Movies
These are video movie reviews, movie trailers, and websites of the latest movies. The C1N Movie section includes Dan Culberson’s Hotshots Movie Reviews with a new review every week. We also show our C1N trailer pick of the week by Aaron Smith which is about 40 years younger than Dans taste. Show times and ticket avails are up. Look for film festivals, movie news, events, and news about the pictures here too.
Hit & Run – Movie Trailer
Aug 27th
Hit and Run is a comedy about a young couple (Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard) that risks it all when they leave their small town life and embark on a road trip that may lead them towards the opportunity of a lifetime. Their fast-paced road trip grows awkwardly complicated and hilarious when they are chased by a friend from the past (Bradley Cooper), a federal marshal (Tom Arnold) and a band of misfits.
“Sparkle” Is Overblown
Aug 26th
“Overblown”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Sparkle is the 2012 remake of the 1976 film of the same name and story, but not of the 2007 film of the same name but different story.
This film also has the distinction of being the last film that Whitney Houston made before she died, and she was also one of the executive producers of it.
Houston said in an interview that the original film inspired her so much when it came out, and “I would go every Saturday for, like, four months straight, and I would watch the matinee to the evening show.”
This version moves the story from the 1950s to the 1960s, but it is still about a trio of sisters who want to make it big as a singing group in the music business.
No, Houston does not play one of the sisters. She plays their mother, who doesn’t approve of her daughters’ ambition, because she used to be a singer in the business, but she has bitter memories because it almost killed her.
The story begins in 1968 in Detroit, and the sisters are named Sparkle, Dolores, and, confusingly, Sister.
Sparkle is shy, but she loves music, and she writes the songs; Dolores, who also goes by Dee, actually wants to be a doctor, but she gives support to her sisters’ ambitions; and Sister is the outgoing one who starts out singing by herself, is impressive with her performances, and could succeed.
Of course, there are men around, too. Levi is dating Sister, and his cousin Stix, who is visiting from Kansas City, takes an interest in Sparkle, and when the girls starts singing as a group, Stix becomes their manager.
However, Sister becomes involved with a professional comedian named Satin, they get serious, but Satin is a bad influence and he introduces Sister to some very bad habits, personally and professionally.
All the while, Mama disapproves, and things just go from very bad to worse.
In other words, the story is a classic story about show business: Girls have ambition and want to be successful in show business, girls achieve success, girls lose success because of a tragedy, girls find success again but in different ways and to different degrees.
And don’t worry. Houston also sings a song, but not on stage.
Sparkle is overblown, overdone, and doesn’t sparkle at all.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Hope Springs” Has Some Nice Touches
Aug 21st
“Nice Touches”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Hope Springs is a comedy starring Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones as a couple who have been married 31 years and who spend a week taking intensive couples counseling.
You see, perhaps because they have been married 31 years, their marriage is in a deep rut. They sleep in separate bedrooms; every morning Kay cooks Arnold’s breakfast of one egg and one slice of bacon, which he eats while reading the newspaper and then leaves for work without saying anything; and every evening Arnold falls asleep in his easy chair while watching the golf channel on TV.
So, when Kay sees a book called You Can Have the Marriage You Want, by Dr. Bernard Feld, she signs up for Arnold and her to attend Dr. Feld’s Center for Intensive Couples Counseling, which is held in Great Hope Springs, Maine.
Kay says, “I want a real marriage again, Arnold.”
She tells him that she has already booked the flight, which leaves tomorrow, and when Arnold refuses to go, Kay calls a cab and leaves for the airport alone.
Well, of course, Arnold gives in, and when he shows up at the last minute and sits down next to her on the airplane, he says, “I hope you’re happy.”
Steve Carell plays Dr. Feld, but he is much more subdued than his usual comedic roles, and the laughs come from the situations that Kay and Arnold put themselves in and the things they say, as well as the things they don’t say.
In fact, Streep is a great actress without even saying anything, and Jones is no slouch, either. Carell must have picked up some acting tips from them, because even he holds his own in the Laughs Without Saying Anything category.
Kay tells Dr. Feld that Arnold doesn’t touch her anymore, when he used to touch her arm, her shoulder, just because he wanted to. And so Dr. Feld gives them an exercise for that evening back in their motel room to just put their arms around each other and hold each other.
Each session and each exercise gets more intense, and even though it might sound repetitious and boring, it isn’t.
Hope Springs has some nice touches in it–all puns intended–and this is one movie that is impossible to walk out during the closing credits.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
