16Sep
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Saving the worst for last, the sequel film, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel should only be seen if you have exhausted every other diversion available to you.
All Film Reviews
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16Sep
Friend Request Pending
Friend Request Pending is a refreshingly unique short-sketch film that features a few hours in the life of an older woman making an online connection with a desirable man.
16Sep
Five Flights Up
In Five Flights Up, a long-married couple faces the decision to sell their five-story walkup in New York City. Alex (Morgan Freeman) and Ruth (Diane Keaton) have lived their entire married life together in this apartment walkup and are now finding it more difficult to deal with the stairs.
16Sep
Last Vegas
In the film, Last Vegas (Turteltaub, 2013), four older men romp like frat boys in Vegas while a paper thin plot resurrects a past grievance between two of them.
16Sep
All Together
The premise of the film has potential; five older longtime friends move into one house in order to support each other in the face of a variety of health issues.
16Sep
Unfinished Song
Unfinished Song (Williams, 2012) presents us with another story of transformation—this time, that of a grumpy old man.
16Sep
This is 40
In the recently released, This Is 40, we are shown a week in the lives of Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) who are both turning 40. Debbie’s method of dealing with this is flat-out denial, whereas Pete is fine with a party for himself.
16Sep
Trouble With the Curve
The recent feature film, Trouble with the Curve, portrays a different concern with the effects of aging. An alternative title for this film could have been Trouble with Aging. Clint Eastwood plays a crusty ill-tempered oldster (just as he did a few years ago in Gran Torino).
16Sep
How to Live Forever
Mark Wexler’s odyssey in How to Live Forever is an energetic, sometimes serious, sometimes amusing, but always interesting popular culture panorama about humankind’s efforts to extend both active and maximum longevity.
14Sep
Old People Driving: A Film About the End of the Road
Shaleece Haas’s award-winning short video, Old People Driving, is a charming film. This video focuses on two very old, cognitively intact men—Haas’s 96-year-old grandfather, Milton, and 99-year-old Herbert. The choice of Milton and Herbert signals a useful view into our future, as ranks of drivers aged 85 and older are swelling with the population aging of the oldest old.
10Sep
Nebraska
In contrast, Nebraska, Alexander Payne’s new movie about a son accompanying his addled and self-absorbed father’s unlikely quest for the million dollars he thinks he has won in a sweepstakes, does not give viewers much to smile at.
09Sep
Going in Style (1979 original)
But before I did that, I decided to watch the original film by the same name from 1979 that the newer Going in Style is based on. I’m glad I did. Where the new film is stale and trite, the original film is engaging and deeply respectful of elders.
07Sep
Innocence
The one other film that deals authentically with late life marital intimacy is Innocence, produced and directed by Australian filmmaker Paul Cox in 2000. Like Hope Springs, Innocence addresses the issue of lifelessness and resignation in the relationship of an older couple.
11Aug
Exercise: It’s Never Too Late
Exercise: It Is Never Too Late is the video equivalent of an energy drink, designed to perk up older sedentary viewers benumbed by myths of age-related activity. Elayne Letraunik introduces a litany of false beliefs at the outset of the film, fictions “that trick us into allowing inactivity to sneak into our lives.”
11Aug
Nourish the Body and Soul
Nourish the Body and Soul is a well-crafted, solution-filled, uplifting video that shows long-term care providers ways to enhance dining experiences of residents in their facilities. Produced by Action Pact, a culture change company, the film illustrates innovative, context-specific dining options currently used in a dozen nursing homes across the United States.
19Mar
Elizabeth is Missing
The opening scenes in Elizabeth Is Missing are a master class in concise character development.