And, even more movies (March edition)

I hope you are not getting tired of these movie posts. It is amazing the number of movies that are available to be seen. I prefer short movies with good actors. I will be inclined to select one which is less than two hours and will give known actors a chance. But, as noted below, known actors are not always required for a good movie.

Here are a few more, in no particular order.

“Nothing but the truth” starring Kate Beckinsale, Matt Dillon, Angela Bassett, Vera Farmiga and Alan Alda is about a reporter (played Beckinsale) who condemns the president for ignoring a CIA report and goes to jail rather than reveal her source. Dillon plays the special counsel who has her jailed.

“Playing for keeps” starring Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Noah Lomax, Judy Greer, Uma Thurman, Dennis Quaid, and Catherine Zeta-Jones is about a retired professional soccer player (played by Butler) who is coming to grips with being a better father after his divorce. He ends up coaching his son’s team and has a series of ups and downs as he is own worst enemy, especially with the mothers of the other soccer players on his son’s team.

“Before I fall” starring Zoey Deutch is about a popular teen girl who relives her final day of her fatal accident over and over again. She learns what matters most as she reaches out to others, including a girl who was ostracized, and she could not save as they both died. It also stars Halston Sage (who was in the series “Prodigal Son”), Logan Miller, Elena Kampouris and Jennifer Beals. The “Groundhog Day” concept is interesting to see it play out with teen angst as the backdrop.

“Heat and Dust” starring Greta Scacchi, Shashi Kapoor, Julie Christie, Zakir Hussain and Christopher Casenove was a very pleasant surprise as it focused on two time frames. Christie’s character is researching what happened to her mother’s sister in India played by Greta Scacchi (who starrred in “Presumed Innocent”) in the 1920s. The title conveys the two worst challenges of living in India without any A/C, but the heat may also imply passion, with dust being we should live our lives as we will all be dust at some point.

“Edge of Love” starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Matthew Rhys, and Cillian Murphy is a fictional story about poet Dylan Thomas (played by Rhys) who is in love with two women – his wife Caitlin (Miller) and an old girlfriend Vera (Knightly). The love for both continues even when the women become best friends and Vera marries Murphy before he goes off to the war. While Murphy is away in WWII, the other three move to a town in Wales to escape the bombing.

“At Middleton” will not sound too complex, but two lonely married parents meet when taking their two children to visit a fictitious school called Middleton. Vera Farmiga plays the mother of a determined and organized young girl (played by her sister Taissa) who truly wants to attend there. Andy Garcia plays the father of a young boy (played by Spencer Lofranco) who is not sure what he wants to do and where he wants to go. Peter Reigert and Tom Skerritt play important cameos for the two young prospective students. Farmiga and Garcia are intriguing as they joust and have fun together, but the two teens are also a part of the story.

“Only You” starring Josh O’Connor and Laia Costa is about their become a couple (Jake and Elena) overcoming an age gap with Elena at 35 and Jake at 26, which bothers Elena more. Nonetheless, they are obviously smitten with each other as they move in together and try to start a family. But, their passion does not translate into pregnancy and they fight through the challenges, especially with her friends getting pregnant. There is a good ensemble cast of friends, but the role that stands out is Jake’s father, played by Peter Wight, who offers the needed counsel. We had just seen Costa, who is a Spanish actress, in movie called “Maine,” so we may be seeing more of her in English speaking movies.

“My Blueberry Nights” starring singer Norah Jones in her acting debut follows her from New York to Tennessee to Las Vegas as she meets interesting characters along the way. The story starts and ends with her flirtatious new relationship with Jude Law’s character as a bakery shop owner who also serves alcohol and meals at night and shares his uneaten blueberry pie with her as he closes. In the interim we meet three people who have their own sets of challenges. David Strathairn plays an alcoholic cop whose young wife (Rachiel Weisz) has left him. We also learn Weisz’ story as well. Natalie Portman plays a card player who is not too truthful, but befriends Jones’ character. The song track is excellent .

A couple of other movies worth watch are “Tears of Rain” with Sharon Stone and Christopher Casenove, a movie about learning of one’s past. “Safe Haven” with Julianne Hough, Josh Duhamel and Cobie Smulders, and although a little cheesy is good. I mention “Maine” above which is alright, but my daughter gave up on it when she was visiting. Since it is about hiking the Appalachian Trail, I thought she might like it more.

If you have seen any good ones of late, please let me know.