(GUGU MBATHA-RAW IN "BEYOND THE LIGHTS" & "BELLE"

Have I seen too many movies in 74 years? Am I too jaded? Are my
reviews too negative? I really want to say yes to those questions but
then I go to the movies and see “The Imitation Game” and I feel it is
the first movie I have seen filling my with awe and wonder.

I’ll go see “Belle” and be mesmerized by the film but even more so by
the actress, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, playing the title role only to see her in
a few months in a new film “Beyond The Lights” and once again
mesmerized by here but in this case because the role of Noni Jean is the
complete opposite of Bell in every way.

A movie will come along called “Whiplash” about drumming and I shake
my head but go anyway and sit stunned by the performances of Miles
Teller and J.K. Simmons and now I am shaking my head at the intensity of
their performances.

I’ll walk in to see a young adult film called “The Fault In Our
Stars” to find myself forgetting everything and everyone around me
becoming engrossed in what is basically a ‘tear jerker’ but raised about
that level by the acting of the young actors Shailene Woodley and Anser
Elgort.

Another time I will see “Foxcatcher” and “Birdman” and question how I
could have been pulled in by word of mouth. Okay the former had
excellent acting by Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo but I didn’t see how
this could be a ‘life changing role’ for Steve Carell who played the
whole film in a monotone. As far as Birdman maybe it was too above my
head to understand.

One day I will walk out of a film like “Boyhood” not knowing whether I
liked it or not, thinking maybe you had to be a parent to be moved by
it, and then the next time I’ll thoroughly enjoy a movie called “Chef”
or a trifle like “The Hundred Foot Journey”. I will get caught up in
“Gone Girl” as I will in “Love Is Strange” and finally like a film Bill
Murray is in called “St. Vincent” which also shows how a subdued
Melissa McCarthy can be effective.

By the same token I will ask myself how did I sit through “The Drop” and why didn’t I walk out of “X Man: Days Of Future Past”?

Just as I am ready to give up on movies I’ll see “The Theory Of
Everything” and realize that I may sit through many long, boring,
unsatisfying movies I will come across 4 or 5 that will keep me coming
back.