortion in Los Angeles. Lily Tomlin (covered in Admission) is brilliant as Elle, a published poet still reeling from the not-recent death of her long-time partner Violet, and Julia Garner (I didn't recognize her, though we've seen two of her pictures) is good as the pregnant teen. Marcia Gay Harden (last blogged in Whip It) is terrific, as always, as the daughter of one and mother of the other, feared by both.

Nat Wolff (most recently in Palo Alto and was in Admission as well), Sam Elliott (I'll See You in My Dreams), Judy Greer (Men, Women & Children), Laverne Cox (trans woman Sophia on Orange Is the New Black), and Elizabeth Peña (sadly, she died a year ago. Some of my favorites were Lone Star (1996), Tortilla Soup (2001), Transamerica (2005), and Mother and Child) all turn in good cameos. Read this glowing review from Variety after you've seen the movie.

Director/writer Paul Weitz says he had had the idea for the script before working the same duties on Admission with Tomlin but she helped him flesh it out.

The magnificent 1955 Dodge Royal driven by Elle in the movie actually belongs to Tomlin.

Joel P. West composed the dreamy music, which can be streamed on Spotify or purchased on amazon and iTunes.

Jodi, of the Tuesday night movie club, saw it before we did--moving and travel have kept us away from the big screens far too long--and dismissed it as "typical film fest fare not living up to its potential." We and Rotten Tomatoes' critics at 93% heartily disagree (RT audiences average 70%). In fact, we think film festivals tend to provide the best entertainment. Check this out at your neighborhood art house and listen for my new favorite movie line: "I don't have an anger problem, I have an a**hole problem."

Milestone: this is the 800th movie summarized on the blog since September 3, 2008. Sorry I've been too busy to write for a while. Working now to catch up!

Gangster Squad (2013)

Despite the violence Jack and I enjoyed ourselves at this film noir-style story of 1949 rogue cops trying to rid L.A. of mobster Mickey Cohen's dominance. Jack was eager to see anything by Ruben Fleischer, the director of Zombieland and 30 Minutes or Less and he wasn't disappointed, though we were sorry it was missing the humor of the previous two.

The cast is all great. Josh Brolin (most recently blogged in Men in Black 3) stars as Sergeant O'Mara, leader of the pack, which includes Ryan Gosling (last in The Ides of March) as Sergeant Wooters, Anthony Mackie (The Adjustment Bureau) as Officer Harris, Robert Patrick (familiar due to a small part in Trouble with the Curve and other action roles unseen by me) as Officer Kennard, Giovanni Ribisi (I liked him in The Rum Diary, though it wasn't very good) as Officer Keeler (the brains of the operation), and Michael Peña (End of Watch) as Officer Navidad Ramirez. Cohen is played by Sean Penn (the last thing I liked him in was Fair Game) in a prosthetic nose (Cohen was an ex-boxer, which fits nicely into the plot). Emma Stone (The Amazing Spider-Man) and Mireille Enos (played twins JoDean and Kathy on Big Love) round out, so to speak, the ensemble as partners for Wooters and O'Mara respectively.

This is the first screenplay for Will Beall (story editor/writer on the TV series Castle) who adapted the book Tales from the Gangster Squad by Paul Lieberman (Lieberman's book is based on his 2008 seven part series in the Los Angeles Times), and Lieberman acted as an Executive Producer. The movie was supposed to be released last year, but a scene of bad guys firing into a crowded movie theatre was removed, rewritten, and reshot after the tragedy in Aurora Colorado, all of which delayed the release until this month. The gangster squad really did exist, though some liberties were taken, especially with the conclusion.

It's no secret to regular readers of my blog that we love period details, and this one, designed by Maher Ahmad (dozens of credits including Zombieland and 30 Minutes or Less) is terrific: cars, sets, props, and the rich cinematography by Dion Beebe (won an Oscar and his guild's award for Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), Oscar-nominated for Chicago (2002), and nominated by his guild for Collateral (2004) and Nine, among many of his credits). The location shots of Los Angeles, whether real, computer-generated, or shot out of town, are spectacular as well.

Steve Jablonsky (apparently best known for composing soundtracks to several Transformers movies and the series Desperate Housewives) gives us an exciting score that you can stream from this link.

Though not for the faint of heart, as the mayhem isn't exactly cartoonish, this is still good and we recommend it for those with strong constitutions.

End of Watch (2012)

Pretty darn good, this veers wildly yet successfully between being a goofy buddy picture and a violent cop drama starring Jake Gyllenhaal (last in these pages in Source Code) and Michael Peña (covered in The Lincoln Lawyer, then in Everything Must Go, 30 Minutes or Less, and Tower Heist). There are some bloody images that will stay with you. Directed and written by David Ayer (wrote Training Day (2001), wrote and directed others I haven't seen), it pulls us in to the close relationship between these colleagues and the others in their lives, including Anna Kendrick (most recently in Pitch Perfect).

I wanted to flesh out the "placeholder" I wrote for this movie (we saw it October 18) because it's been nominated for a Critics Choice Best Actor Award for Gyllenhaal, and they will be handed out this Thursday evening. The National Board of Review has put this on its list of Top Ten Independent Films for the year and it has two nominations from the Independent Spirit Awards: Peña for Supporting Male and Roman Vasyanov (new to me) for Cinematography. The latter nomination is ironic to me because it's a serious MPMS (motion picture motion sickness) inducer, partly due to a subplot of Gyllenhaal's character documenting his life with a hand-held camera. Apparently I was warned but didn't look at my notes before we picked something to see while we were out of town back then.

Its expected DVD release is January 22 and with rottentomatoes' critics averaging 85 and audiences 88, you might want to put it in your queue if you don't mind violence and its dubious distinction of being sixth in the all time profanity list, with 326 instances of the F word in 109 minutes.

Placeholder for 6 movies

Yeah, I was behind in blogging when I left town on September 22, and since then I've been home for about 10 non-consecutive days, so here are brief summaries in the order in which we saw them, which I hope to flesh out soon, randomly. Please don't judge me for quoting myself later--a gal gets only so much inspiration. As of tonight three* are still playing on first-run screens in this area and one** in a second-run movie house.

Farewell My Queen, seen on 9/5. Beautiful costume drama about the spoiled Marie Antoinette (Diane Kruger), her devoted servant (Léa Seydoux), and her best friend (Virginie Ledoyen) with both of whom she cuddles every chance she gets. Noémie Lvovsky has a wonderful turn as the head ladies' maid who speaks volumes wordlessly. We liked it a lot.

**Premium Rush, seen 9/14. Awesome special effects of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a bicycle messenger appearing to weave madly in and out of Manhattan traffic. An inventive action movie with Michael Shannon playing yet another crazy guy, this one evil.

Celeste and Jesse Forever, seen 9/19. A grown-up romantic comedy co-written by and starring Rashida Jones as a career woman pulling away from her Peter Pan husband played by Andy Samberg. We loved it. Shot mostly with a handheld camera, this induces motion picture motion sickness (MPMS) on the big screen. Lucky for you, it isn't playing on any now and you'll be fine watching it at home.

*The Master, seen 10/3. Oscar-worthy performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman as a cult leader and Joaquin Phoenix as his angry protégé. Amy Adams supports as the cult leader's wife. Beautiful photography, wonderful period (1940-50s) set dressing and costumes.

*Looper, seen 10/5. Joseph Gordon-Levitt again, this time playing a young Bruce Willis, much the same way Josh Brolin played a young Tommy Lee Jones in Men in Black III. Only here, in addition to imitating the voice, Gordon-Levitt's eyebrows and certain facial characteristics have been altered digitally so that he resembles Willis. Good acting and well-crafted story about time travel in the near future--the third feature from director/writer Rian Johnson.

*End of Watch, seen 10/18. Pretty darn good, this veers wildly yet successfully between being a goofy buddy picture and a violent cop drama starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña. There are some bloody images that will stay with you. It's also a serious MPMS inducer since a subplot is that Gyllenhaal's character is documenting his life with a hand-held camera. Apparently I was warned but didn't look at my notes before we picked something to see while we were out of town last week.

Completed full posts will be linked to the titles as I complete them.

Tower Heist (2011)

Jack and I laughed a lot at this action comedy with a fully developed plot (victims team up to rob a Ponzi schemer) and awesome production values, reuniting Ben Stiller and two of his co-stars, Téa Leoni and Alan Alda, from the must-see indie Flirting with Disaster (1996), as well as Eddie Murphy, Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck, Gabourey Sidibe, Michael Peña, and many more. Since I panned Little Fockers and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, refer to Greenberg and Tropic Thunder for some Stiller fandom--he is earnest in this, playing it straight, but that's not a problem. As for Murphy, who is very funny here with his trademark rubbery face, for my favorites I would choose his debut 48 Hrs. (1982), Trading Places (1983), Coming to America (1988), Bowfinger (1999), Dreamgirls (2006), and this. 

My favorites of Broderick's work are WarGames (1983), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), The Freshman (1990), Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994), The Road to Wellville (1994), The Producers (2005), and Then She Found Me (2007). Alda (other faves: M*A*S*H of course (1972-1983), Same Time, Next Year (1978), The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979), The Four Seasons (1981), Sweet Liberty (1986), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), Betsy's Wedding (1990), Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993), and Everyone Says I Love You (1996) in which his song was one of the best, and he was Oscar-nominated for The Aviator (2004)) plays with finesse the charming but heartless financier. 

Affleck (covered in I'm Still Here) has a lot of funny lines, as do Peña (30 Minutes or Less) and Sidibe (Oscar-nominated for Precious and has been in every episode of The Big C). Leoni's (after Flirting with Disaster, my other favorites are The Family Man (2000), Hollywood Ending (2002), Spanglish (2004), and You Kill Me (2007)) FBI agent reminds me of the line from The First Wives Club (1996), when Goldie Hawn's character says that the only roles for women are "babe, district attorney, and Driving Miss Daisy." Leoni was a babe in Flirting, and she's every bit as lovely 15 years later, but not treated as such.

I believe this is the first Brett Ratner-directed movie I've seen and the pace is good. We didn't have high hopes when we saw there were two screenplay writers, Ted Griffin (Ocean's Eleven (2001), Matchstick Men (2003), others) and Jeff Nathanson (both of Ratner's Rush Hour sequels, Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Terminal (2004), more), and three story writers, Adam Cooper & Bill Collage (Accepted (2006) and an Olsen twins movie) and Griffin. But there are no plot holes that I remember (imdb contributors found a few) and the whole thing is quite entertaining. Oscar-nominated Dante Spinotti (for L.A. Confidential (1997) and The Insider (1999), and 60 other productions, including Public Enemies) is the cinematographer responsible for the beautiful photography of New York and the plush interiors, although I'm guessing he was not in the helicopter for the aerial shots.

Exciting jazz-inflected music is by Christophe Beck (last covered in Crazy, Stupid, Love.) and you can listen to tracks here. Check this out sometime. It probably won't be nominated for anything, but it's good fun.

30 Minutes or Less (2011)

Worth the wait, this action comedy about two slacker buddies who kidnap a pizza delivery guy, strap a bomb to his chest, and force him to rob a bank, bringing his buddy into the picture made Jack and me laugh out loud a lot. With lots of mayhem and car chases, and another great line and/or sight gag every few minutes, the second feature directing gig for Zombieland's (do you remember how much we both liked it?) Ruben Fleischer is so dumb it's clever, from a script by newcomer Michael Diliberti, who was assistant to big-time producer Scott Rudin on three productions then wrote this from a story by himself and Matthew Sullivan (he has a cameo as "Random Tanning Guy"). It seems as if they wrote the role of pizza guy Nick specifically for Jesse Eisenberg (I listed my favorites in The Social Network), who plays it as a smart 26-year-old whose life may be over before he's done anything about it. Early in the movie Nick says, "I never go on Facebook" as a wink to his much more famous and more critically acclaimed role. Aziz Ansari (best known as Tom Haverford on Parks and Recreation, he was also in Funny People and Get Him to the Greek) is hilarious as Nick's excitable friend Chet. Then, as the lead bad guy, Danny McBride, an acquired taste I have yet to acquire (I hated the movies and his characters in Pineapple Express, and Observe and Report, as well as the pilot of Eastbound and Down) is actually pretty funny as narcissistic trigger-happy lout Dwayne. Nick Swardson (Blades of Glory (2007), You Don't Mess with the Zohan, Just Go With It, more) is also good as Dwayne's smarter-than-he-seems buddy Travis. With fine support from, among others, Fred Ward (my faves: The Right Stuff (1983), Silkwood (1983), Henry & June (1990) as Henry Miller, The Player (1992), Short Cuts (1993), and Sweet Home Alabama (2002)) as the Major, Michael Peña (after I listed my favorites in The Lincoln Lawyer we liked and liked him in Everything Must Go) as a gang banger, and Bianca Kajlich (I haven't seen her series Rules of Engagement, nor do I remember her from Boston Public, 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), or Bring It On (2000)) as his girlfriend, a stripper named Juicy who appears topless.

I didn't realize the story seems to be based on a true tragedy. Yikes. Set in and shot mostly in Grand Rapids, Michigan (the rest in other places in that state), it's short, like Zombieland, at 1 hour 23 minutes.

There is apparently a score by Ludwig Goransson, who scored the TV shows Community and Happy Endings, but you're unlikely to notice, because of all the action-appropriate songs. I counted, but can't remember the number anymore. Someone online made a list of some of them, though, and here it is:
Tick Tick Boom - The Hives
Sure Shot - Beastie Boys
I Promise - Generationals
Where I'm Going - Cut Copy
Laredo - Band of Horses
Ignition Remix - R. Kelly
Is There Any Love - Kid Cudi
No Hay Manera (Jason Roberts Remix) - Akwid
Jumper - Third Eye Blind
The Stroke - Billy Squier
Heat is On - Glenn Frey
Ante Up - M.O.P
Baby I Got Your Money - Ol' Dirty Bastard
Me So Horny - 2 Live Crew

We really liked this in defiance of critics, who averaged only 42% positive reviews on rottentomatoes, while 68% of audiences enjoyed it, making it #11 at the box office last weekend after three weeks. And don't rush out of the theatre afterwards. There's a terrific bonus right before the lights come up.

Everything Must Go (2010)

The last of our four movies in four days, we picked a good one Saturday with this story of Nick, an alcoholic who, in the movie's first five minutes, loses his job and finds that his wife has put all his possessions on the front lawn of their Scottsdale, Arizona, home and changed the locks. Will Ferrell is terrific playing it straight as he did in Stranger Than Fiction (2006) (I listed my favorites in The Other Guys). This is a feature debut for advertising director Dan Rush, who directs and very loosely adapted the screenplay from Raymond Carver's short story Why Don't You Dance (you can read the whole thing in five minutes here). According to the production notes (best to read them after seeing the movie, go to this link and click Download Full Production Notes), Rush wrote the script on spec. 14-year-old Christopher Jordan Wallace (the son of Notorious B.I.G.), who played his father as a boy in the movie Notorious, Rebecca Hall (after I wrote about her in Please Give I saw her in The Town), and Michael Peña (see my post on The Lincoln Lawyer) are also great as Nick's only friends. Mention must be made of Stephen Root (briefly mentioned in Cedar Rapids) as a skeezy neighbor.

Unlike some reviewers (spoiler alert), I liked the score by David Torn (Lars and the Real Girl (2007), The Wackness, more, plus a long career with lots of respected musicians), but you will probably leave humming The Band's "I Shall Be Released" (it's not actually the first track on Music From Big Pink) and other chestnuts from Nick's vinyl collection. I don't see a soundtrack list available online. The critics have rated this 76% on rottentomatoes and audiences only 69%. We liked it a lot.

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

It's been a while since Jack and I have gone to a matinee on a movie's opening day, but we managed it Friday and liked the story of an L.A. attorney working out of the back seat of his vintage Town Car (his using a driver is explained early on) with the license plate NTGUILTY. Starring Matthew McConaughey (my favorites of his work: Edtv (1999), Contact (1997), Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001), How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days (2003), and Dazed and Confused (1993), in that order) and Ryan Phillippe (he bugs me, despite the fact that he's been in some movies I loved, e.g. Gosford Park (2001), one of my all-time favorites Igby Goes Down (2002), and Crash (2004)) as the lawyer Micky Haller and his Beverly Hills client Louis Roulet (because Roulet is sketchy, it's okay that I feel that way about Phillippe), the movie boasts McConaughey's confident grin, a real plot, photography of all sides of the city, some kick-ass rap music and more star power in the supporting roles. Marisa Tomei (I wrote about her in Cyrus) is credited as a star but her role is supporting, though not superfluous, as Micky's wife. Michael Peña (Crash, Babel (2006), World Trade Center (2006), more) has some fine and moving scenes as convict Jesus Martinez. The reliable William H. Macy (Oscar nominated for Fargo (1996), he was also wonderful in Boogie Nights (1997), Wag the Dog (1997), Magnolia (1999), State and Main (2000), The Cooler (2003), Thank You for Smoking (2005), and the current outstanding and nasty Showtime series Shameless) puts in good work as the investigator Frank, as does Bryan Cranston (formerly Malcolm in the Middle's dim dad Hal, then Breaking Bad's crafty high-school-chemistry-teacher-turned-meth-manufacturer Walt) as a detective, and country music star Trace Adkins plays the leader of a motorcycle gang who, to quote The Wizard of Oz, come and go so quickly.

Director Brad Furman started out as Julia Roberts' assistant on Erin Brockovich (2000) and The Mexican (2001) and in the next two years he wrote, produced, and directed three shorts. Now, after directing another feature, The Take (2007) that got right past me, he's in the multiplexes with this one. I looked at 10-15 sites to find out his age, but it's apparently not public. John Romano wrote the screenplay adaptation of the Michael Connelly 2005 novel of the same name. The Lincoln Lawyer is the first of Connelly's "Micky Haller novels" (he's written 14 "Harry Bosch novels," two "Micky Haller and Harry Bosch novels," and another "Micky Haller novel" is coming out next month--good timing!).

The song list can be found here, clips are edited together on this preview, and here's a taste of the original music by Cliff Martinez (fascinating bio, and downloads of music files are available on another page of his site). When you see it, remember I mentioned "missionary man." This is good entertainment--a bit dark, not for kids, rated R for a reason.

There were plenty of people at our afternoon screening, including a woman older than I who shushed me 10 seconds after the trailers began (Jack noted that, though we kept our remarks to each other to in-ear-whispering, people around her were talking, rustling wrappers, and one had a conversation on her cell phone). Perhaps the increased numbers were due to the fact that Groupon sold 190,000 discount tickets! Despite that promotion, Limitless kicked The Lincoln Lawyer's ass at the box office last weekend.

Mother and Child (2009)

This is Colombian writer/director Rodrigo García's fourth delicate, smart, ironic ensemble piece about women and I just loved it. Starring Annette Bening, Naomi Watts, and Kerry Washington, who are all superb, it's about longing for maternal relationships and, often, women behaving badly. They refuse to fit in the way society expects them to, they tell their own truths, and they live their lives their own way. García's earlier ensemble pieces were Things You Can Tell Just By Looking at Her (2000), Ten Tiny Love Stories (2001), and Nine Lives (2005), and he also wrote/directed/produced much of In Treatment for HBO, among other things. He writes/directs women very well.

Bening (deservedly Oscar-nominated for The Grifters (1990), American Beauty (1999), and Being Julia (2004); some of my other faves are Running with Scissors (2006), The American President (1995), and Bugsy (1991) during which filming she met her husband Warren Beatty) plays Karen as dead inside, with her pain palpable behind her pale, drawn face (though we did laugh at some of her prickly, almost Asperger's outbursts). Watts' (first noticed in Hollywood for David Lynch's creative Mullholland Dr. (2001), she was Oscar-nominated for 21 Grams (2003), many of you will remember her in the Peter Jackson King Kong (2005) remake, and I really liked her in We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004) and The Painted Veil (2006)--my loyal readers know how much I liked that) Elizabeth is better than Karen at blending in socially and professionally but she has her own extremes, which I will leave unsaid. Washington (not only is she powerful onscreen, she has been cast in some fabulous movies, e.g. The United States of Leland (2003), The Human Stain (2003), Ray (2004), The Last King of Scotland (2006), Lakeview Terrace; and, although Chris Rock's I Think I Love My Wife (2007) may not have been noteworthy, her performance as the temptress was) does the most emoting as Lucy, which is welcome compared to the other two.

The excellent supporting cast includes several García veterans: Amy Brenneman, Elizabeth Peña, Lisa Gay Hamilton, as well as Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits, Eileen Ryan, S. Epatha Merkerson, David Morse, and especially Shareeka Epps, who was so good in Half Nelson (2006), as the deep-voiced pregnant girl Ray. The soundtrack (by Ed Shearmur, who has collaborated with García before; plus a few songs--here's Little One) is delightful. You can preview some tracks on amazon or iTunes. Among the executive producers are Mexican directors Alfonso Cuarón (Y tu mamá también (2001)) and Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros (2000), Babel (2006), and 21 Grams). Good company. Go see it!

Observe and Report (2009)

I'm going to write about this one first--the one I didn't like. Faithful (and since-the-beginning) followers of babetteflix may remember I hated Pineapple Express, but I chalked that up to outside influences. I'll try to analyze why this one bugged me so much. Mean-spirited, violent, racist, egomaniacal loser thinks he can win skank girl and save the mall, or perhaps the city. What's not to like? Hmmm. Sure, I'm a white woman in my 50s, but anyone who has checked out my netflix recommendations knows that my taste in movies is way wider than my world. So that's not it. Ever see a movie where the lead character annoys you? A lot? That may be part of it. 

I read somewhere that the director, Jody Hill, thought it was supposed to be sad, not funny. All the ads said funny (which isn't his fault). Parts were sad, I guess, and Jack & I laughed some, with long, sighing spaces in between. If the director thought it was sad, then the producers and editors messed it up. Apparently I am not alone in hating this. It has only rated 53 out of 100 on movietickets.com and has inspired much ranting. Here's a link (which contains a mild spoiler) by someone who says they actually liked the movie, but discusses one part that many found the most disturbing. Frankly, I was not surprised by that part. I was surprised and disappointed in the fine actor Michael Peña (Crash (2004), Babel (2006), World Trade Center (2006)) for playing a lisping moron. I observed, I report: C+ for 10 minutes of laughter and one hour 36 minutes of wishing I were somewhere else. Jack said that was generous. I hope to watch Jody Hill's Eastbound & Down mini-series on HBO to see if it's any better.