Movie Micro-Reviews: Edition 50

Gotta love Netflix. Exposure to films we'd never see otherwise, and the chance to have three DVDs just sitting around, waiting for us to have a slow weekend.

Side note: 50^th Edition of Movie Micro-Reviews! Really? Wow.

Stolen Summer	75	The story of one summer when a young Catholic boy, with all the youthful good intentions in the world (OK, he wants to make sure he won’t go to Hell) decides to show Jews how to get to heaven. He encounters a rabbi, played wonderfully by Kevin Pollack, and meets the rabbi’s son. A really good film that flew under everyone’s radar.
Timeline	66	A Crichton story I had never heard of, about time travel. Interesting. Fun to watch once. A bit predictable. It has Gerard Butler before Gerard Butler was in every movie.
Red Violin (The)	70	Foreign film with portions in English, and subtitles when needed. Very easy to follow. The story of a special violin through history. Several very interesting stories. I liked it a lot!
Dan in Real Life	73 81	I’m really beginning to like to see Steve Carell. Here, a normal, likeable guy in a hard situation, but handling it well until … well, you’ll see. His character may have over-reacted, but it was understandable. And Carell did not over-act. Oh, and what guy above the age of 30 wouldn’t fall for Juliet Binochet? [Initially reviewed in Edition 31.] [After my second viewing, I feel I have to change the rating. This is very good.]
Man from Earth (The)	74	What an interesting “sci-fi” film. One set. All dialog. What if someone born in prehistory (think caveman) stopped aging, and survived to today? What if your colleague claimed to be this “caveman?”
On a Clear Day	64	British film about a late-middle aged man who gets laid off from his ship building job. Without that as an anchor, he has to reevaluate his life, but very quietly. What does he decide to do? Swim The Channel. Sometimes hard to understand, but very “real” people.