The best thing about the new movie “Instant Family” is that it is based on a true story. If this story were not true, it would not be believable enough and lack of believe-ability for this story would result in a lesser movie. A couple in their 40’s who collaborate to flip houses, decide that their lives are not fulfilling enough and after being inspired to adopt a foster child, wind up adopting 3 children, who were abandoned by their mother because of her drug addiction.

The instinct for any couple like this would be to want to save these 3 kids who have had a very difficult time surviving and being shipped around to different foster homes. What makes this movie good is that it shows the reality of taking on the huge responsibility of living with 3 emotionally damaged children. The couple, played by Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne volunteer to become foster parents for these 3 children, so that eventually they would be able to adopt them. This is not always easy considering the court systems in this country and the possibility of their mother wanting them back after she leaves prison and rehab. This very well written story points out the harsh realities of foster care and how dire the lives of so many children who have no family, and no real future because of parents who either abandoned them or died. There are so many children that need homes but not nearly enough parents to adopt them, but the huge responsibilities and cost of taking on foster children are overwhelming.

The cast of this film includes Tig Notaro, Octavia Spencer and the excellent stand-up comedian Iliza Shlesinger in what is her first movie role, playing a woman who wants to adopt a football player. This is a reference to the very good movie “The Blind Side” that was released in 2009 starring Sandra Bullock. This sub-story is played for laughs during the entire movie and for the most part works very well. The acting in this film is also very good, as is the message and the attempts at humor. The highlight of this movie is actress Isabela Moner who has both looks and acting ability that should give her a very long career in Hollywood. This movie has also reviewed very well receiving a very solid 80% on Rotten Tomatoes and I both agree with this rating and recommend this very solid family film.

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The new movie “Widows” is highly unusual for several reasons. The story is told in a very original way, filling in the blanks of the story in unexpected areas of the film. I have also rarely scene such a high number of named actors all in the same movie – including Colin Farrell, Viola Davis, Liam Neeson, Michelle Rodriguez, Daniel Kaluuya, Lukas Haas and even Robert Duvall. There were several new ideas in movie making that I have not seen before, including once scene where a car was in motion and there was a conversation going on inside, and all that was shown was the darkened windshield of the car. New ideas are the cornerstone of a good movie, and Widows is a very high quality production. There is a good deal of violence in this movie and the message of this story is that when you get involved with crime and associate with very bad people, you are putting not only yourself but also your family in grave danger.

It all starts with a great screenplay and the screenplay for Widows was written by the director Steve McQueen and Gillian Flynn, who also wrote the screenplay for Gone Girl. This is one of the very rare times in movie history where two major celebrities have had the same name – Steve McQueen. Based on this new movie Widows and “12 Years a Slave”, released in 2013, McQueen is becoming known as highly respected director in Hollywood.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings for Widows is an extremely high 91% and based on the complex and well told story and great cast, I agree with this rating. I highly recommend Widows.

The new movie “What They Had” is about an adult brother and sister with older parents and their mother has advanced Alzheimer’s. With a story like this one, just about everything is hard to watch as their aging mother wanders off in the snow in suburban Chicago and tries to take a train to her childhood home. She thinks a stapler is a phone and over time remembers less and less and recognizes almost no one in her family. The story of this movie is mostly about the logistics of what to do with their mother and what is best for not only her but her husband who is refusing to send her to any care facility.

Any husband having to watch his wife of over 50 years go through something like this is heartbreaking and the real life acting in this movie is outstanding. Starting with Blythe Danner as the older woman with Alzheimer’s, Robert Forster as her long suffering husband, Hillary Swank as her daughter and Micheal Shannon as her brother. It was good to see Hillary Swank in this high quality film as she has had one of the most volatile careers in acting as anyone ever has – having won 2 Oscars and then a series of bad movies after “Million Dollar Baby” in 2005. Hopefully this movie will be a strong comeback for her career.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings for What They Had is an extremely high 88% and I agree with this rating and highly recommend this movie. I really disliked the constant smoking in this movie that was 100% completely unnecessary. Hopefully one day this disgusting practice will stop, but for now we all have to tolerate producers accepting money from Tobacco companies and showing people smoking.

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