Movies I Watched Last Week Part 10

Carnage (2011, Rating: R, Director: Roman Polanski) (My Rating: 3.5/5) "Carnage" is based on the play God Of Carnage by Yasmina Reza. It is about two married couples, Penelope (Jodie Foster) and Michael (John C. Reilly), and Nancy (Kate Winslet) and Alan (Christoph Waltz) whose children got into a fight. They decide to meet and talk about what happened, but it eventually escalates into an argument about whose child's "fault" it was. "Carnage" has great performances, especially by Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet, and a very entertaining script.

A Better Life (2nd time watching) (2011, Rating: PG-13, Director: Chris Weitz) (My Rating: 3.5/5) "A Better Life" is about an illegal immigrant named Carlos (Demian Bichir) living in Los Angeles with his teenage son Luis (Jose Julian). Carlos works as a gardener and is trying to save money to move him and Luis to a different neighborhood, and is also trying to keep Luis from joining a gang. I thought "A Better Life" was a good movie with an interesting story, and a great performance by Demian Bichir, who was nominated for Best Actor. Out of the nominees for Best Actor this year I've seen (I've seen all of them except for Jean Dujardin's Oscar-winning performance in "The Artist"), Demian Bichir's performance in "A Better Life" is my favorite.

 

The Help (3rd time watching) (2011, Rating: PG-13, Director: Tate Taylor) (My Rating: 3.5/5) I enjoyed the movie "The Help", although I didn't think it was as great as the first time I watched it. "The Help" is based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett. It is about two black maids in 1962 Mississippi named Aibileen (Viola Davis) and Minny (Octavia Spencer) who work with a young white woman named Skeeter (Emma Stone) on a secret writing project about their lives as maids. I liked this movie, and thought it had great performances by Viola Davis (who was nominated for Best Actress) and Octavia Spencer (who won Best Supporting Actress for her performance). I wish that the movie hadn't left out some of the details and storylines that are mentioned in the book, which might have made the movie feel a bit more realistic.