Reel Corner - December 2017

Gifts of Time, Laughter and Love
for the Holiday Season

The holiday season tends to bring emotion and sentiment to the surface. Stress escalates as we rush to decorate, entertain, shop, bake cookies (do people still bake?) and have enough wine in the house for drop-in guests in addition to the usual stash. In the midst of the ruckus, a good comedy may provide welcome relief and joyous laughter. We are in luck this holiday season, which brings with it a great cinematic lineup sure to serve up a few belly laughs even to the most cynical!

“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.”
—Charles Dickens

Wonder Wheel - December 1st  Rated PG-13
Kate Winslet, Justin Timberlake, Jim Belushi  |  Directed by Woody Allen
Set in Coney Island in the 1950s, this film features larger than life characters, lovers, infidelity and gangsters.

Just Getting Started - December 8th  Rated PG-13
Morgan Freeman, Rene Russo, Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Pantoliano
Directed by Ron Shelton

Morgan Freeman stars as Duke Diver, the freewheeling manager of the luxury Palm Springs resort, the Villa Capri. Duke may have a mysterious past, but he’s a pro at making sure that life for the high-spirited residents is one big, non-stop party. But the status quo is challenged when ex-military charmer Leo (Tommy Lee Jones) checks in, triggering a competition between Duke and Leo for the top spot of Alpha male, as well as for the affections of the newly-arrived Suzie (Rene Russo). When Duke’s past suddenly catches up with him, the rivals put aside their differences, and the two men reluctantly team up to stop whoever is trying to kill Duke and save the Villa Capri.

Father Figures - December 22th  Rated R
Ed Helms, Owen Wilson, J.K. Simmons, Christopher Walken, Terry Bradshaw, Glenn Close  |  Directed by Lawrence Sher

Ed Helms and Owen Wilson play Peter and Kyle Reynolds, two brothers whose eccentric mother (Glenn Close) raised them to believe their father had died when they were young. When they discover this is a lie, they set out to find their real father, learning more about their mother than they ever wanted to know.

Downsizing - December 22th  Rated PG-13
Matt Damon, Kristin Wiig, Christoph Waltz, Hong Chau
Directed by Alexander Payne

Downsizing imagines what might happen if, as a solution to over-population, Norwegian scientists discover how to shrink humans to five-inches and propose a 200-year global transition from big to small. People soon realize how much further money goes in a miniaturized world, and with the promise of a better life, Paul Safranek (Matt Damon) and wife Audrey (Kristen Wiig) decide to abandon their stressful lives in Omaha in order to get small and move to a new downsized community—a choice that triggers life-changing adventures.

A Look Back at 2017—Movie Facts
The top-grossing movie of 2017 was Disney’s Beauty and the Beast with over $1.2 billion worldwide.
Besides Beauty and the Beast ($504 million), the top U.S. grossing movies released in 2017 include: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($386 million), Wonder Woman ($373 million), Logan ($226 million), and The Fate of the Furious ($225 million).

Wonder Woman grossed $103.3 million in its U.S. opening weekend, breaking the record for a female-directed film!

Gifts of time, laughter and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly Merry Christmas and happy holiday season. The REEL Corner extends a very warm, healthy, happy holiday season to all.
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Sources: www.imbd.com

Donne Paine, film enthusiast, once lived around the corner from the Orson Wells Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts where her strong interest in films, especially independent ones, began. Supporter of the arts­—especially films—she travels to local and national film festivals including Sundance, Toronto and Tribeca. There is nothing like seeing a film on the big screen. She encourages film goers to support Hilton Head local theaters—Coligny, Park Plaza and Northridge theaters. To support her habit of frequent movie going Donne is an executive recruiter and staff development consultant. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.