Movies

from the mom

Over the last three months we've watched a few good movies, a few bad ones, and some that were entirely forgettable. Here are the ones I liked, all of them united by pretty sobering themes.

Upon a friend's recommendation, I took my mom to see Bella on Thanksgiving. Bella promotes good values without glossing over life's difficult choices. I appreciated the story of taking responsibility and choosing life and also that many of the characters were real people with character flaws. This is a must see.

Reign Over Me is a sad film about two friends, reunited after years of distance. They each have their own issues and it raises good questions about how we handle grief (differently). The language is pretty rough, and the themes are serious. But it has a lot to say.

I was interested in Gracie when I learned it was based upon true events in the life of Elisabeth Shue and her family. Dedicated to their older brother Will, Andrew and Elisabeth Shue and her husband Davis Guggenheim have made a movie that deals with a family attempting to cope after the loss of the beloved oldest son/brother. Will Shue died during a family reunion at 27 when he fell off a tire swing and was impaled on a fallen tree branch in front of his siblings. The movie avoids that grisly death and changes the circumstances and time frame to focus more on other issues. If you like soccer, you'll enjoy this movie; even if you don't, it is a good movie for (once again) examining grief and its effect on our lives.

Waitress is an entertaining, thought-provoking, complicated little story. While not maintaining high standards of morality (adultery and divorce are major themes) it has a silver lining in its treatment of an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy and makes a strong pro-life statement. There are other good elements and I did appreciate that as much as you want to like one major character (engaged in immorality) the movie doesn't provide you with a nice excuse to justify his wrong behavior. Like all the other movies I've described here, it has a tragic note to it. Adrienne Shelley, the writer/director (who plays a minor role) was tragically murdered in her apartment as the movie was wrapping up. She left behind her husband and young daughter.