No Escape from The Gift

We went to two movies this weekend and all I can say is:  If you want a movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat, pick your poison.

First was "No Escape" about a Couple that moves to Southeast Asia for a new job and takes their young daughters to settle in a new job.  Before they can unpack, they find themselves in a major civil unrest in which all Americans are targeted.  It is an intensely brutal race to escape with the help of a CIA-type (Pierce Brosnan). The couple played by Owen Wilson and Lake Bell make this adventure very real.  When the goal is to find safety in Vietnam, you are in big trouble.  Very well done in a super tense way!  I give it ***1/2 stars  2015 Movie 40

If that wasn't enough we went to see "The Gift". After all Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 93!  It is tense in a very different way but also similar.  In this a couple also moves to a new city (LA) so that the guy, Simon, (Jason Bateman) can take a new job. Similar, but when they arrive they bump into an old high school classmate of Simon. The classmate starts imposing himself on them and soon everyone's world is going crazy.  

In "No Escape" the danger is all around and straight-forward, but in "The Gift" you don't know what is true and what is false.  It is another kind of tense.  Great cast. Great Suspense. Great Story.

I give it ****stars. 2015 movie #41.  

Both are R rated.

Experimental Theology: Our Job Is To Love Others

Experimental Theology: Our Job Is To Love Others: Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody&#3...

American Ultra

When I saw the previews, I thought I would like this but the reviews where very mixed: The reviewers either loved it or hated it.  Put me in the first category.  Take a stoner convenience store clerk who has a girl friend that works for a Bail Bond company. The throw in a Jason Bourne idea that no one sees coming including the stoner. Fun Movie. Great cast: even the actors not in it long like John Leguizamo, Bill Pullman and Walter Goggins (Justified).  It is good bloody fun among friends.  I like Jesse Eisenberg a lot and this is his kind of story!

Hint: The title is a CIA Operation.  It is R.

I give it **** stars (I'm demented)  2015 movie 39

Giving Blood

Our church sponsored a Red Cross Blood Drive last night and I gave a pint or two.

It reminded me again of the first time I ever gave blood. I was a college kid home for the summer at a time when the Arkansas River was flooding. A friend, Chris, and I drove out to see the water over the highway between Haskell and Porter and was just leaning against my car. Chris's Dad pulled up and said that he had been looking for us. He said he had a friend in the VA Hospital who needed blood and wanted us to give it.  We hoped in the car and drove to Muskogee. I finished giving blood before Chris and the Nurse gave me some grape juice to drink. I took the glass and said to Chris: "I guess they took too much blood and want me to drink some of it." He stared at me a minute and passed out!

People have told me since that I was crazy for giving blood on that day, June 1, 1968. I gave blood about 1:30 pm and that night at 7:00pm was our wedding. Chris was the best man.

UNCLE!

I sometimes watched "Man From U.N.C.L.E." on TV back in the 60's. It was a take off on James Bond and Mission Impossible and very good at that.  It was 60's fashion with cool cars, music and bad guys.

The new version is just as good. It has witty banter. East meets West rivalry (just like the "Cold War" days. Nothing critical to say about this story. Just great summer fun and action.

I give it ***1/2 stars 2015 Movie 38

Jesus, I don't know what to do!

I don't know what to do about  Prayer in School.

Jesus: "When you pray go to your room, close the door and pray to the Father, who is unseen."

I don't know what to do about the Poor.

Jesus: "I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me."

I don't know what to do with all the immigrants.

Jesus: " They need not go away. You give them something to eat."

I only have some loaves of bread and a little fish!

Jesus: "Bring them to Me."

I don't know what to do, I need a sign to know who to vote for.

Jesus: "You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interrupt the signs of the times.  A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah."

MM

New Yorker Cartoon Fix

Less Traveled Blogs

I seems odd that just two years ago, I was posting almost daily about all kinds  of things.  I even got myself in trouble for some posts and regret that incident. I did though let such things cause me to back off so much that I have only been posting Movie thoughts.  Since then I have started a new Architectural firm that has a Facebook page, it's own blog and a web site. "Yikes-a-hooty" as Leatherman would say!

I am wanting to do more of this again so we will see.

"I've got miles to go before I sleep."

Ricki and the Flash

"Ricki and the Flash" proves one again that Meryl Streep is simply the best actor alive.  This time she is an aging Rocker who never made it big and in the process left her family behind.  It is very typical of people who will pursue a dream no matter who they have to discard.  The story deals with her entry back into her family's lives. It is Happy and sad with a good Hollywood ending.  Her band is a cover band and her boyfriend is the lead guitar player (Rick Springfield)> Not too shabby.

Enjoyable movie with great music.  I read where Meryl actually learned to play the guitar so that she could not just be a poser (though she doesn't play what we hear).

I give it ***stars. 2015 Movie #37

MI: Rogue Nation

"Rogue Nation"  Interesting title for a fun movie.  There is no Rogue "Nation"in the movie but the same "rogue bad guys" that inhabit the Bond Movies and such.  This Mission Impossible is as good as any. It entertains from the beginning mixing humor, peril, and spy fights just like a good summer movie should do.  It liked this in the same vein as "Ant-Man"  

Come to think of it Tom Cruise is sort of an Ant Man too!

Great Summer Fun! I give it ***stars.

2015 Movie 36.