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Dustin Hoffman: I’d Rather Play Jazz, But This Is Nice, Too!

Posted on 02/13/2013 by | Movies & TV | Comments

Entertainment  Dustin Hoffman once told our West Coast Editor Meg Grant that he would give up acting in a minute if he could only become a jazz musician. That switcheroo doesn’t appear imminent, but last year at age 75 Hoffman did direct his first movie — the funny, warm Quartet. That breakthrough achievement was among the reasons AARP toasted Hoffman Tuesday at the annual Movies for Grownups celebration in Beverly Hills. “This is an impactful moment in movies,” Hoffman told …

Hey Oscar, You Forgot Something!

Posted on 01/10/2013 by | Movies & TV | Comments

Entertainment  I’m confused. This was a great year for Movies for Grownups. Some of them even made a ton of money. So why is the  85th annual Oscar nominations list such a mixed bag for grownup movie lovers? On one hand, it’s nice to see Amour—a powerful French film about the undying love of an 80-something couple—nominated for Best Picture (and also Foreign Film, which may be a first). And Argo, Les Misérables, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, and Zero Dark …

Meryl Streep and Christopher Plummer Chat Backstage After Oscar Wins

Posted on 02/27/2012 by | AARP Blog Author | Comments

EntertainmentMeryl Streep was in a playful mood last night when she held court backstage before a crowd of admiring press after winning her Best Actress Oscar for “The Iron Lady.”  “I thought I was so old and jaded, but they call your name and you just go into sort of a — I don’t know, a white light, and it was just thrilling,” she told us.  “It was like I was a kid again.  I was a kid when I …

“The Beginners”: Movies for Grownups 2012

Posted on 02/6/2012 by | AARP Blog Author | Comments

EntertainmentI didn’t get to watch a lot of movies as a kid. (It’s a long story.) The few ones I did watch left indelible impressions. As it turns out, when you watch the Sound of Music close to 30 or 40 times as a young teenaged woman, Christopher Plummer sticks in your mind. (As does the soundtrack. These are a few of my favorite things…La la la la…)  I can recognize that voice anywhere, even in the villain from Up. …

“Hugo”: Movies for Grownups 2012

Posted on 02/6/2012 by | AARP Blog Author | Comments

Entertainment“Hugo,” based on Brian Selznick’s illustrated novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret, is Martin Scorsese’s magical, majestic, fantastically told 3-D tale of Hugo, an orphaned 12-year-old boy. After the disappearance of his clock-maker uncle, Hugo struggles to survive in the dark labyrinths of the subterranean train station of 1930s Paris by secretly winding all the station clocks. The ticking-of-time serves as visual and thematic metaphor, enabling Hugo to take on a beyond-his-years philosophical dimension as both agonist and antagonist. Along …

The Descendants: Movies for Grownups 2012

Posted on 02/4/2012 by | AARP Blog Author | Comments

Entertainment“The Descendants” takes an understated, emotionally uncompromising look at a family in crisis. The movie is set in paradisiacal Hawaii, a contrast against the slow unraveling of its main character, played by George Clooney, who faces a series of emotional challenges that test his limits. Older audiences will identify with the film’s surprisingly stark look at true-to-life family dilemmas. (You can read our full review here.) “I just have to share getting older with everybody in the world on screen …