Ladislao Batista Jr.

About a quarter in I was watching this and thinking ehh it's ok but the script is kind of cliche and I think they might have went too heavy on the italian-american stereotypes. But you know what once the movie really starts going into the restaurant story and the grandmother's it really started to work. There was good chemistry between the actors and the heart of the story started to be effectively carried out. It's a sweet movie with a nice cast. Is it an amazing award winning movie? No. Is it a thrill ride? No. But it's a sweet movie you can watch with family or enjoy cuddled with your significant other. We'll take it. Lots of mediocre and bad movies right now. A few sidenotes: Kudos to Susan Sarandon who still pulls off sexy and she's in her late 70s! I at first thought the Vince Vaughn Linda Cardellini romantic scenes were a bit awkward since they were supposed to be old flames who grew up together but I felt he looked noticeably older than her. However, it turns out in real life they are pretty much in the same age group, Linda Cardellini is just aging ridiculously well. One of the few nyc based movies I've seen that is heavily based on Staten Island, might be the only one I can recall.

I didn't enjoy this movie. Giving it the 2 stars because Angelina Jolies acting was good. Her acting at least was not the problem here. I wasn't that familiar with Maria Callas prior to this movie. She died before I was born and I'm no expert on opera. Fame aside this movie is pretty much a window into someone's deep descent into depression, drug abuse, and eventual death. It also tries to paint the picture of someone who eventually was consumed by weight of her own fame. The main vehicle used here to try to round out the character is through black and white flashbacks. Pretty much when the film is in color she's either hallucinating or it's basically showing those around her in despair. The movie ultimately doesn't really round out or become more interesting, it's just a overwrought depressing movie. Jolie gets the job done (with what she was given) and then some but the movie was not that good. 2 stars.

It was ok. The cast was good but they weren't given much to work with. Jonah Hill and Lauren London had zero on screen chemistry. In theory this should have been a much better movie. 3 stars.