I watch most movies in the airplane during my international travels these days. During long cross Atlantic flights, I sometimes get to watch 3 movies. Recently, I watched the following three movies back to back. I was happy to see that American movies were still alive and kicking and with original stories. These movies are not sequels and they are not based on comic book characters.

1) The Year of Getting to Know Us, starring Jimmy Fallon, Sharon Stone, Lucy Liu and Tom Arnold. Growing up with wacky, dysfunctional parents, New York writer Chris Rocket finds his world turned upside down again when he returns to his childhood home in Florida. With a family like this, he’ll be lucky to last the week. As the trailer suggests "No matter how far you go, no matter how fast you run, your past will always catch up with you." I loved the story line as well as the way the director tells it. I highly recommend it.

 

2) Mercy, starring Scott Caan, James Caan and Wendy Glenn. NY Times wrote "In the film “Mercy,” Scott Caan plays the type of romance novelist who doesn’t believe a word he writes about love. His cynicism changes once he meets Mercy (played by Wendy Glenn), a book critic who helps open him up to the benefits (and the complexities) of a meaningful relationship." The scenes that include both father and son Caans are very powerful and packs a punch. The backwards story telling, the twist and turns made me enjoy this very romantic movie.

3) Mother and Child, directed by Rodrigo García. Starring Alexandria M. Salling, Connor Kramme, Annette Bening. Get your handkerchiefs ready. A drama centered around three women: A 50-year-old woman, the daughter she gave up for adoption 35 years ago, and an African American woman looking to adopt a child of her own. As IMDB puts it "Almost forty years ago, a young girl of fourteen has sex, gets pregnant, and gives her baby up for adoption. Fast-forwarding to the present day, we meet three very different women, each of whom struggles to maintain control of their lives. There's Elizabeth, a smart and successful lawyer who uses her body to her advantage. Any time she feels that she doesn't have the upper hand, and cannot control the situation, she uses her sex appeal - whether that be starting a romance with her boss when she suspects he is trying to start one himself, or finding some way to control her overly friendly neighbor and husband. Karen, meanwhile, is a bitter health care professional who obviously has a lot of heart but never shows it. She gave up a daughter at the age of fourteen (wonderfully shown rather than told, she is the young girl and mother of Elizabeth), and has never gotten over it - her bitterness inspiring her to lash out at everyone around her. This is a must see movie that deserves several Oscars. Don't miss it.