Tag: Movie

Make room for ‘Four Kids and It’

Jeff Mitchell

“Four Kids and It” – “Here’s the story…of a lovely lady…who was bringing up (two) very lovely girls.” Alice (Paula Patton) is a struggling single mom, and her primary source of distress emanates from her oldest daughter Samantha (Ashley Aufderheide).  She goes by Smash and is duly named because this tyrannical teenager is angrier than Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) after classmates infamously humiliated her at the prom.   Yea, Smash is that irate, although mass murder – rest assured – is a stretch and not included in this narrative. Still, her…

Movie of the Week: ‘In the Bedroom’

Jeff Mitchell

“In the Bedroom” (2001) – AHFW’s Movie of the Week is Todd Field’s remarkable directorial debut “In the Bedroom” starring Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson, Marisa Tomei, and Nick Stahl. Set in a New England small town, Matt and Ruth Fowler (Wilkinson, Spacek) live a happy life, and their son Frank (Stahl) is home for the summer after his college graduation.   Frank has big plans – which please his parents – but starts a relationship with an older woman Natalie (Tomei), and his future designs may lie with her, a single…

‘Irresistible’ successfully explores big, twisted political practices in Small Town, USA

Jeff Mitchell

“Irresistible” – “He’s a church-going Bernie Sanders with bone density.” – Gary Zimmer (Steve Carell) Mr. Zimmer, a Democratic strategist, describes Jack Hastings (Chris Cooper) of Deerlaken, Wisc. with the enthusiasm of an obsessed teenager yearning for a dance with the prom queen.  Jack, however, is no demure beauty.  He’s a farmer, a retired U.S. Marine Colonel, and a widower.  In other words, Gary sees this man as a perfect candidate, one who the Dems could use after Donald Trump’s 2016 famous – or infamous, depending upon your perspective –…