Movie Reviews

The Nanny Diaries (2007)

Release Date: 24 August 2007 (USA)

Genres: Comedy | Drama | Romance

Actors: Scarlett Johansson, Laura Linney, Paul Giamatti, Chris Evans, Donna Murphy, Alicia Keys, Nicholas Art, Nathan Corddry, Cady Huffman, Brande Roderick, Nina Garbiras, Judith Roberts, Alison Wright, Heather Simms, Sakina Jaffrey

Directors: Shari Springer Berman

Country: USA

Plot: A college graduate goes to work as a nanny for a rich New York family. Ensconced in their home, she has to juggle their dysfunction, a new romance, and the spoiled brat in her charge.

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Somewhere between Mary Poppins and Sex and the City lies The Nanny Diaries, an adaptation of Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus’ sordid, cynical best seller that is able to coast on its working-grrl attitude and a couple of intelligent casting decisions.

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It’s nice to see Scarlett Johansson outside of Woody Allen’s clutches. Here she showcases her rarely exercised knack for self-deprecating physical comedy as Annie Braddock, titular babysitter and recent college graduate who postpones her inevitable plunge into the rat race by accepting a nanny position at the posh Upper East Side residence of snippy Mrs. X (Laura Linney, fabulous in the role).

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The dream job quickly turns nightmarish, though. Rumors that the last nanny received her walking papers after indulging in one date prevent Annie from pursuing the Harvard Hottie (Chris Evans) who lives upstairs. Meanwhile, the elusive Mr. X (Paul Giamatti) fills his calendar with business meetings — code for girlfriends he keeps on the side. And the self-absorbed parents have no connection with Annie’s charge, Grayer (Nicholas Art), a child of aristocracy pressured to behave like anything but a kid.

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One nagging problem of Nanny, however, is that Johansson can’t create much of a connection with young Art either, and too much of the story hinges on Annie’s concern for Grayer’s well-being. There are handfuls of times we half expect this put-upon pseudo-parent to tell the X factors they can take their job and shove it. She doesn’t, and we immediately question why. The part of Grayer requires more sympathy than Art - or Johansson, by extension - can muster.

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What Nanny can do is punch holes through the stuffiness of Manhattan’s upper crust. The script records smart commentaries on New York’s social caste system, finding ways to categorize the unique borough’s residents without digging too deep beneath the shallow surfaces. Yet even here, the movie oversteps its firm footing. During an impossibly impromptu dinner disaster, Annie demands Grayer try a peanut-butter-and-jelly concoction that, even after a lifetime of Grey Poupon, goes down smoothly. I was surprised to learn such a product existed. I was even more shocked that co-directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini would mistakenly believe the Xs would have it in their pantry in the first place.

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But the movie stays in its exclusive comfort zone for the most part, safely arriving at its stated bottom line: that those without money are equal to something a pampered pet would leave under a tree in Central Park. Don’t worry, though. The nanny will pick that up.

By Sean O’Connell for Filmcritic.com

A Dennis the Menace Christmas - Best Christmas Movie of 2007

Release Date: 20 November 2007 (Spain)

Genres: Comedy | Family

Actors: Maxwell Perry Cotton, Robert Wagner, Kim Schraner, George Newbern, Louise Fletcher, China Anne McClain, Heidi Hayes, Jake Beale, Isaac Durnford, Marie Matiko, Richard Dumont, Jack Noseworthy, Matthew Comeau, Godfrey, Michael Lerner

Directors: Ron Oliver

Country: Canada, USA

Plot: Dennis Christmas is a Dennis The Menace version of A Christmas Carol where Mr. Wilson plays his own version of Scrooge. While Dennis has problems of his own with the neighborhood bully, he does his best to try and give Mr. Wilson the Christmas Spirit. Dennis causes his usual damage and Mr. Wilson ends up breaking Dennis’ spirit. An Angel of Christmas Past Present and Future steps in to help save Christmas for the Mitchells, the Wilsons, and everyone else.

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For many, Dennis Mitchell (Dennis the menace) is an entertaining Sunday comic, or a special comic book that was read and giggled over during childhood.  Kids are horrified and delighted at all the trouble Dennis creates, and parents think to themselves, thank goodness my kids aren’t like that.  A Dennis The Menace Christmas brings some of those wild adventures to screen for the holidays in a colorful presentation.

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The current Dennis film is set in the present, with things identifiable to the 21st century audience, such as computers and online shopping, cool bikes and the parents of spirited children support group.  Dennis is still a well meaning if misguided youngster, played very well by Maxwell Cotton Perry, who at the time of the filming was actually only six years old.

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Much of the action is jarring to the adult nerves, but wasn’t it ever so in Dennis stories?  Children will writhe in agony at Dennis’s disasters.  But the spirit of  Christmas wins the day, with the help of an angel played by Godfrey.

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The Wilsons played by Robert Wagner and Louise Fletcher are exactly the way you would want them to be, and Henry and Alice Mitchell, Dennis’s long suffering parents are strong in their belief that their son is not bad, just “spirited” and their love for him is evident.

Review from M&C

Ratatouille: the best movie of 2007

Release Date: 29 June 2007 (USA)

Genres: Animation | Comedy | Family

Actors: Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Brian Dennehy, Peter O’Toole, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo, Will Arnett, Julius Callahan, James Remar, John Ratzenberger, Teddy Newton, Tony Fucile, Jake Steinfeld, Brad Bird

Directors: Brad Bird

Country: USA

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Ratatouille is the best movie I’ve seen this year.  Granted, we’re talking about the year of the threequels, where the only films opening to good reviews were The Simpsons movie that was a decade too late, a fourth Die Hard film and a tolerable Michael Bay film based on a toy franchise cartoon.  However, even in a year where expectations were higher, Ratatouille would be the top of the pack.

The plot is a simple one: a rat with a gift for cooking and a lowly wannabe cook team up to pass themselves off as a world-class chef.  One has the skills but is reviled, the other has the presence but needs guidance.  That’s right, it’s the Cyrano de Bergerac plot again…but it’s all in the execution, and that’s where Brad Bird fires on all cylinders again.

Brad Bird, of course, is three for three.  The Iron Giant didn’t do well at the box office due to a mediocre promotional campaign, but it is still a cult (and personal) favorite.  The Incredibles needs no superlatives for the Monitor Duty crowd; you all know it is hands-down one of the best superhero movies ever made and one that is eminently re-watchable.

However, Ratatouille outshines them both, with greater fine tuning of expression and a more down-to-Earth "human" drama.  No giant robots or destroyed buildings; intense dramatic moments are wrung out of a food critic’s decision or a scheming head chef’s conniving to control a frozen food empire.  Brad takes something as impossible to communicate via film as the taste of fine cuisine and he manages to make it work; there are even moments seemingly borrowed from Fantasia where Remy discusses food while scribbly visuals evoke the aroma he envisions.  Bird’s gift for manic comedy that was first displayed in "Family Dog" really shines here, as the seven inch rat Remy struggles to stay alive in the flurry of activity in a busy kitchen.

Remy the Rat is also something of a new experiment.  Although he talks to himself, his fellow rats and his imaginary friend in flawless English (with the voice of geek fave comic Patton Oswalt), he cannot actually talk to humans.  His thoughts are communicated entirely by expression and gesture.  What’s more, he isn’t an anthropomorphized cartoon character.  He moves like a rat.  He has the anxious eyes and rapid heartbeat of a rat.  And yet he’s adorable.

By Michael Hutchison

Ocean’s Thirteen (2007)

Release Date: 8 June 2007 (USA)

DVD Release Date: 5 October 2007

Genres: Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Actors: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Al Pacino, Ellen Barkin, Bernie Mac, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Elliott Gould, Shaobo Qin, Don Cheadle, Eddie Jemison, Andy Garcia, Scott L. Schwartz, Carl Reiner

Directors: Steven Soderbergh

Country: USA

Plot: Danny Ocean’s team of criminals are back and are composing a plan more personal than ever. When ruthless casino owner Willy Bank double-crosses Reuben Tishkoff, causing a heart attack, Danny Ocean vows that him and his team will do anything to bring Willy Bank and everything he’s got down. Even if it includes hiring help from one of their own enemies, Terry Benedict.

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Hollywood.com Says:
"Third time’s a charm. Ocean’s Thirteen outshines the second installment, offering that certain breezy fun the original provided. Those cutie pies just work better in Vegas."

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This is more like it. Leaving the smug self-congratulation of Twelve far behind, Ocean’s Thirteen is a stylish, breezy confection that, from first to (almost) last, is all about the con instead of the Hollywood royalty doing the conning, its eventual lapses into self-awareness forgivable for being more playful than egotistical.

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The specifics of the plotting are both too dense and quite frankly, ludicrous, to go into in detail, but it goes something like this: big time Vegas hotel owner Willy Bank (Pacino) reneges on a deal with Reuben (Gould, who all but steals the film with an absolutely delightful Godfather joke) to partner him in a new casino, leaving Reuben broke and nearly dead. Ocean (Clooney) and the boys (Pitt, Damon, et al) vow revenge on Bank by coming up with several hi-tech schemes to win so big on opening night that Bank will be ruined. An added complication arises when the one person able to finance their plan, old foe Terry Benedict (Garcia), will only do it if the boys steal some diamonds from Bank’s impregnable penthouse while they’re at it. And why is Vincent Cassel’s Toulour, the bad guy from Twelve, hanging around the hotel?

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Actually, it’s quite a straightforward setup really, but the joy of the film lies in the way the intricacies of the scams are revealed, in the smooth byplay between the supremely talented players, and in Soderbergh’s now finely polished direction. Though the zip and flair is back, the style quotient hasn’t been sacrificed to accommodate it, with some glorious camera work and beautiful aesthetics on top of the fun all coming together to make Ocean’s Thirteen probably the strongest of the trilogy.

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Almost everyone returns from the first two outings, the only dropouts being Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta Jones, neither of them particularly missed. As ever, such a large crew means casualties (Bernie Mac, Carl Reiner and Shaobo Qin barely merit showing up), especially with the inclusion of three new characters (Pacino, plus Barkin as his assistant and David Paymer as an unfortunate hotel inspector). Damon gets some decent screen time and laughs, while Casey Affleck and Scott Caan probably score the biggest yucks as the dopey, scrapping Malloy brothers. Truth be told, even Clooney and Pitt have very little to do other than stand around in sharp jackets or wear silly disguises, but that they do it with such exquisite, effortless cool is just the reason why we joined the game in the first place.

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By Paul Greenwood for Future Movies

Wild Hogs (2007)

Release Date: 2 March 2007 (USA)

Genres: Action | Adventure | Comedy

Actors: Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, William H. Macy, Ray Liotta, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Durand, M.C. Gainey, Jill Hennessy, Dominic Janes, Tichina Arnold, Stephen Tobolowsky, Jason Sklar, Randy Sklar, Drew Sidora

Directors: Walt Becker

Country: USA

Plot: Four middle-aged men decide to take a road trip from Cincinnati to the Pacific in order to get away from their lives which are leading them nowhere. Taking their motorcycles, these “Wild Hogs” tear up the road and eventually stop in New Mexico for a drink not knowing that the bar belongs to the “Del Fuegos”, a mean biker gang. When the Del Fuegos steal a bike that belongs to the Wild Hogs, the four men form a plan to steal their bike back.

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The Movie is about four culturally different middle aged men looking for an exciting adventure in their mundane lives. The only thing they have in common is their adoration for Harley Davidson bikes.

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Woody (John Travolta) wants to leave his troubles behind in the city, Bobby (Martin Lawrence) wants to do everything else besides his disgusting plumbing job, while Doug (Tim Allen) wants to find his old self to impress his son, & Dudley (William H.Macy) was happy to do anything as long as he could connect to internet Wifi “hotspots” during the trip.

Their journey across America began when the four of them wantonly agreed to discard their mobile phones & GPS gadgets altogether. It was Woody’s idea to be fully disconnected from anything that could come between them & their perceived freedom of the open road, traveling by motorcycles towards the west coast. In short, Woody proposed to make the “Wild Hogs” into a real biker gang from their road trip experience.

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They camped, rode, rested, ate, stopped, drank etc however & whenever they wanted to without being constrained by any kind of schedule. Everything seemed jolly & hilarious when the Wild Hogs gang was mistaken for a group of “spooning” homosexuals by a “gay” cop.

Things then took a fast turn when they stumbled upon the notorious Del Fuegos “real deal” biker gang. Dudley gets his bike swindled from him by Jack (Ray Liotta), the leader of the Del Fuegos biker gang. Woody, dissatisfied with the situation, stealthily attempted to regain possession of Dudley’s bike. In the process, he cuts the gas lines of some of the Del Fuegos gang member’s motorcycles. Unfortunately for the Wild Hogs members, the Del Fuegos’s bar exploded into a great ball of fire as an end result of his naughty revenge.

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In a hurry, Woody rushed his friends forward. In the hustle, they missed the last fuel stop. Soon after, the Wild Hogs members had to push their bikes towards what seemed like an unsure destiny for them. Just when they thought they were probably going to die on the open road in the middle of the dessert, they then found a small town named Madrid.

The Del Fuegos gang, bent on revenge, threatened to burn down Dudley’s girlfriend’s (Marisa Tomei) diner as retribution for their own diner getting destroyed by the Wild Hogs. They demanded that the Wild Hogs pay them $50,000 to settle the problem.

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All ends well as the true leader of the Del Fuegos gang, showed up in the nick of time & prevented Jack from further hurting the Wild Hogs team members. The true leader of the Del Fuegos biker gang insured the burnt down bar for twice what it was worth. In fact, the Wild Hogs gang actually did the Del Fuegos’s true leader a favor.

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It seemed that the movie revolved around the promotion of Harley Davidson Motorcycles. The quality of the star studded cast actually helped make the marketing campaign subtle & well blended into the storyline without making the movie seem like a very long Harley Davidson Motorcycles advertisement. Fans of high quality comedy movies should not miss watching the Wild Hogs.

Pirates of the Caribbean At World’s End (2007)

Release Date: 25 May 2007 (USA)

Genres: Action | Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy

Actors:Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush, Jonathan Pryce, Bill Nighy, Yun-Fat Chow, Tom Hollander, Stellan Skarsgård, Kevin McNally, Mackenzie Crook, Lee Arenberg, Martin Klebba, Greg Ellis, Jack Davenport

Directors: Gore Verbinski

Country: USA

Plot Summary: After Elizabeth (Keira Knightly), Will (Orlando Bloom), and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) rescue Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from the clutches of the Kraken, they must face their foes, Davey Jones (Bill Nighy) and Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander). Beckett, now with control of Jones’ heart, forms a dark alliance with him in order to rule the seas and wipe out the last of the Pirates. Now, Jack, Barbossa, Will, Elizabeth, Tia Delma, and crew must call the Pirate Lords from the four corners of the globe, including the infamous Sao Feng (Chow-Yun Fat), to a gathering that will make their final stand against Beckett, Jones, Norrington, the Flying Dutchman, and the entire East India Trading Company.

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During the battle, Will proposes to Elizabeth who insists that Barbossa marry them immediately. When Davy Jones mortally wounds Will aboard the Dutchman, Jack places the sabre in Will’s hand and helps him stab Davy Jones’ heart in the Dead Man’s Chest, thus killing Jones and making Will the Flying Dutchman’s captain.

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The crew cuts out Will’s heart and places it in the Dead Man’s Chest. Jack and Elizabeth escape before the ship is pulled into the whirlpool, but it quickly resurfaces with Will at the helm. Will captains the Flying Dutchman and Jack Sparrow captains the Black Pearl as they destroy Lord Cutler Beckett’s ship, killing Beckett and causing his armada to retreat.

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Although Will has been saved and the Dutchman crew has regained its humanity, Will must spend the next 10 years at sea ferrying souls to the next world. Will and Elizabeth spend one day together on an island to consummate their marriage, and Will entrusts Elizabeth with the Dead Man’s Chest containing his heart.

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The rest is simply too good to give away here. Do not make the mistake of leaving when the credits begin to roll as there is a bonus scene at the end of the credits that is critical to understanding where the movie is headed next.

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The storyline of POTC is involved and can be a little hard to follow, but it comes to a nice conclusion at the end of the movie. But the best thing about this movie is that the audience is always kept guessing, there is absolutely no way to anticipate the end of the movie or the subplots of the movie.

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The visuals and graphics make for some very realistic on screen special-effects but that is the beauty of the movie. When the movie wants to be funny it is funny, the same is true for when the movie needs to deliver its scary aspects, believe me POTC can bring scary to the screen with a bang ! The special-effects visuals and computer graphics let POTC At World’s End deliver a perfect mix of horror, action, humor and even romance at times.

The long and short of Pirates of the Caribbean At Worlds End is that you should go see it, make no mistake this is a definite summer blockbuster!

The Simpsons Movie (2007)

Release Date: 27 July 2007 (USA)

Genres: Animation | Comedy

Actors: Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Albert Brooks, Kelsey Grammer, Joe Mantegna, Karl Wiedergott

Directors: David Silverman

Country: USA

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For many years the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, along with the town dwellers, has got rid of its toxic waste and garbage by discharging them into the lake. After the sinking of the barge the band "Green Day" (Billie Joe Armstrong, Tre Cool and Mike Dirnt) was performing on, Lisa Simpson (Yeardley Smith) convinces the locals to clean up the polluted lake.

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But when her muddle-headed father Homer (Dan Castellaneta) dumps an overflowing silo of "Pig Crap" in it, he involuntarily causes ecological catastrophe. Induced by the treacherous adviser from the EPA, Russ Cargill (Albert Brooks), President Arnold Schwarzenegger (Harry Shearer) orders to put a giant glass dome over Springfield.

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The Simpsons, however, manage to escape with a whole skin through a sinkhole in their baby Maggie’s sandbox and they flee to Alaska. Having heard of the president’s villainous plan to destroy Springfield, Homer’s wife Marge (Julie Kavner) and his kids try to persuade him to return to the town but all to no avail. Therefore Marge, along with the kids, leaves Homer. But a meeting with a medicine woman (Tress MacNeille) drastically changes his outlook and Homer comes to the conclusion that he must defy the president, once known as Terminator, so as to save the home town, which is on a razor’s edge, and reunite with his family.

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"The Simpsons" is a very funny movie, loaded with dumb jokes that are often as funny as the clever ones, and full of the anarchic, generous, good-natured humor that is the show’s enduring signature.

Shrek the Third (2007)

Release Date: 17 May 2007 (Ukraine)

Genres: Animation | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

Actors: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, John Cleese, Rupert Everett, Eric Idle, Justin Timberlake, Susan Blakeslee, Cody Cameron, Larry King, Christopher Knights, John Krasinski

Directors: Chris Miller | Raman Hui

Country: USA

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When Fiona’s father and King of Far Far Away passes away, the clumsy Shrek becomes the immediate successor of the throne. However, Shrek decides to find the legitimate heir Artie in a distant kingdom with his friends Donkey and Puss in Boots to be able return to his beloved house in the swamp with the pregnant Fiona. Meanwhile, the envious and ambitious Prince Charming joins the villains of the fairytales plotting a coup d’état to become the new king.

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Being king isn’t for everyone - especially if you’re a prickly ogre who smells like the shallow end of a swamp. When Shrek married Fiona, the last thing he wanted was to rule Far Far Away.

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Shrek the Third seems at once more energetic and more relaxed, less desperate to prove its cleverness and therefore to some extent smarter.

It helps that the animation looks better than ever. Practice, along with advances in technology, has made the faces of the characters more expressive and their movements more graceful.

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"Shrek the Third" was an excellent follow-up to the other movies. This entire trilogy has really been great. There are a lot of new jokes in this movie for kids and adults alike, so the whole family can have a great time.

Georgia Rule (2007)

Release Date: 11 May 2007 (USA)

Genres: Comedy | Drama | Romance

Actors: Jane Fonda, Lindsay Lohan, Felicity Huffman, Dermot Mulroney, Cary Elwes, Garrett Hedlund, Hector Elizondo, Dylan McLaughlin, Zachary Gordon, Laurie Metcalf, Tereza Stanislav

Directors: Garry Marshall

MPAA Rating: R for sexual content and some language.

Country: USA

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Rebellious teenager Rachel (Lohan) screams, swears, drinks and is-in a word-uncontrollable. With her latest car crash, Rachel has broken the final rule in mom Lily’s (Golden Globe winner Huffman) San Francisco home. With nowhere else to take the impulsive and rambunctious girl, Lily hauls her daughter to the one place she swore she’d never return…her own mother’s Idaho farm.

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Matriarch Georgia (two-time Oscar® winner Fonda) is not your typical sweet and doting grandmother. She lives her life by a number of unbreakable rules, demanding anyone who shares her home do the same-God comes first and hard work comes a very close second. Now saddled with raising the young woman, it will require each patient breath she takes to understand Rachel’s fury. But as Rachel succumbs to her summer of misery and shakes up the tiny Mormon town, Georgia notices something is changing within her granddaughter. Given structure and responsibilities, Rachel is letting her guard down and learning compassion…especially for her mother. Her journey will lead all three women to revelations of buried family secrets and an understanding that-regardless what happens-the ties that bind can never be broken.

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Evan Almighty (2007)

Release Date: 22 June 2007 (USA)

Genres: Comedy | Fantasy

Actors: Steve Carell, Lauren Graham, Jimmy Bennett, Johnny Simmons, Morgan Freeman, Jonah Hill, Wanda Sykes, John Goodman, Ed Helms, John Michael Higgins, Mike Adams, Michael Ahl, Fernando Alessandri, Amir Allak, Bruno Amato

Directors: Tom Shadyac

Country: USA

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A spin off from the movie Bruce Almighty, now it is Evan Baxter’s (Steve Carell) turn to meet God (Morgan Freeman) and live up to his oath to change the world. If you remember the movie Bruce Almighty, Evan was is former colleague at the Buffalo TV station with both vying the spot for news anchor.

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