Star Spangled Banners (2013)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

That was an excellent one.

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

In their late teens and early 20s, the Banner siblings made it big as a rock group. But at the height of their fame, Desiree decided to leave the group, and everything fell apart. Fast forward years later and this is where it's at in this movie. Are there annoying things in this movie? Yes, like the overdone characters. But the movie has enough to keep you entertained and the directing and cinematography are well done. And you better believe that all the characters struggle against a system that has perpetuated falsehoods. From an artistic standpoint, there were some plot elements and character developments I didn't think were totally needed. Overall rating: 7/10.

I sat through this movie with my wife trying to be sociable. You guys know what it is like, not much going on, spending time with the family. That being said, I knew going in that any movie on the Hallmark Channel is going to be a chick flick, but I was not ready for this. This has to be the mother of all chick flicks. Every second I watched this movie, I could feel my testicles shrinking. The premise is that the mother of a girl and 2 boys wants them to come back to the old hometown, so she fakes a heart attack. The mother just happens to be the mayor of this town. When they all get back to the hometown, naturally someone has to take her place while she is in bed. Mother also needs some flowers planted in her flower bed. Take a guess who she sends to be the Mayor and who she tells to go plant flowers. If you did not say the sons planting flowers and the daughter running the city, you have not been watching enough of the Hallmark Channel. So, this being Hallmark, naturally the daughter/substitute mayor falls for a handsome lawyer who is trying to bankrupt the city. The final insult to all red blooded males is when the daughter goes to the lawyer's house late at night. Does macho, macho, man ask the daughter if she wants to slam back a few vodkas? No, the first words out of his mouth was "I am making some tea, do you want a cup"? I immediately began to search for a book to read for the rest of the movie. Bluntly put, if your pair are on your chest you will love this movie. But if you have a pair a little lower, this will be the worst movie you have ever seen.

In typical Hallmark movie fashion, there's conflict followed by redemption. Here, Mayor Mom (Mercedes Ruehl) pulls a fast one in an attempt to prevail upon her children, a former music trio known as the Banner Project, but now estranged for a decade, to save their hometown, along with the family's relationships. Christian Campbell is given top billing, but Brooke White, insofar as one can discover, is the only professional musician in the group, having been a fifth place finalist on American Idol, now with several albums under her belt. I enjoyed the music enough that I bumped my rating of the move up one notch, and even bought the 4-track soundtrack EP (released under the U.S. title for the movie, "Banner 4th of July".)

This movie about a family music act that disintegrated ten years earlier but reunites when their mother, the mayor of their home town, has a heart attack just as the town goes bankrupt, is a well written, well performed musical drama that never quite interests me in its details. Part of it is that the lead roles are rather bland. Part is that their music does not particularly appeal to me, and the outcome of the movie is never in doubt. This is clearly a case where you may enjoy it far better than I.As with many of these Hallmark movies, what makes it worthwhile for me is the older, supporting actors. Mercedes Ruehl, as the mother, is clearly the manipulative scene stealer; trying to figure out what she will do next is interesting to me. The result was a movie that I kept watching to the end.