Jersey Boys.  I always have mixed feelings about making a movie out of a Broadway play, or vice versa.  It’s strange I no longer develop that same inquietude about making a movie from a book.  Maybe the former is because I’m not capable of separating the two media well, whereas the latter is a case where the media is so different that I’m willing to put on a different hat (and maybe realize that Hollywood is going to ruin the original story anyway).  In any case, I can say that something is always lost in the translation.

This is a (fictionalized, I’m sure) history of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.  Drippy nostalgia for old Baby Boomers like me?  (This old Baby Boomer prefers to look to the future, however uncertain it might be).  Many people who’ve forgotten the songs will remember them when hearing them again in the play or the movie.  I understand that the lead role in the movie was played by the same actor who had the role on Broadway.  I didn’t pay that much attention.

I don’t know why Clint Eastwood thought this was worthy of his directing talents.  I can’t imagine he needs the money.  Maybe he’s as old as and friends with Frankie, who appeared at the Washington Fourth ceremony looking as much like a shriveled old prune as Eastwood did on that GOP Convention stage (the only memorable silliness of that convention).  Not as bad as certain old rockers, I guess, but you wonder why these people just don’t ride off into the sunset.  Of course, there’s Tony Bennett too.  Reliving glory days?

All that said, the music always seemed sappy to me; the movie reflects that.  The only highlight was Christopher Walken as a New Jersey mob figure, but most people will prefer James Gandolfini.  I’ll take my Jersey music from the Boss, thank you, which, so far, still rocking original.

Ida.  This is a foreign film that deserves more recognition.  A nun who’s about to take her vows discovers she is Jewish and goes on a road trip with her depressed aunt to discover what happened to her parents and the aunt’s infant child during pre-WW II Poland.  It has great black-and-white camera work that plays with shadows and light to heighten the quiet suspense.  The screenplay is intriguingly suspenseful in a quiet way, although the subtitles probably don’t do justice to the dialog.  It almost made me want to learn Polish.  The historical nuances are subtle and menacing as we see how anti-Semitic sentiment impacted the lives of ordinary Polish people.  The sub-story of how a future nun moves between the secular world outside and the spiritual world inside the convent is also profound.  Try to see this one—it’s well worth it.

Begin Again.  I didn’t like Mark Ruffalo in The Kids Are All Right.  I didn’t like him here either.  It’s classified as a romantic comedy?  I guess it’s interesting that Keira Knightly can almost sing—tra-la-la.  The boyfriend who betrays her character is almost a stereotype for every misogynist ass who doesn’t know how to treat women, so some might find him interesting too.  But back to Ruffalo.  Has Hollywood just shoehorned him into these stupid roles?  Or, does he actually choose them?  This comes across as a really disorganized and trivialized copy of Once.  You do get a wee bit of a tour around New York City tourist sites, but I can’t recommend this movie to anyone.

Tammy.  I’m writing this review from the previews—that’s all I can stomach.  The trailers seem to be all over the place (Hollywood honchos afraid they wasted money on this one?), but this movie will probably go down in flames.  Has Hollywood just shoehorned her into these stupid roles?  Or, does she actually choose them?  (Nice when the same review lines do double duty!)  Maybe it’s the screenwriter or director’s fault?  (Oops!  I think her husband is in there somewhere.)  Give me a comedy with some real wit to it, not this lame-brain physical stuff.  I just know many men in the audience will be laughing at a weight-challenged woman.  Get a life, guys!

And so it goes….

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