Love & Friendship

Jane Austen is the most successful screenwriter in Hollywood today but she has not produced anything new in quite a while! So, just when we thought that Jane Austen was never going to produce any new screenplays, we have a new one. It is Love & Friendship which is based on an early unpublished novel, Lady Susan. Lady Susan (Kate Beckinsale) is a matchmaker but unlike Emma, is only interested in matches for herself and her young daughter (Morfydd Clark). And the matches must be rich. Lady Susan will stop at nothing to achieve her twin goals and she must manipulate a large number of people. You almost need a program to keep everyone straight. In fact, there is an explanation with subtitles every time a new character is introduced. 

There is Lady Susan's American confidant (Chloe Sevigny) whose husband (Stephen Fry) is "just old enough to be formal, ungovernable and to have the gout – too old to be agreeable, and too young to die." Also, they are staying at the house of her in-laws (Emma Greenwell, Justin Edwards) and her sister-in-law's brother (Xavier Samuel). The brother is in love with Lady Susan and another lord (Tom Bennett) is in love with the daughter. Lady Susan is also having an affair with a married man and his wife (Jenn Murray) is very upset about it. 

No spoilers but Lady Susan and her daughter do quite well for themselves by the end. The cast is a bunch of great British character actors in addition to the A-listers. The most entertaining character is Sir James who is in love with the daughter. He is a complete nutter and very, very happy about it. His joy is extremely infectious and the audience was laughing out loud whenever he was on the screen. The director, Whit Stillman, keeps this film moving right along and it is a very entertaining and light-hearted romp. Love & Friendship has had a lot of buzz since it was shown at Sundance this year and it has an unbelievable 99% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. What's not to like?

Money Monster

Sometimes it's just nice to see the old-pros on the A-list do their thing. The big Hollywood movie isn't what it used to be, but Money Monster stars George Clooney (Two Oscars, eight nominations) and Julia Roberts (One Oscar, four nominations), and is directed by none other than Jodie Foster (Two Oscars, four nominations). I don't mind saying that I just love Foster. I also think a lot of George and Julia, so maybe this is a biased review. The A-list stars are backed up by a nice supporting cast, Jack O'Connell (Unbroken), Dominic West (The Affair), Giancarlo Esposito (Homicide: Life on the Street), and Caitriona Balfe (Outlander).

Money Monster is the name of a financial investment cable TV show that is more circus than investment advice. Clooney is the manic host and Roberts is his cool-headed producer.  They have a lot of history together, and Roberts is about to jump ship for a job at another network. During the taping of their daily show, a young man with a gun (O'Connell) comes on camera, takes Clooney hostage, and forces him to wear an explosive vest. He is upset after losing all of his savings after following Clooney's advice to buy a certain stock. Of course, the SWAT team, led by Esposito, soon arrives, and Money Monster seems to be heading toward a typical hostage standoff. But the company that O'Connell invested in and lost his money has wheels within wheels, and so Clooney tries to figure out what is really happening by trying to pigeonhole the company's spokesperson (Balfe) and CEO (West). All the while, Clooney is trying to keep O'Connell alive. Stockholm Syndrome takes hold pretty quickly.

I need to mention two small roles in Money Monster. In one, Lenny Venito, one of those character actors who looks always vaguely familiar, has a breakout role here as Lenny the Cameraman. In the other, Emily Meade has only one scene as O'Connell's pregnant girlfriend who is brought in to talk him down. Meade almost steals the whole movie with one scene. It is great.

Money Monster is directed by Jodie Foster. All of her Oscar nominations have been for acting, but she has been concentrating on directing recently. Money Monster is her fourth feature film and she has been directing episodes of House of Cards, and Orange is the New Black. Foster does a good job here, keeping the action simple and moving along. This film makes good use of the intimacy between the on-air talent and the producer in the control room talking through their earpiece. This technique has been used to good effect before in Broadcast News (a great movie if you've never seen it)  and more recently in the HBO series, The Newsroom (a great series if you've never seen it).  Anyway, it's fun to see Clooney and Roberts is action. Hollywood is not dead yet.

Captain America: Civil War

Aunt May and Tony Stark? I have to say that I never considered that one. But they are both New Yorkers, and having Aunt May played by Marisa Tomei doesn't hurt. But I digress. Yes, Spider-Man is back and he is from the Marvel Universe, so here he is in Captain America: Civil War. Wait, I think I am still digressing. This is a review of the aforementioned Captain America: Civil War, the latest in the many Avengers movies. It is the third in the line of Captain America movies. This one follows a plot that was in the comic books where, yes, there is a war between the Avengers. The New York Times review was discussing it as a political allegory. Think Tony Stark as Donald Trump and Steve Rogers as Bernie Sanders. I am reticent to even try to describe the plot. But it is quite a bit similar to the other "war" move on the DC Comics side, Batman vs Superman. In both movies, a superhero with control issues decides that another superhero is a vigilante not a superhero and needs to be reined in. And in both, a villain is pulling the strings. Here it is Daniel Bruhl. he is good. You gotta see him as Niki Lauda in Rush.

In Captain America: Civil War, the US Secretary of State (William Hurt) and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) decide that the Avengers should be put under UN control. I have to say that I am on Captain America's side here. But Cap (Chris Evans) is somewhat biased since he really just wants to save his boyhood pal, Bucky (Sebastian Stan), who keeps killing people and laying waste to the planet. Anyway, as I said, let's not analyze the plot too closely. The Avengers take sides. Thor, the Hulk, and Nick Fury are MIA, so we don't know what they think. Added to the mix are Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), and Spider-Man (Tom Holland). The other Avengers from Age of Ultron are all back, some just briefly. Natasha Romanov aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) is the only sane member of the Avengers and that's saying something. She tries to keep them together, then sides with the Iron Man team, but not really since her best buds Steve and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) are on the other team. She is also smarter than the others because she just disappears rather than be put in Supermax with the other bad Avengers. Unfortunately, then she isn't in the last third of the movie.

This is really three movies, one where they are all trying to find Bucky but can't and blame each other, and then a very entertaining middle bit where the two Avenger teams face off. This is the best part of the movie and it's obvious no one is going to get killed. Spider-Man and Ant-Man get the most laughs. Then, there is a third movie where it is just Tony versus Steve with Bucky in the middle.

The Avengers movies are mostly well-made and, happily for me, very well written. This movie is no different. It continues the subplot of Black Widow trying to set up Steve with the nurse (Emily VanCamp) who turns out to be in the CIA and has other secrets. But I can report that there is a kiss somewhere in this movie. You can also look out for some nice cameos, William Hurt and Marisa Tomei as mentioned above, Alfre Woodard as a grief-stricken mother, John Slattery and Hope Davis as Tony's parents, and Martin Freeman as a nasty CIA torturer. Don't ask why Martin Freeman is in this because I don't know.

What else? Now we know what was in the folder that Romanov gave to Steve at the end of the last movie. Also, there are two scenes in the final credits, one right at the end which you should stay for. Oh, and look out for Stan Lee playing a Fedex man.