La Bamba with Lou Diamond Phillips

Rating: 7 arthritic fingers up.

La Bamba tells the story of Richie Valens, from the undiscovered youth all the way to the fated plane crash that took his life along with the Big Bopper and Buddy Holly on February 3, 1959. Lou Diamond Phillips does an admirable job portraying Richie although I felt like his lip syncing to the songs was a bit off.

La Bamba would have garnished a higher rating if it wasn't that I constantly had to readjust the volume to a comfortable roar. If I adjusted the movie speaking parts to a dull roar, when a song came on, if the volume was left alone, I would have had curled hair! For those who can't hear anyway, it was probably ok but it ground my teeth down! So I was always fiddling with the volume.

Mom and I loved the story though as it is heartwarming and inspiring. In Richie Valens short life, he only got a few songs out but they were all popular. "Come on, let's go" was his first published recording followed shortly by "Donna" and his most popular hit, "La Bamba." In his own way and in his short 17 years, Richie Valens left his mark on the music industry.

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Living with a Stranger - Julia Roberts

 Rating: 6 arthritic fingers up.

This thriller movie held my interest (mostly) but not Mom's. The story line is a bit implausible. Julia Roberts plays a battered wife who fakes her own drowning to escape from her husband. After a night sail which turns bad in a storm, she slips overboard and manages to make her way to shore and a quick trip to her house to gather her runaway bag. In her wake, she leaves the most gorgeous house on Nantucket. I'm thinking that if I were her, I would have figured out a way to keep that house! But, that's besides the point. She also made a fatal error by putting her wedding ring in the toilet. Why she'd do that when she had the whole ocean in front of her was just too weird. And, the implausibility of the wedding ring still being there peaking out of the bottom of the toilet bowl after the funeral and after the house has been shut up just doesn't ring true (sorry). Didn't those people pee?

Anyway, Julia makes a run for it and tries to start a new life. That's as far as I'm going with this review. Don't want to be a spoiler for the tense ending!

As far as senior citizens liking this movie, maybe not so much. There's flashback scenes that sort of confused my Mom and the suspense was not her favorite thing.

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