Author Archives: jjcwn

Movie Review: Splitsville

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The new movie “Splitsville” starts in a car with a married couple, after witnessing a bad car accident, get into an argument where the wife, Ashley, played by Adria Arjona, tells her husband, Carey, played by Kyle Marvin that she not only wants a divorce, but has been having many affairs. In an effort to be very new and different, Cary steps out of the car and then starts running away for many miles. The last time I saw an emotional reaction to a depressing event involving long-distance running was “Forest Gump” (1994). This time around, running for miles after finding out Carey’s wife wanted a divorce was more weird than effective.

Splitsville plays like a parody of all the many things that can go wrong in a relationship, including the problems with monogamy. This story is also about what can go wrong in an open marriage, which is the relationship solution of Julie and Paul, played by Dakota Johnson and Michael Angelo Covino, who are close friends with Carey. The point of all this is what we all know: there are no easy answers, no perfect marriages or relationships. Many things can go wrong in life when you are single, problems can grow exponentially within any marriage, and even more when you have children. These include money problems, another aspect of this story within the relationship of Julie and Paul.

Another unusual new idea is a huge fistfight between close friends Carey and Paul that travels throughout a large lakehouse, breaking furniture and even a massive fish tank. Much of this is crazy and unexpected, and is mostly an attempt to make the film more memorable than it would be otherwise, without these insane scenes.

There are some funny moments and some good acting within this insane story, and while I do not agree with the too high 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, I give this unusual movie a 75% and a mild recommendation.

Movie Review: Caught Stealing

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In terms of horrible New York City apartments, squalor, and barely surviving, set in a gritty, dark, and depressing story, the new movie “Caught Stealing” is one of the all-time standards.

Caught Stealing stars Austin Butler as Hank Thompson and Zoë Kravitz as his girlfriend, Yvonne, who are constantly in trouble, running for their lives, and getting beaten up. One of the early beatings of Hank involves a long period of kicking his midsection while he is lying on the ground. This causes Hank to lose one of his kidneys. At some point during a scene like this, you would think that director Darren Aronofsky would have yelled ‘cut’ long before this scene became obvious overkill.

Unfortunately, this movie is mostly about scenes like this, with one of the few good aspects, the appearance of an extremely attractive house cat, who is present for almost the entire movie, despite the constant gunfire and violence. My guess is the director thought of having this cat appear in this movie to diffuse the over-the-top action scenes.

The story is about a large sum of money that two groups of criminals are trying to find at all costs. Hank has a friend who is leaving for England, and the criminals think that Hank knows where the money is. What follows are chase scenes and non-stop gunfire.

One group of criminals is a Russian gang, the other group of two Hasidic Jewish men, played by two well-known actors, Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio, are the most violent, at one point blowing up a nightclub with many people still inside. Regina King plays a police detective in a role and a story twist that we have all seen too many times before.

While the acting is good in this film, the story, over top violence and several parts of the conclusion that do not hold water, I do not recommend this movie, despite the too high 84% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Movie Review: The Roses

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The new movie “The Roses” is a remake/reimagining of “The War of the Roses”, released in 1989, that starred Michael Douglass and Kathleen Turner. This story is about a marriage and the long-term degradation of the relationship over many years.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays Theo Rose, an architect, and Olivia Colman plays Ivy Rose, who becomes a very successful Chef who starts several restaurants in Mendocino, California. Meanwhile, her husband, Theo, loses his job as an architect after one of his buildings collapses following a severe storm. The problems start with Ivy becoming very successful and opening restaurants, and Theo becoming the house husband. The issues with marriages dissolving is the same, “he thinks, she thinks”, due to bad communication over a long period of time. Very often we think the other person is thinking something that they aren’t because there is no communication between the two people.

This story is about the man is no longer making a living and he starts thinking his wife no longer respects him – which may or may not be true. Of all the things that can go wrong in a marriage, money problems are the number one reason for divorce, with the very obvious exceptions celebrities like Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez and Angelina Joule and Brad Pitt, reminding the world that there is much more to a long term relationship than just money. Theo in his first task as a house father, starts athletic training for his son and daughter, turning them into major athletes that causes resentment from Ivy who thinks that Theo is trying to steal her children.

This film also stars Kate McKinnon as Amy and Andy Samberg as Barry who are the friends of the Rose’s. While Kate is her normal funny self, she has a somewhat sick and tired looking appearance that is part of her role as a an emotionally drained person, disillusioned about her married life. Samberg is also funny in his role as Theo’s friend and lawyer who later represents him in a volatile divorce hearing with Allison Janney in a scene that is both real life vicious and funny at the same time.

There is a very violent climax scene that will remind everyone of the original “War of the Roses”, although the violence between Ivy and Theo is less than the original movie.

I was surprised at the relatively low 63% rating on Rotten Tomatoes for this film, with the acting alone worth a solid 75%. I give a solid recommendation to this movie which is a reminder of the realities of love, marriage and divorce.