Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Billy Wonka (A) on July 30, 2014 at 15:40:46

'And So It Goes' -- The beauty of Mike Douglas' career is that he picks roles or roles are written for whom he really is. He is so believable because that's him on the screen. He has had the luxury of not grabbing a paycheck and this film is good and above "just a paycheck".

This Rob Reiner "old folks" film is about Douglas trying to sell his family home for $8+M when it comps almost $3M less when real life comes crashing through his narcissistic shell in the form of his ten year old granddaughter he did not know and a budding (rocky) romance with his next door neighbor. There are quite a few laughs and a few soft spots but the film generally moves along at a good pace and has a predictable ending. This is a "date night" movie for you and the ball and chain particularly if you both have gray hair and receding hairlines.



'Lullaby' -- A wealthy banker (Richard Jenkins) has six months to live, well that was twelve years ago but now it's really time. He calls his son (rock n roll wannabe) and his young lawyer daughter to be at his side because he's decided to unplug at 8:00 am the next morning. His daughter gets an injunction against it and fireworks fly over the course of a long day and night. Hedlund (errant son) is not ready to cope with the situation and gives mom (Anne Archer) fits. There is a cute aside with Hedlund meeting a young teen girl who talks him into meeting the kids in her ward. One kid delivers the best line: "We are going to die before we have sex."

No movie about cancer is easy as we have all had to contend with it but this film pretty much covers the bases with laughs, tender moments, rage, and loss. Jenkins is superb and the rest of the cast is fine but poor Archer was condemned to looking distraught nearly the whole time.

It's really hard to recommend cancer films so I will just say it might be worth a cable viewing--if the subject matter agrees.