Ultimate 70s Blogathon: Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) – Movie Reviews 101

Next up in the Ultimate 70’s Blogathon is Darren from Movie Reviews 101! If you don’t know Movie Reviews 101, well, you are definitely missing out some great stuff. Darren is the host of the monthly Opinion Battles which is now in the 4th year. At the same time his review blog reviews movies every single day with his own rating system. On top of that, Darren is also co-host of the Talking Stars Podcast.

Without further ado, let’s check out his selection, Kramer vs. Kramer!

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

Director: Robert Benton

Writer: Robert Benton (Screenplay) Avery Corman (Novel)

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander, Justin Henry, Howard Duff, George Coe

Plot: Ted Kramer‘s wife leaves her husband, allowing for a lost bond to be rediscovered between Ted and his son, Billy. But a heated custody battle ensues over the divorced couple’s son, deepening the wounds left by the separation.

Tagline – There are three sides to this love story!

Runtime: 1 Hour 44 Minutes

There may be spoilers the rest of the review 

Verdict: Masterclass

Story: Kramer vs Kramer starts as Joanna Kramer (Streep) walks out on her businessman husband Ted (Hoffman) leaving him to raise their child Billy (Henry). Ted must learn how to be a single parent while also keeping his career on path because he is on the verge of one of his biggest moments of his career.

15 months later Joanna reappears in the Ted’s life wanting custody which leads to a heated custody battle between the parents while Ted must deal with his own career problems.

Thoughts on Kramer vs. Kramer

Characters – Ted Kramer is a busy marketing man whose wife walks out on him leaving him to raise his child alone, the added responsibility of raising his son, his work starts to get comprised but it is when his wife returns, where Ted must fight for full custody of his own son. Joanna is the wife that walks out on the family, when she returns she wants to have custody of her son again, we don’t learn much else about her during the time which disappoints. Margaret is the neighbour that is there for Ted during his tough times. Billy is the child that finds himself in the middle of the custody battle after 15 months with just his father.

Performances – Dustin Hoffman gives us an acting masterclass here showing he can give us an Oscar worthy performance given the right material. Meryl Streep is fantastic in the supporting role showing us just how good her talent was going to be. Justin Henry gives on of the best child actors performances too in this film.

Story – The story follows one man needing to learn to be a better father once he is left alone with his son, before turning into a custody battle, which has become an all too often event in the modern world. Seeing how the custody battle unfolds brings us into the reality of how difficult a job being a single parent holding down the job on demanding success level can be. We learn how wrong the system appears to be in one of the most powerful films you will see.

Settings – The New York setting shows how busy the lives of the people involved would be.

Scene of the Movie – The aftermath of the case in the park.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – I feel we could have learnt a lot more about Joanna’s motivation during the 15-months too.

Award Wins: Won 5 Oscars

Final Thoughts – This is one of the most powerful, perfectly acted movies you will ever see, the emotions you will feel will leave you broken for what is one of the best films ever made.

Overall: Easily one of the greatest films of all time.

Rating

Julie & Julia (2009)

Next up in recommendations is from a lovely blogger, Livonne.  She is a fabulous photographer and writes amazing posts.  I totally love hanging out at her blog and if you haven’t been there, well, lets just say you are missing out and you should!! I’ll give you a some time to head over there to follow her and check out what she does.

Ready? Well, she suggested to me to watch Julie & Julia.  Funny enough, I’ve read the book but never actually finished watching the movie entirely.  I mean, whats wrong with me, right? Its literally a movie about EVERYTHING I love and honestly, it (the book) has a bit to do with why I even considered blogging in the first place.  Cooking, blogging, eating, Amy Adams and Meryl Streep and add in a bit of Stanley Tucci and a dash of Jane Lynch: count me in on that one!

Wait wait, I’m getting ahead of myself! A little synopsis, shall we?

Director: Nora Ephron

Cast: Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina, Jane Lynch, Linda Emond

Julie Powell (Amy Adams) is a government worker who moves to Queen’s because of her husband ‘s (Chris Messina) job and aspires to be a writer and with her passion for cooking, she decides to take 365 days to cook through the 524 recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  Back in the day, Julia Child’s (Meryl Streep) life unravels somewhat similarly when she moves to France because her husband (Stanley Tucci) is sent there to work at the American embassy.  She decides to learn French cooking and eventually after meeting certain people decide to publish a book geared towards teaching servantless American woman to cook. 

Julie & Julia, the book, was a unique reading experience.  It was fun and light-hearted and so inspiring because you know what it is.  We all hit a bit of road bumps and sometimes the little turns and bends down the unexpected and spontaneous roads become experiences that turn out to be more rewarding than we imagine, not just in the sense of career but a self-satisfaction and a personal journey to learn more about ourselves.  At least thats why I love blogging, I just can’t help but wonder if sometimes I become self-absorbed although I try my very best to balance my life as much as I can..

Back now to the movie, Meryl Streep gives a charistmatic performance.  She’s fun to watch as the clever and witty Julia Child.  There’s something so lovable about her character.  She’s cooking and watching those little snippets of her teaching cooking and I wanted to go pick up her book and cook it also, but then, I don’t think my rather lactose-intolerant/sensitive stomach could take so much butter and cream and fat.  Its just so inspiring.  Thats whats great about this adaptation because it manages to re-enact the light-heartedness with a hint of comedy.

Comedy is not so much in Meryl Streep, except for her witty dialogue but rather in Amy Adams’s Julie Powell portrayal. She’s the modern person and for me, I felt like I could relate to her.  Other than that inner journey that I talked about in terms of blogging, it had to do with that whole learning new cooking skills, especially the lobster part.  Amy Adams is just a lovable and adorable actress and she can handle a range of emotions from bubbly to full-on crazy meltdown.

Julie & Julia is a fun and entertaining trip especially for foodies.  Its funny and entertaining and also inspiring.  Being a blogger, we understand the world of being a blogger and the whole journey of being dedicated to it and finding a balance between this life and our own life not in front of the computer.  The whole doing something not related to work or that we’re passionate about and sharing it with the part of the online community that has similar interests.  I liked this movie a lot and it really made me feel really good afterwards. It injected me with a dose of well-needed energy and motivation. I guess thats why I’m typing up this well past my bedtime. So I’ll stop now and say, do watch this.  Its a really good one 🙂

Thanks to Livonne for bringing this one up.  It gave me the push to watch the full movie and fully appreciate it for its awesomeness! 🙂 Remember to check out her blog!

Have you seen Julie & Julia? What are your favorite roles of Amy Adams and/or Meryl Streep? Are there other movies related to cooking that you’d recommend?

Mamma Mia! (2008)

There is a magic with musicals that I love.  A lot of times, they are cheesy and stupid, even done in a very incomplete way where it either turns into a concert or the story doesn’t flow well or whatnot.  From the first time I’ve seen Mamma Mia!, I just love it.  Does it mean that its a great movie objectively? I’m not that sure…

Director: Phyllida Lloyd

Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, Julie Walters, Christina Baranski, Dominic Cooper

On a beautiful Greek island, we enter into the story of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) who sends 3 invitations out to 3 unknown men who could possibly be her father to come to her wedding with Sky (Dominic Cooper) as an invite from her mother Donna (Meryl Streep).  Her mother has never mentioned about her father but she firmly believes that knowing her father will help her find herself.  She also thought that she’s be able to determine them at first glance.  When all three possible fathers, Bill Anderson (Stellan Skarsgard), Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan) and Harry Bright (Colin Firth) show up, she realizes its harder than she thought to know and while hiding them as a “surprise” for her mother, she seeks the help of her best friends.  In the meantime, Donna finds out and tries to get them off the island with the help of her two best friends, Rosie (Julie Walters) and Tanya (Christina Baranski).  All the plot is set to the tune of ABBA hits!

Let me just get one thing straight.  If you are sitting down to ANY musical, you should be in this because you enjoy this sort of thing, especially the cheesy, silly renditions.  Mamma Mia is an adaptation of the stage musical.  Its meant to be fun and mildly enjoyable and entertaining.  You really have to be ready to embrace that in order to enjoy it.  The over exaggerated expressions, the constant emerging into music and this case very good original music and to just close your mind off and enjoy the familiar actors and actresses prancing and dancing on the screen.

I buy these things fully and thoroughly and thats why I like most musicals.  Mamma Mia is one that I go to when I’m feeling sick or down.  Why? Because how can you not tap your feet to any of the ABBA tunes.  Even if its not ABBA doing them and this cast isn’t exactly the best in singing.  Most of the songs is energetic and entertaining to watch.  If you hate everything else, how can you resist moving to Dancing Queen? I know I can’t!

What I am starting to realize is that in any movie that Meryl Streep is in, even if it doesn’t do great overall, you can expect it to be enjoyable miles more than it is just because of Meryl Streep.  This one is no exception.  However, there is one highlight of this one.  Thats Pierce Brosnan not being James Bond ;).  He’s singing desperate love songs, getting nostalgic and shimmying away with silly dance moves.  Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond did not ever do that in my recollection.  Plus, his singing isn’t all that great but there was something charming as always about watching Brosnan get in the groove.  Along with Stellan Skarsgard and Colin Firth, the 3 men had some pretty funny moments.  Everyone was in threes and so was Donna and the Dynamos.  On that note,  Tanya and Rosie was hilarious characters.

Mamma Mia! is one of my absolutely favorite musicals to watch.  It makes me feel good and in the whole dancing and singing mood.  Happy times! Its not a masterpiece of course and the singing isn’t absolutely great but the cast do a great job doing what they do best to give us a nice mix of heartwarming, soul seeking, funny and silly moments throughout to make this an entertaining flick!

Do you like musicals? What is your favorite(s)?

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)

I’ve been a Jim Carrey fan since the days of Ace Ventura or is it Mask? Whichever came first.  Not really good at the whole timeline with movies.  I picked this one up at during Boxing Day in the (extra) bargain bin for super cheap, and I had only watched  a little portion a few years ago at a party.  It looked entertaining enough.  Since then this is the second time, I’ve seen it.

Director: Brad Silberling

Cast: Jim Carrey, Emily Browning, Liam Aiken, Jude Law, Kara/Shelby Hoffman, Timothy Spall, Billy Connelly, Meryl Streep, Catherine O’Hara

When a huge unknown fire tears the Baudelaire mansion down and perishing the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire, their three children are suddenly turned to orphans.  The eldest is Violet (Emily Browning) who is an impeccable 14 year old inventor. Second is Klaus (Liam Aiken) who has read more books (and remembers every single one) than any adult would read in a lifetime and youngest is Sunny (Kara/Shelby Hoffman) who is merely an infant but has razor sharp teeth and loves to bite absolutely anything. When this unfortunate event happens, their fortune caretaker, Mr. Poe (Timothy Spall) has the responsibility of sending them to their closest relative listed and that person is Count Olaf (Jim Carrey).  Count Olaf is an actor who has his own troupe and misleads Mr. Poe in believing that he is out for the children’s good when all he wants is to get their huge fortune.  For him, the law gets in the way with its rules and formalities.  While the children try to escape his evil plans, he tries everything possible to get the fortune back.

Jim Carrey has changed from when I first saw him in The Mask or Ace Ventura.  However, the one thing he hasn’t changes is his ability to freely change his voice around and assume someone else’s identity.  That proves to be the highlight of this adventure flick.  As I watched the special features on how they designed his Count Olaf character, there is so much to his abilities that change this flick to add a bit of dark humor to it.  I say dark because this is A Series of Unfortunate Events and being the cause of the situation, he becomes the Baudelaire orphans’ darkness as they try to seek some light. Or as Violet Baudelaire says, “There is always something”.

On the topic, the kids are played the Baudelaire orphans are pretty decent.  The little baby who played Sunny was just pure cuteness.  They used the cute way of giving her little baby shrieks into dialogues on screen.  That was a lot of time adding a lot of the fun element in.  Emily Browning played Violet Baudelaire and she is quite pretty and quick witted.  Last time I saw her was in Sucker Punch (which was made after this) but I hated that movie…not her maybe but just the movie itself.  Both Emily Browning and Liam Aiken fit their roles really well.  I found it rather enjoyable as the focus was on them, their characters had wit and knowledge (and cuteness).

On top of that, there were lots of popular actors and actresses added to the movie to make it even better. For one, we have the elegant Meryl Streep who plays Aunt Josephine, a woman who is scared of everything and is obsessed with perfecting grammar. Billy Connolly is rather new to me but he played a great role as Uncle Monty, a connoisseur of snakes.  On top of that, there was one of my favorite actors, Jude Law playing the role of Lemony Snicket and he narrates the movie with a little appearance. Catherine O’Hara makes an appearance as Count Olaf’s neighbor Justice Strauss as well and she’s a decent actress.  There was even a cameo for Dustin Hoffman.

This movie is based on a series of books for children of 9-12 (according to Indigo Books).  I’ve never read them but every time I finish this movie, I always want to check it out but have never had the chance to.  Its an attractive movie with beautiful backdrops and intriguing adventures adding in a lot of very good acting from a lot of the supporting cast and Jim Carrey in one of the lead roles.  Its a fun family adventure. I would recommend it for sure! Its enjoyable and entertaining 🙂

Let’s end on sharing one of my favorite quotes in the movie is this and also shows that between all the negative unfortunate events, there is always something positive that comes out of it:

One day, when you’re older, you will learn all about the people we have befriended and the dangers we have faced. At times the world can seem an unfriendly and sinister place, but believe us when we say that there is much more good in it than bad. All you have to do is look hard enough. And what might seem to be a series of unfortunate events may, in fact, be the first steps of a journey.

The Iron Lady (2011)

Who here agrees the Meryl Streep is an outstanding actress? I personally like her a lot.  Its taken me a while to get to watch this movie which earned her an Oscar in 2012 for Best Actress.

Director: Phyllida Lloyd

Cast: Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Alexandra Roach, Harry Lloyd, Olivia Colman

This drama is retelling the story of  Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep), the first and only female prime minister in United Kingdom.  It starts by showing the life that she is living as a old woman after her husband has passed away.  As she gains back her balance of being by herself, she flashes back constantly to herself as a young grocer’s daughter (Alexandra Roach) and her father who was a political figure where she grew up. We see her start from nothing, step by step to how she struggled through gender barriers in a male dominant society to become a political figure. A good part of this was with her husband, Denis (Jim Broadbent) supporting her.  Even after she became a political figure, we saw her how she remained tough and stuck to her principle of “Never Compromise” as she fought problem after problem.  She looks back at her life as she has to learn to slowly let go of her husband and his belongings while being trapped in her house under doctor and her daughter Carol’s (Olivia Colman) orders.

Honestly, I don’t know much about Margaret Thatcher so I can’t really say if anything she did matched it up. I could research it and see, but part of this is entertainment to me.  I’m not big with politics, I’m actually really not interested with it.  I would still be able to express an opinion on the Canada politics but I try to keep that part private and separate from here.  So if you’ve seen this and you know extensively about this subject, and some of these events are FAR from the real thing, then you can share that with me.  I’ve love to know 🙂  With that said, I remained indifferent throughout the movie as a good part of the movie, I didn’t really feel like it resounded too much to me. Its probably because of its heavy political connotations.  I was able to connect it to the current government in Canada so…that had a certain effect on me as well.  But thats as far as I’ll say.

The best part of this movie is Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher and Jim Broadbent as Denis Thatcher.  They really carried this movie and I felt that they really brought out the good of this movie.  Their story was possibly a lot more moving to watch than the political life that Margaret Thatcher had.  Most politicians will win some and lose some and hers was exactly the same.  However, Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent had a very good connection in this as husband and wife.  As she became more elderly, we could feel her struggle to let go of him and therefore, she talked to him and kept him as a companion even if he was just a ghost.

Was I extremely impressed with the movie? Not very much as a whole.  However, I was very amazed with Meryl Streep’s performance.  She portrayed a strong woman who rose up very well. She was tough, and the way she changed the way she looked to fit her character left me in awe.  For a moment, I doubted that it was actually her.  I also learned a bit more about Margaret Thatcher, whether or not its the complete truth I will find time to read up on it, but Meryl Streep played a fantastic role. Jim Broadbent helped relax the tone of the movie with his dialogue here and there and it gave the movie a slight balance.  Because I really enjoyed Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent, I would recommend this.

I find it hard to review history and political movies, mostly because my knowledge is limited.  Although, these movies are also ones that open up the horizon to understand more about other countries and their stories.

What historical or political movie do you like the most?