DVR recorded movie ratings #31

Welcome to the first post of 2014. Sadly, these movies were not watched in this new year, but rather between Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

• American Hustle: Watched in the theater, not part of the DVR recordings.Starring Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Bradley Cooper. Wow, first scene with Christian "fixing" his hair...oh my, what a doozy. This film has very bad hair and has real good looking men looking ugly. The women, looking every part of the 70's, looked pretty damn hot. If you haven't seen this movie, go see it NOW! The storyline, characters, clothes, music, acting, you name it, is amazing. I was quite surprised by how much I liked it. I knew I was going to like it, but once I started this review, I really LOVED it! Christian and Amy are lovers who swindle money out of people who are promised more money. Jennifer plays Christian's wife and just wants to be a part of his life. Bradley plays a cop who wants to make a deal with the con-couple by setting up politicians who are being bribed with money. Jeremy plays a mayor(?) who is playing the game clean, until he gets swindled by Christian and everything falls apart. We ended up quoting Christian Bale after a while, that "there are too many people involve, everything is getting confusing." It does, for a moment, but everything is pretty plain and clear for all of us to see. I give this movie 5 Daisy-girls.
• Amour: French movie with subtitles. An old couple's love and devotion is tested by the amount of time they have left on this Earth. Anne and Georges live a simple life. They are both retired music teachers and their only daughter is a pianist who visits them in between her tour. One day Anne has a stroke and half of her body gives in. Georges tries his best to do all that he can for her, but is also in need of some assistance for certain things he can't do for Anne. Anne has Georges promise her that he will not ever take her back to the hospital. As much as that hurts Georges, he agrees. After some time, Anne suffers another stroke and is bedridden. She no longer wants to eat or get out of bed. Georges at times, gets frustrated with her, so much that he ends up slapping her and is met up in a stunned silence between them and the viewer (me). Georges has many stories, that according to Anne, she has not heard of. One day, as he is holding her hand, he tells her a story. Next thin you know, he smothers her with a pillow until she suffocates. Georges is seen with his hands on his eyes, but finally a sense of relief for both him and Anne. This is a sad movie. We see a loving couple who take in every morsel of life that has been given to them, only to deal with grief in the end of wanting the very best for your loved one. I give this movie 5 Daisy- girls.
• Dirty Pretty Things: Stars Audrey Tautou and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Both work in a London hotel, but it is not all what it seems to be. It is a seedy hotel where drugs are dealt and prostitutes get their moneys worth. One day a prostitute leaves and says the toilet is clogged. Chiwetel goes up and tries to fix it, only blood starts to come up. At first, I thought she aborted a bay or something to that nature. He shoves his hand in there and pulls out a heart. After some time, Audrey's character is running from authorities because somehow her visa expired or she is doing something she isn't supposed to be doing. There's a chase and she ends up getting another job where her boss suspects something and wants to be sucked off in return. Well, it turns out this seedy hotel is the place to go if you want a black market organ. The supervisor of the hotel discovers that Chiwetel was a doctor back in his homeland and blackmails him into doing a few operations, which he doesn't do. Well, he does one and it's quite clever. In the end, we see both characters in the airport. Audrey going one way and Chiwetel going back to his country to be with his daughter. 4 Daisy-girls.
• Gangster Squad: This movie has a lot of nice looking people. Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Sean Penn (I'm sure he was good looking once before), among others. Set in Los Angeles 1949, a crew of about 5 cops, known as the "gangster squad" are put together to take down, well you know. This squad is wanting to take one gangster by the name of Mickey. Mickey is the run of the town, he kills off any other gangster that wants to set foot and settle in L.A. The squad is looking to take him down and everyone else who is involved in this type of mess. There is a lot, I mean a SHITLOAD of shootings going on in the movie. The characters are great, the actors, the clothes, all very nice. This movie ran a bit long for me, but a well made movie about L.A. should not be complained about. I give this movie 4 Daisy-girls.
• Ruby Sparks:  This movie had been on my moviewatch list for quite some time.A struggling writer deals with writer's block and hasn't written anything significant for about 8 years. He starts to dream of a gal and soon he is writing about her. He trips out, as I did, when he goes downstairs and sees this gal that he had been writing about in his kitchen making him breakfast. He thinks he's going crazy and she is just dumbfounded on his behavior toward her. He meets up with his brother and tells him what has happened. Of course, the brother doesn't believe him and soon the writer takes him home and shows him what he does. The writer types a few things and the gal does them. An example is of Ruby speaking French (which she wasn't aware she knows how to do). After some time of getting over all this shock, the writer embraces his relationship with her and all is great. he finally take her to meet his hippie parents and everyone falls in love with her. Later on, we see them have their first argument and Ruby is bored and suggests going to a night class. Well, this turns out to be great for her, but not for him. She starts getting a bit more independent and is hanging out with her classmates and not going home to him every night (she opts to go to her apartment, which was something that had not been mentioned in the movie until the arguing ensues).  He can't take this hardship and decides to be a dick and take control of Ruby in every aspect. He starts typing maniacally into his typewriter and Ruby is acting it all out (weird, crazy, impressive acting). She realizes what he is doing and tries to get away, only she can't. He finally reaches his typing orgasm and she collapses. As soon as she gets enough strength, Ruby leaves. The writer, realizing what he has down, goes back to being all alone and shit just like in the beginning of the movie. He publishes this book about Ruby, only every thing is changed in it, in hopes of not hurting a real "Ruby" out there. He is walking his dog and the dog runs to a gal, who happens t look EXACTLY like Ruby and they star talking as if it is the first time they have ever met. I give this movie 5 Daisy-girls.
• The Hurricane: True story of how a boxer, Rubin Carter, played by Denzel Washington, was imprisoned for a killing he did not do. There's this cop, who has had it in for him since he was young. This bad cop is the kind that obsess over someone until they are arrested, even if they are not at fault. Rubin was a well-liked boxer who seemed to have it all. One night, he is driven home by a fan and is stopped by some cops. The witnesses to the shootings say that Rubin is not the shooter. Well this bad cop comes into the scene and pretty much bribes these witnesses into saying otherwise. So Rubin get incarcerated and tells the guards that he is not guilty. Therefore, he does not want to wear guilty man's attire. While in prison, he writes a book about his life, ups and down, all the way up to him being jailed. A kid picks up his book and decides to read it. Apparently this kid was "saved" from the downfalls of a ghetto life by these Canadians who wants this kid to have a chance of getting a good education. He starts to tell his mentors about Rubin's book and after reading the book, he decides he wants to write to Rubin. The kid then gets a response from Rubin and they start writing to one another. After some time, they meet up in jail and the Canadians also go. They decide to want to help Rubin out by taking on his case. Rubin is finally set free and goes on to live in Canada with these people that saved him. This movie came out in the late 90's, yet I had not seen it. It is quite a long movie, but it was good. I give this 4 Daisy-girls.