That was an excellent one.

Pretty Good

I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

This could be one of the saddest story in the world;it is not:although Marion is terminally-ill ,she is still full of Joie De Vivre :singing helps her through the night ,and keeps her alive much better than any religion would do.The movie is not melodrama,it's not a tear-jerker although at least two of its scenes bring tears to your eyes.This is a musical ,and the songs perfectly fit the story.In their two renditions ("true colors" and "lullaby" (goodnight ,my angel) ,the two legends of the English cinema inject more real emotion into the lyrics than you might think possible.(In a movie ,only Meryl Streep had impressed me so much with her "he's my pal" in "ironweed").Gemma Aterton's performance compares favorably with the two giants':she 's got plenty of go ,she's so warm,so generous ,so nice it's hard to believe a man walked out on her.SPOILER AHEAD :as for Marion,she is so endearing a character that when she passes away,halfway through the film, we have the rare feeling of missing ,not the actress,but the person herself ,as though we had lost one of our very best friends.And this final song ,sung by her husband,is a song of redemption:Arthur opened up,he is alive again ,more than when Marion was still with him .And for the first time since she died ,he sleeps peacefully in their bed.Against the trend ,although it throws new light on senior citizens (they are not always singing Beethoven and "respectable" works) ,"A song for Marion" is a great moment of true emotion.

I loved this charming movie. I read it had some "sentiment" (*gasp*). I'd dispute that, and say while it had some warm glow moments- they were not properly "sentiment," if by sentiment one means a deceptive and false attempt to manipulate the audience through cheap set-ups. This was honest and truly heartfelt. A work of art, if I may use such a pretentious word.Admittedly, a few of the scenes in the Community Center depicted the OAPs as "mascots" of a sort. But the powerhouse performances of Terrance Stamp Venessa Redgrave and Gemma Aterton truly and firmly outshone any and all conceivable "cuteness" that might have crept in around the elderly character contingent. The number four character, played by Christopher Eccleston was solid, and the little Orla Hill as the granddaughter was absolutely charming, believable, and delightfully real. Nothing "hokey" in any of those character portrayals.Stamp and Redgrave were expected to be great, and they were. Gemma Aterton was a bit of a surprise. She is lovely (hot, actually), but here she not only looks good, she submits a masterful performance. She portrayed a truly worthy and compassionate person. She was much more than "dressing" for the screen- her character's intuitive and loving relational skills were in fact the mechanism that allowed Stamp and Redgrave to do their bit as well. And I think her character could not have seemed that way to the full extent that it did if Aterton the actor didn't have those same traits herself.The movie was as much about Aterton's intriguing and appealing character as it was about the "central" people- the two oldies. And that takes some serious and genuine acting talent. I hope to see Aterton acting in more roles that feature her adorable nature and great depth- she could be a true star of the first order.

Grumpy pensioner Arthur (Terence Stamp) honors his recently deceased wife (Vanessa Redgrave)'s passion for performing by joining the unconventional local choir to which she used to belong, a process that helps him build bridges with his estranged son, James (Chris Eccleston).The director, Paul Andrew Williams, made a name for himself in darker territory -- the wildly successful horror comedy "The Cottage" and the gritty home invasion story of "Cherry Tree Lane". The latter is so nasty that it left me (a hardened horror fan) squirming in my seat because of its realistic approach to the subject matter.With that background, Williams is just about the last person I would have expected to take on a heartwarming tale of curmudgeon and his wife's elderly singing troupe. And yet, he weaves everything together expertly. I smiled quite a bit (I rarely laugh). I was captivated. And what seemed like a pretty lame story from the plot was actually rather entertaining and the characters were people I could identify with.Really, though, the core of this film that separates it from others is the group of old folks singing rock and hip-hop songs. Maybe the joke is not completely new (Betty White has been pushing the envelope for a decade) but how can you argue with crotchety old fogies thrusting to Salt N Pepa and Motorhead? Definitely worth checking out, and fairly appropriate for the whole family.

There's nothing exceptional in this movie, except the way it reflects life, which can be indeed unexceptional but intense at the same time. Everyone who has experienced the loss of a dear one, or simply everyone who can feel cannot but enjoy a movie like this. So the saddest side is counterbalanced by the happiest side of life, I cried and laughed and in the end I enjoyed the picture. The story is simple and predictable but it also manages to embrace the most important feelings of life very simply. Probably a little unrealistic in the way the main character evolves, since it is rather improbable for an old man to abandon his morose nature, it is however to appreciate the belief that there's always hope for everyone and that it is never to late to make things right. The cast is great, Vanessa Redgrave proves superb as she is always, but also Terence Stamp offers a very touching performance. The closing dedication "to family" gives an idea of what the movie wanted to communicate, without ever sounding pretentious or mawkish.