The Oscars were a mixed bag to me.  I'm happy ARGO won Best Picture, as I was surprised by the choice (I expected LES MIZ or SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK). The LIFE OF PI picks were somewhat expected -- commercials suggested everyone was impressed by Ang Li's direction and the cinematography -- but surprising in the sense that a foreign director and an exotic film with an East Asian star was almost a Foreign Film pick.  Anne Hathaway I expected to win her statue.  I'm happy Daniel Day-Lewis won, as I felt he richly deserved to.  (They say he never was NOT Lincoln while he was filming! That's why he thanked his wife for "living with so many different husbands" - that's how he works!) The actor in DJANGO UNCHAINED was a complete surprise.  I was also glad Adele wrote a song for SKYFALL that took home a statue.  Overall, some big surprises and some not, and a night of much talent that showed it was a pretty good year for movies. (Still haven't SEEN LES MIZ or DJANGO. May try to see LES MIZ tom'w night.)

it was a VERY mixed night, wasn't it, pamela?  i found the show itself to be a nightmare. i thought it was written poorly, directed poorly, bad sound, bad jokes, you name it. bad. but i was happy jennifer lawrence won, happy daniel day lewis won, confused about steven spielberg getting ignored, confused about best picture, totally bummed that tony kushner didn't get best screenplay...as you said, mixed bag!

I don't know if a documentary qualifies as 'Favorite Flicks' but I'm going to share my thoughts about 'A Place at the Table' anyways ~

Personally I wish that every American would take the time to watch this well constructed Doc that addresses Hunger and its causes and the solution. I consider myself to be fairly well educated, and well informed but I admit that I did not connect all the dots between large Conglomerate Agriculture and the FDA and other factors to being major contributors to the condition of so many people today. As I said, I personally think everyone should watch this doc film. Oh, and 'The Civil Wars' music is part of the experience while watching and I think you can even buy the sound track.

i wanted to see this on sunday, and i didn't get to it yet. but i am definitely going to watch this important documentary, maryanne. i'm so glad you reviewed it here. nobody should be hungry, not in this country! and, yes, documentary reviews welcome here. "a place at the table", y'all.

Wasted my money on Oz The Great and Powerful. I almost walked out during the first 30 or so minutes because it was just so blah ... A con man who is insincere playing the field with the ladies carried away in a hot air balloon landing in colorful Oz - it was all so eh. The movie did manage to redeem itself a bit as time drug on and the movie did also tie into the original Wizard of Oz by laying some groundwork for the old movie. You see why the lion is cowardly and where scarecrow may have come from and a few other details. But all in all, I would rather have watched this movie at home not losing money and time at a theater. If you are 12 or so you may absolutely love it? I give it one knuckle up for recovering itself a bit and at least having a green witch in it that rides a broom

thanks for sparing us, maryanne!

glad I didn't spend money going to that even though I love all things Oz...

Netflix will be soon enough if I still want to see it..as of late I watched "The life of Pi"...loved it and was very pleased it did justice to the book..."Rabbit Proof fence" was another good movie..and last night I watched "Once" on the recommendation of a facebook friend...loved it and the music is still in my brain..

well i can't believe i finally saw "hyde park on hudson". i've been wanting to see it for months, and i just haven't had a chance. i thought it would be a revealing insight into FDR or the King...but it had me totally stumped. i'm not sure what it was. i think it stretched history way beyond what we actually know. i don't feel it was accurate. and it wasn't written well at all. however it was acted very well by bill murray and laura linney. it left me with the feeling i can't stand after a movie....that everything was in place for a FANTASTIC movie and yet someone let it out of the can without fixing it. lazy writing. a waste of excellent talent. 

i'm so angry at this horrible FDR film, that i stumbled upon this review of the facts by curtis roosevelt in the NYT http://www.huffingtonpost.com/curtis-roosevelt/movie-review-hyde-pa...

"summer of '42" is a beautiful movie...you should find it if you've never seen it if only for the cinematography. gorgeous piece of film!

check out "Love, Marilyn" on HBO, you guys....very very interesting stuff about Marilyn Monroe

Love Summer of 42.

Saw Gatsby last week - overwhelming.  Leonardo DiCaprio is not Redford but does capture the part.  Scenery, backdrops, music, choreography are almost overwhelming, but if you let yourself go & get immersed, they're fabulous.  Rlizabeth Dibecki as Jordan Baker deserves a Best Supporting Actress award.  Don't give up a day at the beach for this, but do go on a rainy day.

thanks for this review, robin! someone on my twitter feed said she saw gatsby and came out with a migraine! maybe it's too too much???

it definitely grabs the senses, visually, auditory.  Lots of music, on-screen big-party activity, etc.  I can understand that somebody might get a headache.  I just went with the flow and liked it after I found the humor in it. 

I hear this is funny, guys. Two smart strong women who are funny and some men who appreciate them!

i never saw the movie "kinsey" when it came out, but i got to see it last night. i didn't think i'd like something like that. i thought it would be too dark or strange. but it was actually a good movie with some very good acting in it. laura linney  and liam neeson are particularly good. neeson plays professor kinsey, and the film explores the making of the kinsey report. it's amazing how little the average person knew about sex before his research. so it's a bit odd, but worth a view...if only for the history of it.

this is a must see, folks.

i had never seen "midnight in paris", but i did last night. several of you had recommended this film to me. what a romantic little jewel! it wasn't a complicated movie or a life changing movie, but it was a nice valentine worth the time. it's a woody allen film where the main character is a writer who travels in time in paris in the 20's to hang out with his favorite artists.

Some of you might be interested in this journey with Emilio Estevez and dad Martin Sheen...

i re-watched two fabulous movies yesterday...both more than worth your time if you haven't seen them or haven't seen them in ages. "on golden pond" is even better after all these years. henry fonda, jane fonda, and katharine hepburn work magic in a sweet movie about family and senior love. it has dialogue like a play but scenery like a movie. ...and "erin brockovich" does not get old. julia roberts is a down to earth gal who helps a crusty lawyer help thousands of people affected by a  contaminated water supply. both movies make your soul feel better.

This looks good...."The Butler"...the Civil Rights Movement told through the story of a butler at the White House...

we want to know what movies you're seeing, gang!

My local movie theater showed a film last Tuesday called "The Yankels," an indie from 2010 that won 3 Film Festival awards. It's a sort of "Bad News Bears" for a Jewish audience: a Yeshiva gets to be part of intramural baseball and brings in an ex-ML outfielder who's doing community service after being jailed for 3 DUIs.  It's pretty funny. Unfortunately, they didn't publicize it enough in nearby Borough Park (the Hassidic community), so they didn't get enough audience to justify a full run of movie showings. I'm glad I went because that was the only one.

"The Butler" is at my local theater (around the corner from my apartment). I'm going to call my movie-going friend and let you know what I thought after I see it.

this movie about j.d. salinger is a must-see for everyone on wiffledust...one of the greatest writers of our time if not ever with one of the most incredible lives. this is deep insight into the writer, the man

FINALLY saw THE BUTLER last night (it was at my local theater for 3 weeks, but I had a cold for 2 of them). It's very melodramatic, but very good. Loved the casting, esp. Robin Williams as a somber Eisenhower and Jane Fonda as a straight-backed, brisk Nancy Reagan (just as she really was; the irony is former Vietnam protester "Hanoi Jane" playing a Republican who said in an interview she kept a gun beside the bed for self-defense!). Oprah Winfrey was also good as the Butler's wife. An occasionally troubling but overall enjoyable movie experience.

thanks so much for reviewing "the butler", pam. i cant' wait to see it. i suppose the real story was probably melodramatic if you were living it, right? i think it's such an important story to tell, and i'm glad they made this movie! i really like oprah's acting, btw. i think she has real talent

The Milagro Beanfield War....watch it! You'll love it! :-) 

The Book Thief, You Guys...something we need to see!

Finally saw The Butler and was mostly disappointed.  The concept had so much potential that was lost amid the melodrama and trying to do too much.  Presidential characterizations were not really believable (except LBJ sitting on the toilet giving staff orders); JFK was way too young.  Possibly eliminating some of the vignettes (blood-stained Jackie crying alone, Gloria (wife) affair with neighbor, Nixon soliciting staff votes) would have left room to expand other themes such as Reagan's reasons for opposing apartheid.  Interposition of civil rights conflict incidents was chilling,  Worth seeing, but it could have been so much more  . .

Oh, that's disappointing, Robin. But thanks so much for reviewing it. I can't wait to see it anyway , because I love the concept. Was the acting good?

Acting of the principals was good.  Bit players were shallow, but that would be due to the nature of their roles; no way to endow them with any depth due to very limited roles.  I think they would have done better trying to typecast Presidents rather than getting names;  there was no physical resemblance to help the believability.  Portrayal of the civil rights strife was shockingly realistic. 

It is worth seeing

Anyone seen CAPTAIN PHILLIPS? It's at my local theater.

This looks good...

I want to see "Saving Mr. Banks" with Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson about the real Mary Poppins!

Here's the Trailer for "Saving Mr. Banks"...we want to hear about what movies you're seeing!

what have you all seen over the holidays?? 

This is a "Don't waste your money" review: AMERICAN HUSTLE. It's funny, okay. It has a couple cute plot twists, okay.  But it wasn't worth going to a theater to see. I could have waited for this conmen caper to come out on TV. At $22 for 2 Seniors, the DVD would be cheaper.

thanks for the warning, pamela!

Tim's Vermeer….fascinating!

Saving Mr. Banks has arrived from Netflix and the plan is to watch it soon and I will get back to you on that! We did go see a movie over the holidays and it was Labor Day based on a book that I had recently read by Joyce Maynard. I loved the book because of the way it made me feel so uncomfortable. Without giving the story away, it seems to be about trusting your instincts and what happens when you have reached rock bottom and have absolutely nothing and normal instincts are unable to kick in. I appreciated this movie, only because I don't like movies that end badly. It worried me because the character played by Josh Brolin was someone you might not trust. After all...he escaped from jail. The fact that there are many people in jails who should not be isn't exactly a reason to start up relationships with inmates but it is a call for each of us to open our hearts to the idea that everything should be taken on a case by case basis and that we don't really know anyone until we really know them. 

i think i'm going to watch it with you!

Saving Mr. Banks???? I love Emma Thompson! 

In EVERYTHING and especially Nanny McPhee! :-)

emma thompson is a FABULOUS actress. you can see what she's thinking on her face! i can't wait to see saving mr. banks

there are so many movies from the past year/year and a half that i haven't had the time to see. hopefully slowly but surely…or maybe all at once, who knows…i'll catch up. but tonight i got to see "enough said" with julia louis dreyfus and gandolfini. at first it was just strangely slow for me. and i was having trouble getting past missing gandolfini. but as it went on i liked it more and more. i liked the acting so much. i liked the characters. i liked the humanity. i liked the coming together of two imperfect people. the script could have been better, but there was so much good about the acting, that i really enjoyed it. i love movies about real people. 

This is going to be good…Bill Murray in "St. Vincent"