Mini Reviews of Recent Films II

Spotlight: In this film, some investigative reporters report on a major cover-up while working for an editor named Ben Bradlee. But this is not All The President's Men. It's the Boston Globe not the Washington Post, and the reporters are investigating the cover-up of paedophile priests by the Catholic Church. The editor is Ben Bradlee Jr, the son of the famous Washington Post editor. The name of the film refers to a group of investigative reporters at the Boston Globe, played by Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, and Brian d'Arcy James, who investigate the Catholic Church in Boston when a new Editor-in-chief (Liev Schreiber) is hired. This is a true story about how the Boston Globe reported in 2002 that 249 priests in Boston alone had been abusing children for decades with the knowledge of the Cardinal of the Archdiocese. Spotlight is a good movie with a nice cast and a compelling story to tell. But it lacks the high tension and sense of danger that keeps you on the edge of your seat during All the President's Men.

Creed: You can hear the music in your head. Duh duh dah, duh duh dah. Yes, Rocky is back. And it's great to see him. In case you don't get the title, Creed refers to Apollo Creed. As we know Apollo is dead but his illegitimate son (Michael B. Jordan) is all grown up and surprise surprise, he wants to box and he wants Rocky to train him. So we are back in Philly and Sylvester Stallone as Rocky gets to channel Burgess Meredith and be the crotchety old trainer. Except, Rocky is too sweet to be crotchety. The plot is the same but Creed Jr and his girlfriend are a fair bit more socialized than Rocky and Adrian. I was happy to hear that it still weakens the legs! Creed is a very nice heartwarming movie about boxing. So there's some blood and some shots to the head but Stallone should get an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Rocky near the end of road. You should see this.

Suffragette: This is an unusual film, not because of its subject, but because it was written by a woman, directed by a woman, and produced by two women. Suffragette is about the British movement to get the vote for women in the early 20th century. The film tells the true story through a combination of real and fictional characters. The main characters, a young washerwoman with a husband and son played by Carey Mulligan, and a pharmacist and bomb maker played by Helena Bonham Carter are fictional. But the leader of the movement, Emmeline Pankhurst, is played wonderfully by Meryl Streep but unfortunately appears only briefly, and Emily Wilding Davison, who was killed at the Epsom Derby when she ran onto the course, is played by Natalie Press. The non-female characters include Mulligan's husband (Ben Whishaw, better known as the new Q in James Bond), and a police detective (Brendan Gleeson, best known as Mad-Eye Moody) who becomes sympathetic to the cause. Suffragette is very well put together and gives an unvarnished view of the lives of working-class women in London a century ago. Bonham Carter gives a nice low-key performance, and Gleeson is great as always. Mulligan is excellent as the woman who loses everything while fighting for the vote. The whole Suffragette movement is seen through her eyes. I was a bit verklempt at the end.

Brooklyn: This is just the most enjoyable film. I'm sure it appeals to the romantic in me but it is pretty much perfect. Saoirse Ronan is only 21 but she seems to have been around forever. Her first film was Atonement when she was 13, followed by The Lovely Bones, Hanna, and The Grand Budapest Hotel. Ronan grew up in Ireland and is perfect in Brooklyn as the young Irish woman who emigrates to America and makes her own life there. The cast is great, including the old pros, Julie Walters and Jim Broadbent as the young woman's landlady and priest. Ronan's two suitors in New York (Emory Cohen) and in Ireland (Domhnall Gleeson) are both very appealing. But the thing that appealed to me most in the film was the color palette. The direction, cinematography, art direction, and costume design all conspire to make Brooklyn seem like it was made and set in the early 1950's. And it didn't hurt that Nick Hornby wrote the screenplay. It made me feel good just to watch this movie. 

In the Heart of the Sea: I was very disappointed that this was such a lackluster film. First, because I am a big fan of Ron Howard as a director, and also since I have been going to Nantucket for over 50 years and am well-acquainted with the story of the whaleship Essex. It is a fascinating true story. In a lot of ways it is like another true story brought to film by Ron Howard, Apollo 13. In 1819, the Nantucket whaleships going on voyages to the Pacific that lasted for 4 or 5 years might as well have been going to the Moon, except without radios. And Nantucket, itself, was a unique place in 1819, controlled by Quakers, with no slaves, and a very diverse population which was represented in the crew of the Essex. But none of this really makes it into this film. Only a few minutes are devoted to Nantucket and the preparations for the voyage. The first mate played by Chris Hemsworth (Thor in The Avengers) seems to live right where my house is today. The voyage itself consists of one storm staged to show how the ill-fated Captain Pollard (Benjamin Walker) is unfit for his post, and then before we know it, the ship has been stove by a whale. The whale is supposed to be some "hound from Hell" like Moby Dick, but it has none of the White Whale's sinister qualities. No spoilers but the crew is trapped in three small boats for a long time and bad things happen. I blame the screenplay for a lack of character development beyond one dimension and for a complete lack of emotion. Ron Howard seems to have mailed this one in. If you compare it to the excitement and suspense of Apollo 13, In the Heart of the Sea is very flat. You don't particularly care whether the crew of the Essex lives or dies, and they don't seem to care much either. I recommend a visit to Nantucket and the Essex exhibit at the Whaling Museum.

Mini Reviews of Recent Films

Mockingjay Part 2: The first thing you need to know before I say anything about the movie is that I am a Katniss/Gale Shipper and a Peeta hater. So while I really liked the first book of the series, I threw the last one against the wall at the end. Little has changed from the book in this last film of the Hunger Games series. The gag-me-with-a-spoon ending is unchanged.

But that aside, the series in general and the last film in particular has many strong female roles and passes the Bechdel test repeatedly. The casting is great. Included are, Julianne Moore, Jena Malone, Natalie Dormer, and if they aren't strong enough, Michelle Forbes of Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica fame, is also there. Donald Sutherland is amazing, doing President Snow as a kind of evil Hawkeye Pierce. And, in his last role ever, augmented by some CGI, is Philip Seymour Hoffman. The three sides of the dystopian, high-school love triangle are all perfectly cast, with Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, and Josh Hutcherson. The best casting of all, if you've read the books, is Woody Harrelson as Haymitch.


I can't say much more without spoilers. There are lots of explosions. Some people die and some don't. And I always tear up when they kiss their three fingers and hold them up.

Room:
This film has a lot of buzz. It has won the Audience Award at six film festivals including Toronto. The title refers to the very small space in which a woman and her young son live. The woman, played by the amazing Brie Larson, was kidnapped 7 years previously and is being kept in a backyard shed by her captor. He is the father of her son. Jacob Tremblay, who plays the 5 year-old boy, pretty much steals the movie with his performance although Larson is great too. Her previous move, Short Term 12, is very good. Room is simply shot and is split into two parts, before and after life in the Room, and shows how the mother and son deal with the change. The son has never seen the outside world. The violence of the captor real and implied is almost completely off screen, but is seen in Larson's expressive face. This movie is definitely worth seeing.

Spectre:
The new movie may not be Skyfall but it's still lots of fun. The opening sequence in Mexico City during the Day of the Dead parade is amazing. The new M, Q, and Moneypenny are back. M has been demoted to work for C who is played by the guy who plays Moriarty in Sherlock so you know he's not a good guy. Christoph Waltz makes an excellent rebooted Blofeld and the white cat is back. And there's even an older woman as a Bond Girl, Monica Bellucci. She's 4 years older than Daniel Craig. They are both looking good.

Steve Jobs: 
Nobody is seeing this movie. Everyone needs to see this movie. It is my early pick (I've only seen 54 movies this year) for Best Movie of the Year. And Steve Jobs made me cry at the end. Ok, it was Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire) that did that. This movie is all talk from beginning to end. Did I mention that it was written by Aaron Sorkin? It is divided into three parts, the Introductions of the Mac, NeXt, and iMac computers. The cast, Michael Fassbender (Jobs), Seth Rogen (The Woz), Jeff Daniels (John Scully), and Kate Winslet (Joanna Hoffman, Jobs' factotem) really kill. It doesn't matter if you liked Steve Jobs or believe that this film bears any resemblance to reality, you need to see it.

Bridge of Spies:
Spielberg plus Hanks. Ok, very good but very conservative choices to bring an iconic moment in American history to life when the U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers was exchanged for the Russian spy Rudolph Abel. But a screenplay by Ethan and Joel Coen? And Mark Rylance playing Abel? Wow. Rylance is fantastic. We last saw him killing as Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall. The scenes, mostly early in the film, between Hanks and Rylance make this a very good movie. The rest of the characters are a bit one dimensional although Amy Ryan and Alan Alda try their best. This film also resonates strongly with politics today. James Donovan (Tom Hanks) gets a lot of flak in 1957 for trying to give Abel a good defense and by wanting to actually follow the US Constitution. Worth seeing.

The Walk: 
This is an amazing film which no one is seeing. It is the first time I can say that 3D is necessary and integral to a film. And I could barely watch it. I have a fear of heights and the end of the film when he is walking between the towers is agonizing but really incredible. This is an emotional and poignant movie especially since it is centered on the Twin Towers. The movie is set in 1974 but the present is always present. Go see it.