Johanna Beyer
Book
Composer Johanna Beyer's fascinating body of music and enigmatic life story constitute an important...
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Parks and Recreation - Season 2
TV Season
Amy Poehler (Baby Mama, Saturday Night Live) leads an ensemble cast who are joined by guest stars...
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True Crime (1999)
Movie Watch
Academy Award winner Clint Eastwood stars as a troubled investigative reporter whose search for the...
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Giants: The Dwarfs of Auschwitz
Book
'Through thick and thin, never separate. Stick together, guard each other, and live for one...
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The Plot is Murder
Book
The small town of North Harbor on the shores of Lake Michigan is about to have a new mystery...
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Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Larry Crowne (2011) in Movies
Aug 7, 2019
“Larry Crowne” tells the tale of a Navy veteran and recent divorce’ whom, after many years of tirelessly and loyally working at the same big-box store, is fired on the spot supposedly because of the fact that he does not have a college degree. Coincidentally at the same time the bank demands the money from the mortgage taken out on his home. With no options and on the advice of his next door neighbor Lamar (who tries to sell him a “free” college degree for 20 cents at his garage sale) Larry decides to enroll in community college From there the movie follows Larry as falls in love with his speech professor Dr. Mercedes Tainot (who is still married to some Internet businessman obsessed with large breasted women) while at the same time, being befriended by a “gang” of motor-scooter/vespa enthusiasts.
Now ….. normally I’m not the one to go see the stereotypical “feel good movie” of the season. Plus, I’m honestly not that big a fan of Julia Roberts. But come on ….. Personally, I cannot ever recall Tom Hanks in a bad movie and I have to admit it Julia Roberts had me laughing the minute she started talking. After the first 15 minutes of the movie, you have a pretty good idea of the general direction the movie will go in and how it will end. However, this is one of those movies where it’s more entertaining to see how the whole movie plays out despite that fact. The ensemble cast that Tom Hanks put together does an excellent job of keeping you on your seat laughing (including a hilarious performance by the great George Takei as a militant economics professor who is trying to pimp his new book very two minutes in his class). Plus, the movie does a great job keeping you focused on the story. Especially when the gang of motor-scooter enthusiasts seemingly appear out of nowhere to show him how NOT to dress like a cop and to explain the concept of “Fung Shui”.
The ensemble cast that includes Bryan Cranstson, Pam Grier, Cedric The Entertainer, Rob Riggle, Wilmer Valderama, and George Takei amongst many others supports the lead characters well.
All in all, I’d say this movie deserves 4 out of 5 stars. Not a movie you’d want to take the kids to due some sexual content and alcohol use in the movie. Definitely a great “Date Movie” though. Besides being slow at some points and it’s “predictability” I’d say it’s definitely worth your hard earned money. Go to a matinee showing or get it “on demand”.
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G2: Building the Next Generation
Book
G2: Building the Next Generation is a comprehensive and practical guide for any financial advisory...
Improvisation and Social Aesthetics
Georgina Born, Eric Lewis and Will Straw
Book
Addressing a wide range of improvised art and music forms-from jazz and cinema to dance and...
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Acoustic and MIDI Orchestration for the Contemporary Composer: A Practical Guide to Writing and Sequencing for the Studio Orchestra
Andrea Pejrolo and Richard DeRosa
Book
Acoustic and MIDI Orchestration for the Contemporary Composer, Second Edition provides effective...