Movie Review Madness - Beauty and the Beast

A tale as old as time….Beauty and the Beast gets a live action Disney remake that is absolutely gorgeous and worthy. Go see it on a monster big screen. Spring for the good theater with XD fancy screen and sound. Get the big tub of popcorn and bask in an old fashioned musical.  Not much new to the story. Belle (Emma Watson) is the odd girl in an old French town. She reads books, for goodness sake, and dreams of more to life. No, she does not want to marry Gaston (Luke Evans) – the hot male in town who’s an egomaniac.  Her father (the always good to see Kevin Kline) is eccentric and when he goes off to market loses his way and ends up a prisoner in an odd creepy castle. His faithful horse shows up and takes Belle to find him. There she says, “Step into the light” and meets the Beast.

This formerly vain prince had a curse placed upon him and his castle.  Now, until a final rose petal falls, he must remain a hideous creature and his servants are stuck as candelabras (Ewan McGregor), clocks (Ian McKellan), teapots (Emma Thompson), and the fancy wardrobe (Audra MacDonald- fabulous voice),  etc.   Belle swaps places with her father and shows her strong will. She’s not going to put up with crap from the Beast. But slowly she realizes he is her match – he’s well read, has a fabulous library, and she slowly makes him less selfish. Meanwhile, she charms the characters and they love her.

Emma Watson is perfect in this role. She projects intelligence. Her interplay with the Beast (a charming and worthy Dan Stevens) works. And he slowly wins her favor and ours. Deep down he is human, he does care, and does need and seek love. Can she fall for him in time to save them all?  Oh, you must enjoy the film to the end – bask in the lavish numbers (Be Our Guest). Love is unpredictable, and sometimes you do have to look into the soul, into the core of a creature to find what’s worthy.  So, yes, a bit of a lesson in this day and age. But the supreme goal of Beauty and the Beast is to entertain, to tell a tale as old as time…and golly gee, it will win your heart. 

Movie Review: The Impossible

The Impossible is freakin' unbelievable. Try to live through a tsunami. Way too much water just pounding every single thing until it dies.

Well, the Belon family manages to live - all four of them. Naomi Watts is up for an Oscar as Maria - the mother who manages to live through very life threatening surgeries. Her son, Lucas, played by Tom Holland sticks with her and manages to help others. Meanwhile Ewan McGregor (always excellent) survives with the other younger sons and ultimately is able to find his wife, son, and get them out of Thailand.

Even though you know it is a happy ending, you find yourself holding your breath, crying, and very fearful for this family. This is angst times twenty. Holy cow. It all looks good when they land at Christmas time. Then 12/26 the tsunami strikes and it becomes a crazy world. The force of water plus debris causes so much damage. The hospitals can't keep up with the trauma. You truly fear for Maria's life at so many points. Again, Lucas, the elder son, is such a good actor. You feel his fear and yet embrace his hope. When the family manages to all meet, you'll be using a pile of tissues.

The Impossible is exhilarating film making, with great acting, supeb water effects, and an amazing true story. I left waterlogged, in a good way. Happy ending, but to get there you must endure a tsunami..............whoa times a zillion. I truly can't imagine that Thailand is back to "normal". Wow!