Return to Sender

Released: 2015

MPAA rating: R

Running time: 1 hr. 35 mins.

Rosamund Pike follows up a turn as a manipulating, vindictive spouse in "Gone Girl" with this turn as a small-town nurse going through a traumatic time in her life.

Miranda (Pike) is getting ready for a blind-date when a man shows up at her front door, presumably said blind-date.  She lets him in and is brutally raped in her kitchen.

The assailant is quickly captured, arrested and convicted and is now in prison as she picks up the pieces of her life.  As part of her recovery, she decides to start writing him

letters in prison, which he does not accept (thus the title).  As the movie progresses, we start to see the cold, calculating woman she is beneath the friendly small-town girl

exterior.  There is a subplot where she learns to become friendly with her father's German Shepherd, which is also a metaphor for the relationship with her attacker.  As the

third act unfolds, her true revenge plot begins to reveal itself.  Pike does a nice job showing the many sides of this woman's personality, but my problem with the movie is this:

The character is not at all likeable.  It's quite an accomplishment for the filmmakers to take a woman who was brutally raped and make her a very unlikeable, unsympathetic

character, but they sure pull it off.  The middle part of the movie just didn't do it for me.  The more we learn of her, the less we like her and that is not a great recipe for a

revenge drama. Nick Nolte, as her father, brings some much needed humanity to the movie, but not enough to save it.  He doesn't have many scenes, but when he is on screen,

he really is the only character you care about.  I had higher hopes for this one. 

Grade: C- 

The Town That Dreaded Sundown

Released: 2014

MPAA rating: R

Running time: 1 hr., 26 min.

I generally like slasher films despite the fact that they are pretty much all the same:  Masked madman chases down and kills young lovers (AKA the "sex=death" genre).

This, being a remake of a slasher film that I really never even heard of, was no different.  The story is this:  In Texarkana, a town split between Texas and Arkansas. there was

a mysterious killer many years ago who was never caught but many believe was a certain individual.  The murders are such a town legend that a movie was made about the

crimes (the original movie) and, every year at Halloween, a local drive-in shows the movie and many of the local teenagers attend.  After 66 years, the night of the screening,

suddenly the murders seem to be starting up again.  The one element I really liked about this movie, believe it or not, is how they remade it and worked the original movie into

the storyline.  They show the police watching the film to look for clues and to familiarize themselves with the prior case for similarities.  When similar murders take place, the

movie intercuts parts of the original movie with the matching "modern-day" murder to tie the history in with the current story.  For me, this took this rehash of a genre we've all

seen so many times before and put a slightly fresh spin on it.  There was a pretty decent twist toward the end when the modern-day killer is revealed, although it seemed to be

reminiscent of a twist in the original "Scream" movie.  Overall, it is a slasher film that adheres strongly to the rules of that genre while putting a somewhat new spin on it.

Grade: C+

Adult Beginners

Released: 2014

MPAA Rating: R

Running time: 1 hr. 32 min.

Based on the cast in this movie, you would sort of expect a somewhat crazy comedy.  Several cast members from TV's "The League" were involved in the writing, producing and

directing, so it's a fair expectation.  What you get instead is an examination of people who are entering a challenging part of their lives without having grown up at all.  The main plotline

follows Jake (Nick Kroll), a big shot in the tech industry, who finds his latest project crashes and burns.  Having invested his own money, he finds himself completely broke and needs

to move back into his family home, now owned by his sister, Justine (Rose Byrne), and her husband, Danny (Bobby Cannavale). Jake really has nothing to offer them in return

for their hospitality, so he brokers a deal to provide daytime child care for their son, a job he is woefully unqualified for.  It is properly billed as a comedy, but it is much more than that. 

Sure, there are definitely funny scenes. but it is a well-written, well-acted and well-directed story of people who have been adults for a very long time, but are just now learning how.  It

plays very much like an indie comedy/drama, and that's a good thing.  It's a nice semi-departure for many of the talent involved.

Grade: B