You would expect a movie based on a Nicholas Sparks book to be a sappy romance… and it is. But it’s also a celebration of long-lasting marriage, which we Presbyterians welcome anywhere in cinema. Scott Eastwood (yes, the son of Clint Eastwood, and the resemblance is startling) plays Luke Collins, an ambitious professional bull rider. He’s eager to make it to the top of the world rankings, though he’s already suffered some serious injuries in the process (which he says happens to all the real pros). He happens to meet Sophia (Britt Robertson), a sorority girl from Wake Forest who’s going to graduate in a couple of months. They hit it off immediately, even though they come from different worlds. But they also both realize that there doesn’t seem to be much future for them since she’s an art major who’s already accepted a post-graduate internship at a prestigious gallery in New York City and he’s committed to the rodeo circuit. Not much intersection there, but they date a couple of … [Read more...]

Dallas, Texas, April 1, 2015 Nicholas Sparks, writer Scott Eastwood & Britt Robertson, cast Ron Salfen for the Presbyterian Outlook Britt Robertson: Are there enough chairs for everyone? I like sitting in a little circle like this, it feels more intimate (than the Q-and-A last night at the theater after the screening). Also, I want to shake hands with each of you, if that’s OK. (Handshakes all around.) Nicholas Sparks: So, I’m told that we only have a few minutes here, so I’m going to have to ask for just one question from everyone. OK? Britt Robertson (to Nicholas Sparks): Oh, nothing like taking charge, right? (Laughter all around.) Presbyterian Outlook: I guess I’m the token old guy in the group here. So naturally, I identified with the Alan Alda character, the one who was married forever. Personally, I’ve been married 46 years, with the love of my life, and I just wondered: Is that the goal here? To celebrate that unique relationship where your significant … [Read more...]

The first thing you have to get over is Helen Mirren speaking English with a German accent. Actually, she’s pretty convincing – and if she didn’t have such a thick acting resume, it would be easier to pretend that she’s actually someone else, in this case, Maria Altmann (yes, a “real person”) who died in 2011 at age 94. Maria was born in Vienna in 1916. Not a good era to be born a Jew in Europe. Her family was quite cultured: her father a professional cellist, her uncle a celebrated painter. Art and music were an important part of her life growing up, and it was no surprise to her family at all that she became engaged to an opera singer who sang her a lovely aria on the occasion of the public engagement announcement. She’s a pretty girl, a bit shy, but with quiet, strong convictions. (The younger Maria is played winsomely by Tatiana Maslany.) Maria remembers fondly a beautiful aunt, who died young, but was the subject of her artist husband’s dramatic painting entitled “Woman In … [Read more...]

For Al Pacino to play a dissolute famous guy on the downslide was not exactly a stretch for him. But even toned down, he’s a force on the screen and you can’t not notice him. He plays Danny Collins, a fictional character who’s kinda sorta based on a real person (whom we get to meet during the credits). Danny Collins is an aging pop superstar who hasn’t written a hit in years, but his concerts keep selling out. It’s just that the people in the audience are all his “old” fans, and Danny Collins has never really wanted to appeal to old people. He’s lived a life of drugs, sex and booze, in between sold-out, glitzy, big-production concerts, where he is undeniably the rock star. But Danny Collins has been miserable for a long time. His current live-in girlfriend is young enough to be his daughter, and though she’s blatantly provocative and dutifully sexy, there’s no real love there. So Danny just drinks some more. And does more drugs. And generally makes himself into a … [Read more...]

We expect Liam Neeson to be the star in an action movie, to somehow be invincible amidst the hail of bullet fire and, despite his AARP-status age, still prevail in hand-to-hand fighting against much younger opponents. Somehow, when he means business, we believe in him and we root for him. That’s why it’s kind of a shock to see him take a part that is not entirely sympathetic, or especially invincible either. In “Run All Night,” the veteran actor plays Jimmy Conlon, a man who’s obviously battling with his demons… and losing. It seems he’s spent much of his younger years being the triggerman for an Irish mafia family in New York City. Now, he lives alone, drinks too much and finds himself begging for rent money from his former employer, Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris), who’s now in his older years and trying to “go straight” and run legitimate businesses. Jimmy had a family, a wife and son, whom he left long ago because, he told himself, he was protecting them. His ex-wife has since died, … [Read more...]