Bridget Jones Baby (2016)

Bridget Jones, when will it end?  No time soon is my simple answer.  I watched this in the perfect situation--a long distance flight, watched over a meal and wine and winding down to try to sleep.  The good news is that if you liked the original, you won't be offended or even really disappointed with this iteration.  Colin Farrell returns as the stable yet less spontaneous beau and Patrick Dempsey steps in nicely as a substitute to Hugh Grant as the handsome spontaneous alternative.
In this iteration, Bridget (still aptly played by Renee Zellweger) is in her 40's, still single and childless, and coming to terms with the idea that might be a permanent condition when after a spontaneous fling with both of her leading men, she comes up pregnant.  regardless of who the father is, she wants to be the mother, and the bulk of the movie revolves around the two potential fathers vying for her affection with their own unique charms.  It is funny and fun and light.  Just as you would hope.

Korean Chicken Wings

These were fantastic and they take a fraction of the time that the other chicken wings that I like take.  Perfect for a week night dinner.

• 1 1/2 lb. chicken wingettes and drumettes, patted dry
• 1/2 c. flour
• 1/2 c. cornstarch
• kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• vegetable oil
• 1/4 c. ketchup
• 1/4 c. sriracha
• 2 tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• Toasted sesame seeds, for garnishing

1. Whisk together flour and cornstarch in a medium bowl. Season mixture with salt and pepper. Dredge each chicken piece in the flour-cornstarch mixture until evenly coated.
2. Pour about 1 1/2” vegetable oil into a large, deep skillet or shallow pot. Heat over medium heat until the oil reaches about 350 degrees F, or until the oil is shimmering. (If a splash of water sizzles when you flick it into the pan, it’s ready.)
3. Working in batches, add 3-4 chicken pieces to the hot oil using tongs. Do not crowd the pan, or the oil will cool! Cook until golden brown on one side, about 3-4 minutes, then flip and cook until the second side is golden and the chicken is cooked through, 3-4 more minutes. Place the fried chicken on a cooling rack lined with paper towels. Repeat the remaining chicken.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together ketchup, sriracha, honey and lemon juice until smooth. Toss cooked wings in the sauce. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds. Serve warm or at room temperature.

49th State Brewing Company, Anchorage, Alaska

The gang's all here, on my spouse's birthday, a month ago in the great state of Alaska.  It was a crowd pleaser of a spot, with an extensive beer on tap menu, and a table made from the trunk of a single tree to remind us that we are in a state that is exceptionally beautiful and rural.  I had the halibut fish and chips and they were absolutely delicious.  Highly recommended.  The food overall comes in second to the beer and the festive atmosphere, but is very enjoyable none the less.  On Monday night they have a trivia night, and our representatives were the big winners, which defrayed the cost of the dinner that we shared.  An added plus.

The Salesman (2016)

The Iranian director of this movie, Asghar Farhadi, won his second Oscar for this painfully told story.  It is a remarkable feat really, when you consider that dozens of countries pick out the very best film made there that year and submit it, so there is an initial culling of wonderful movies, and then, amongst the best of the best that the world of cinema has to offer, he has managed to win twice.  Susanne Bier has done well (with a win and a nomination) and the Danes have had some good luck in this arena over all (Danish films Land of Mine and Silent Night were nominated for Best Foreign Language film and Best Live Action Short Film), but Iran can hold it's head high in the film world.
The movie itself is amazingly rich and complex, which is how it rose above a very impressive array of other nominees--I always find the movies in this category to be of exceptional quality, often better than the nominees in the Best Picture category, and this year is no exception.  The story revolves around a husband and wife, who are also actors playing husband and wife in a play, Death of a Salesman.  The wife is seriously assaulted and the movie revolves around the emotions evoked around that event.  I will say no more, other than to say do not miss this.

Life, Animated (2016)

This is a really lovely documentary that is about a child who is severely autistic and what his family does to ameliorate that for him, and what they cannot do.  It is heart warming and heart breaking at the same time.  It seemed like everything was okay until he turned three and he stopped talking.  Completely.  Having had a child who was mute for three months after brain surgery I totally get how distressing that can be.  They were very unsuccessful at turning his speech around, and found that the greatest joy he got was from watching Disney movies.  Then one day he repeated a line from a movie verbatim.  Gradually, over time, having conversations with him that were solely in dialogue from Disney animated movies they learned two things. One was that he had them all memorized, and two that he used them to make sense of the world around him.  If it wasn't in a Disney movie, he didn't have a way to picture it in his head or talk about it.  There is a point in the movie where his older brother tries to talk with him about sex and love within the context of a relationship he was in at the time, and it just wasn't going anywhere.
The parents do everything in their power to make life as close to normal as they can, and I relate to that as well.  Their son prepares to move out into a somewhat independent living situation near them, and I have a kid who is not quite ready to do that.  So it was bittersweet, this movie.  I have less to worry about but it is a difference of degree and not kind.

The Jungle Book (2016)

This movie faithfully follows the original Disney movie of the same name, but this time with magnificently realistic appearing animals.  It was nominated for best visual effects, or essentially what can you do with a computer that you can't do in real life, and it was the slam dunk winner in that category.  So incredibly well rendered that the fact that the rest of it is almost exactly how I remember the movie from my childhood is irrelevant because I can't take my eyes off how magnificently well the animals work.  Mogli is a bit annoying, and the scene at the end where he out thinks Sher Khan is tense and anxiety provoking, but otherwise it is more of a marvel that a new story.  It is a live action rendition that celebrates what computer aided effects have to offer.

Deepwater Horizon (2016)

Ok, you might think that this movie would not have quite managed to be Oscar material, but it was nominated in two categories, both of them related to special effects, and really, as disaster movies go, it was surprisingly enjoyable. Mark Wahlberg is an engineer on the rig, and when you watch he and others who are returning to their shifts on it, you realize just how far from help they were, and how isolated it was for them out there once things started to go terribly wrong.  The way the film tells it, the BP company officials were pressing for action when the crew wasn't so sure that they were all clear, and then of course it gets much much worse, with fires and explosions, and people trying to minimize the damage, and then abandoning the rig completely.  It is amazing how the loss of life was contained, and the movie ends there, not looking at all at how hard it was to then contain the oil.

Tannah (2016)

Very interesting movie that is set in the Pacific Island of Vanuatu and was Australia's submission for Best Foreign Language film.  It was filmed with native actors, all amateurs, and it has some of the limitations that you would expect from that.  The cinematography is absolutely spectacular, and it did not surprise me to learn that the filmmaker is largely known for documentary film making.
I would say that the story is a complete rip off of the Romeo and Juliet saga, except that it is based on real events that took place on the volcanic island of Tanna in 1987.  The Yakel tribe was firmly entrenched in the iron fist grip of the elders on everything that happens, including arranging marriages and using bartering women in marriage to keep peace with another tribe.  So when Wawa falls in love with Dain, they have very little hope that their relationship will be allowed.  Then Wawa is promised to a warring tribe, and there is no way out.  Wawa is no longer a virgin, the tribe is angry that she has run away, and their own people are not in their camp.  So they make the only choice that they see available to them, which is a tragedy of the tribal elders making.  And so it goes.  All stories af mankind are doomed to be repeated.

Sully (2016)

The Oscars are behind us, but the movies that were nominated just keep on coming.I was unable to watch everything ahead of time, of course.  Given that I had only seen one when they were announced, I did pretty well in the end.  This was nominated in the category of sound editing.
The movie certainly nails its white-knuckled depiction of 2009’s Miracle on the Hudson, the emergency water landing made by US Airways Flight 1549 that allowed all 155 of its passengers and crew to come out alive.  Really miraculous and the movie captures Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the plain-spoken, cool-headed veteran pilot who pulled off the impossible under immense pressure.  These sequences are likely to be primarily responsible for its nomination.
The focus of the movie was on how after pulling off this crash landing the pilots were accused of making a mistake about landing on the Hudson.  The insurance company was unhappy about the loss of the plane, and so while the public was relieved, the pilots were being sweated.  It all works out, and gives a good sense of how much finger pointing there is when a plane goes down.

Extremis (2016)

I knew that I would not be able to put all the movies that I watched for the Oscars in posts that would air before the event, so I am saving some of the ones that I thought were less likely to win afterwards (although I may make mistakes, of course).  This is something that people should watch with their family, especially elderly family members who have some ambivalence about what they want for end of life care.  The other group is families who have some disagreement about end of life care for a family member.  As much as one might try to avoid pitting siblings against each other by designating one decision maker whose views are in concert with your own, things happen and the very best thing is if everyone can agree.  So check out this short documentary following around a palliative care doctor.   Let's just say this is not the feel good movie of the nominees (although it is also not the most gut wrenching--the two that take place in and around Syria win that position).  It is well worth watching.