Vindicated

10 months ago

watched: Bang the Drum Slowly

Bang the Drum Slowly

This isn’t just a baseball story, it’s one of friendship and the bond between two teammates. Bang the Drum Slowly is a sad yet inspiring tale of a mediocre baseball catcher Bruce Pearson that gets diagnosed with a terminal disease. Through this he forms a bond with the team’s star pitcher, Henry “Arthur” Wiggen. Playing Pearson is a very young Robert De Niro who does a decent job. Overall the film is just decent. I’m glad they focused more on the relationship outside of the actual game. Worth a watch.

7/10

Bang the drum slowly

10 months ago

watched: Being Flynn

Being Flynn

I immediately gain interest in any film when I find out that it has to do with writing. Being Flynn is a film about a man’s troubled relationship with his father throughout his life. The only connection besides blood that him and his father share is their passion for writing. Paul Dano and Robert De Niro are the two leading roles. They both brought such energy and charisma to their characters. A very well acted film. De Niro upstaging Dano just a tad bit in my opinion. I can relate to this story because I don’t have the strongest relationship with my father and while I don’t share a writing connection with him, I use writing as a way of coping. A film about great writing better have some of it’s own. The script at times had flashes of brilliance and other times dull but for the most part it was solid. Being Flynn isn’t anything extraordinary but it is very much worth the watch.

7.5/10

11 months ago

watched: Everybody’s Fine

Everybody’s Fine

A surprisingly solid film post 2000 from Robert De Niro with him in the leading role. This film reminded me a lot of About Schmidt and my appreciation for it was just about the same. Recently widowed Frank (De Niro) goes out traveling the countryside to see his four children when they all cancel on their plans to visit him. He sets out to see the perfect family he thought he had created but quickly encounters lost hope in his first visit when his son isn’t home at his New York City apartment. Frank had a delusion of sorts that he had raised the most perfect kids on the planet. He was slapped with the realization that all of his children had their own struggles to deal with much like he did at their ages. Everybody’s Fine is a true “family” film. I say family as in the exposition of the harsh realizations of the world. I almost teared up at a couple of scenes and had a lump in my throat towards the end.

The acting was all around superb. De Niro was fantastic in his best leading role in about 10 years. Sam Rockwell was solid in his little screen time. Kate Beckinsale didn’t even annoy me which is a first, and for some reason Drew Barrymore just has an on screen charm that makes me fall in love with her characters. They had excellent writing to work with to make all of this happen. Not shabby direction either. A hidden gem.

8/10

1 year ago

Just watched: Awakenings

Awakenings

I’d be a liar if I told you I didn’t tear up numerous times while I watched Awakenings. One of the most heart wrenching films that I’ve seen in a while. Once again the genius acting side of Robin Williams was showcased in this film by director Penny Marshall. I love films like this, they’re my guilty pleasure. I had the biggest smile on my face when the experimental medicine worked on Leonard Lowe (Robert De Niro) who did an overall fantastic job in the film. His facial expressions made Leonard the character that he was. I teared up when Leonard spoke to his mother for the first time in 20+ years because he disease kept him from doing so. Tons of moments in the film where I was smiling from ear to ear as well in joy in the progress made by Leonard and the other patients. That’s when it started to go down hill though, emotionally speaking. The hardest scene to watch was when Leonard was having a convulsion and forced Dr. Sayer to film him so he could learn more about the disease. The amount of selflessness Leonard had was tremendous. Well worth the two hour watch as a whole.

8/10

1 year ago