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Million Dollar Arm (2014)
Million Dollar Arm (2014)
2014 | Comedy, Drama
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Being a huge baseball fan, I was intrigued by the story of two hopeful cricket players being converted to America's pastime.

Jon Hamm is great as an American recruiter sent to India in an attempt to bolster his teams pitching prospect pipeline. Seemingly hopeless upon arrival, JB (Hamm) conducts a sort of makeshift tryout that brings interest from all over the area. A few potential candidates show enough promise to pursue, and teach the game of baseball.

The story that follows is quite amazing and very interesting. The follow up on the real life versions of the characters portrayed in the film shows just how accurate (of course some artistic value is added) the story is and what an exceptional reality those involved lived.

Great movie for any baseball fan or a fan of a feel good story that doesn't know boundaries.
  
The Back-up Plan (2010)
The Back-up Plan (2010)
2010 | Comedy, Romance
5
7.3 (4 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Ah, the story of Mr. Right appearing just in the nick of time, well almost. Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) has spent her life looking for the perfect guy but he has never shown up. Now she wants a baby and decides to become pregnant on her own through artificial insemination. It would just figure that right after deciding to use her backup plan a new man enters the picture forcing her life to adjust once again.

The film stars and generally centers around Lopez as the wacky yet likeable Zoe, a character who is not unlike those we have seen in J.Lo’s past. Her co-star, Alex O’Loughlin plays the male lead of Stan, a handsome cheese-maker. Other notable cast members include Micheala Watkins, as the jaded New York mother, Mona, and Melissa McCarthy as Carol the leader of a group of proud single mothers.

The most amusing scenes in “The Back-Up Plan” occurs during moments of the true-to-life internal dialogue by the problem riddled Zoe. Unfortunately the remaining seventy percent of the film is spent bouncing awkwardly between the less than steamy romance and the failed attempts at comedy.

There are a couple of good scenes but are they reason enough to endure the rest of the film? Not unless you have a deep desire to see farmers’ markets in New York and a poorly acted cameo by the Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan. Still, fans of Lopez’s quirky romantic comedy style will enjoy her, just not as much as her previous roles because of the gnawingly awkward plot that defines this movie.

Too goofy to be romantic and too sappy to be funny, “The Back-Up Plan” continually fails to reach either goal accurately. It almost goes without saying that this film is, excuse the pun, simply too much of a stretch.
  
I Like That About Her
I Like That About Her
Aleks Mitchell | 2017 | LGBTQ+, Young Adult (YA)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Great Characters (1 more)
Good Flow
Some Editing Errors (0 more)
A Great Coming Out Book
This book was very well written. It hits on the angst of fist love, especially if that is a LGBTQ love. I really do not think people understand how hard it is to accept that you may be gay when all your life you are told it is wrong. I think Mitchell really did a fantastic job of introducing and confronting those issues with believable characters. I read this book in one sitting.
  
Onward (2020)
Onward (2020)
2020 | Adventure, Animation, Comedy
Wow. Pixar once again delivers a tear-jerker that is a fun, exciting family film. Ever since I saw the trailer, I knew that I wanted to watch this film. It just looked too good to pass up. And I was not wrong. Pixar delivered so hard with this movie. Props to Scanlon for incorporating a personal piece of his own life in this film. Also, Chris Pratt and Tom Holland both killed it in their roles in this film. I absolutely will watch this again!