Eye in the Sky

Eye in the Sky refers to the drones, used by the US military and others, that watch but also kill terrorists. The story of this film seems to be loosely based on a real terrorist, the so-called White Widow, a British woman who joined Al Shabaab in Somalia. In Eye in the Sky, a mission to capture her has been arranged, led by the British with support from the Americans and the Kenyans. A drone is being flown from a US Airforce base by two soldiers (Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) and Phoebe Fox). The mission is run by a British Colonel (Helen Mirren) and her superior officer (Alan Rickman). Things go wrong from the start and the mission quickly changes from capture to kill. The terrorists are planning an imminent suicide attack, and so they must be killed by a missile from the drone. Even though there are some qualms, permission is quickly given for the strike until the drone operators notice that a young Kenyan girl is selling bread right next to the target house and will be killed if the missile is launched. What follows is a nice study in military vs political needs and agendas. The British colonel, played by Mirren with a very competent iciness, wants to proceed. She is supported by her General (Rickman) but the politicians are not so sure. As we watch the terrorists prepare their suicide vests through a tiny drone disguised as a large fly (I don't make this stuff up) and operated by a local officer (Barkhad Abdi), the politicians dither, and the drone operators come close to mutiny. It is quite entertaining to watch the British ministers, played by Jeremy Northam and various nice British character actors,  as they keep "referring up." Eventually, the British Foreign Secretary (Iain Glen (Jorah Mormont in Game of Thrones)) and the American Secretary of State get involved. Meanwhile, all involved watch the little girl as if she is in a reality show, hoping she will sell all her bread and go home. Eye in the Sky features some very good performances including the always reliable Helen Mirren (I do love her), and very sadly, the last performance of the incomparable Alan Rickman who died in January. Barkhad Abdi, who was the terrorist in Captain Phillips, gets to play a good guy this time. Eye in the Sky is a nicely put-together film directed by the South African, Gavin Hood, who first hit the big time with Tsotsi a very good film that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 2005. This one is worth seeing.

Batman v Superman

This film is unusual because it got overwhelmingly bad reviews and a 29% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, but it also got an overwhelmingly good response from the people who have seen the movie. I am siding with the latter. Batman v Superman is actually pretty good. Maybe my expectations had been appropriately lowered but I enjoyed it a lot. I will go into this in detail below, but you should see this movie because:

1. Wonder Woman rocks! Superman and Batman may be sad sacks grinding out the crime fighting but Wonder Woman enjoys her work.
2. Jeremy Irons is The. Best. Alfred. Ever. Sorry Michael Caine.
3. Amy Adams has made Lois Lane into a real character.
4. Jesse Eisenberg IS Lex Luthor.
5. Kryptonite!

The plot of this film is stated in the title and I'm sure you have seen the trailer, but no big spoilers here. The plot of Batman v Superman parallels the upcoming Captain America: Civil War in that some people, Batman (Ben Affleck) included, have decided that Superman (Henry Cavill) is a potentially dangerous vigilante, and he's an Alien! The Senate holds hearings to look into the issue. There are few nice scenes with Holly Hunter as the lead senator. It's nice to see her. But behind the scenes, pulling the strings is Lex Luthor. I'm sure some people find Jesse Eisenberg annoying at times but he was born to play Lex Luthor just as he was born to play Mark Zuckerberg. There may be some similarities between those two characters. Henry Cavill is as stolid as he was in Man of Steel. But that is his character. And Amy Adams as Lois does soften him up a bit. Adams was the best thing in Man of Steel. She is great here too.

Much has been made about the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman. I had my doubts. But the portrayal of Batman as a world-weary crime fighter in his 40's is perfect casting for Affleck. As Batman says, "Criminals are like weeds. If you pull one out, another grows in its place." This is a very different Batman from Dark Knight or its predecessors. For one thing, this Batman likes guns. The juxtaposition of Batman's cynicism with Superman's idealism is nice, and both characters get to evolve a bit during the movie. Which brings me to Alfred. Who would a world-weary Batman want as his Alfred but Jeremy Irons. Irons is always great but he is wonderful here. He steals all the scenes he is in in Batman v Superman. I was wishing he was in the movie more.

Batman v Superman is also setting up the Justice League of America to be the DC version of The Avengers. We are introduced to Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) aka Wonder Woman, who helps out Batman and Superman against Luther. And believe me they need the help. We also see short scenes with The Flash and Aquaman, who will join the other three superheroes in Justice League in 2017. Gadot is good. You might remember her from the Fast and Furious movies.

This is a superhero movie with lots of fights and trashing of cities. Both Gotham City and Metropolis get trashed. And it's a bit long at 2 1/2 hours, but it's surprisingly good. Besides all the characters I mentioned, Perry White (Laurence Fishburne), Ma and Pa Kent (Diane Lane & Kevin Costner) return. The casting throughout is great. Oh, yes, and did I mention that there is Kryptonite! Spoiler alert, it is the green variety. So ignore the reviews (other than this one) and join the throngs at the movie theatre.

The Lady in the Van

This is not a review of Batman v Superman. In fact, The Lady in the Van is the antithesis of that. It is a nice little film that tells the true story of a homeless woman (Maggie Smith) who lives in a van in Camden Town in London. She is befriended by a writer (Alex Jennings) who eventually allows her to park her van in his driveway. She ends up staying for 15 years. The film is shot in the actual house and street in Camden Town, and the writer who befriended her, wrote the book, play, and screenplay. The Lady in the Van is a tour de force for Maggie Smith. She is 81, but is having a hugely successful career late in life, including Harry Potter, Downton Abbey, and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. In The Lady and the Van, Smith can emote in almost every scene. Most scenes in the film are mostly just the two characters, the lady and the writer. It does use a cute device of splitting the writer into identical twins, one who is experiencing The Lady in the Van, and one who is writing about it. So even nice little films these days use CGI. So, if you are tired of superheroes, this film is a good bet.

10 Cloverfield Lane

You may remember Cloverfield, which was a sort of Blair Witch Project crossed with War of the Worlds and set in New York City. That movie and the new 10 Cloverfield Lane were both produced by JJ Abrams, also known for directing a few small films like the new Star Trek and Star Wars: Episode VII. The coincidence of the names is not a coincidence, although it is not clear whether the two films are supposed to exist in the same multiverse. It is hard to write a spoiler-free review of 10 Cloverfield Lane. But I will describe the first 15 minutes, which is basically everything in the trailer. Unusually, this movie is not only shot in Louisiana, but it is set in Louisiana. In the first scene, a young woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is looking out of her apartment in New Orleans at the Mississippi River bridge and the Algiers Ferry. She has just broken up with her boyfriend (voiced by Bradley Cooper. This will be good for Pub trivia) and is driving west on I-10 when she is kidnapped by a somewhat crazed guy (John Goodman) who lives near Lake Charles. Ok maybe that is redundant. Anyway, she wakes up in a locked room in a bunker and the guy tells her that he has saved her, since something bad has happened outside, nuclear war, chemical attack, Mars attack, he makes several suggestions.  So, maybe since this movie has Cloverfield in the title, this is Room crossed with War of the Worlds. Well, you are just going to have to go and see for yourself. The only other thing I will say, is that there is a third person in the bunker, a young man (John Gallagher Jr.) who helped to build it. Obviously, from inside the bunker it is not apparent what if anything is happening outside. You can assume that Winstead tries to escape, and you can assume that by the end of the movie, someone makes it out and sees what if anything is happening in the outside world. But you will just have to assume. The very small cast is great. I like all three actors. John Goodman is always fantastic but is usually seen in a supporting role. So, it's nice to see him in a leading role.  I also like Winstead who has been in a few movies and is slowly becoming a star. I loved her in Scott Pilgrim vs The World. Gallagher is perhaps best known for taking the Sex and the City Bus tour to impress his girlfriend in The Newsroom. Anyway, 10 Cloverfield Lane is 91% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes so people are liking it. It is good, although I certainly felt like it wasn't breaking any new ground in the "guy kidnaps beautiful young woman and keeps her in a bunker to save her from aliens" genre. And all through the movie, I just wanted to find out what was going on outside. I had a few theories including, nothing was going on. But, I really can't say. Like I said, you'll have to go see it.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

It is very difficult for actors, even successful ones, to get out of their comfort zone and try something new and different. It is difficult because audiences seem to have a tough time accepting it. Bill Murray starred and bombed in "The Razor's Edge" by Somerset Maugham. He's very good in it but people couldn't accept it. Audiences also had a hard time with Meg Ryan playing a chopper pilot in Iraq in "Courage Under Fire." It's another good film. Tina Fey seems to be having a similar problem in "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot." Fey stars in this true story of reporter Kim Barker who with no experience as a foreign correspondent, jumps at the chance to go to and cover the Afghan war. This is not a comedy about the war in Afghanistan, but there are a lot of funny moments as Fey tries to adjust to life in a war zone. This is a perfect role for Fey, and this movie was a very pleasant surprise. Fey projects just the right "fish out of water" feeling as she arrives in Kabul woefully unprepared, starting with the fact that she brings an orange backpack into a war zone. But slowly with help of her Afghan assistant, and some fellow journalists (Margot Robbie and Martin Freeman), she becomes a combat happy Joe. She ends up staying three years trying to cover the Afghan war while the Iraq war is getting all the press coverage. The real Kim Barker is now a reporter for the New York Times. The supporting cast is great. Robbie plays the classic beautiful BBC reporter and Freeman is a Scottish photographer. Billy Bob Thornton is very entertaining as the American Army commander, as is Alfred Molina as the Afghan Attorney General who keeps trying to seduce Fey. This is a story of culture shock and the juxtaposition of a nasty war with the off-duty lives and nightlife of the Expat community. The script is a very nice balance between comedy and tragedy. This film deserves to be seen.

Some Thoughts about the Oscars.

Tomorrow night is the Oscars and tonight is the Independent Spirit Awards for Indie films. You can see my Top Ten List for 2015 here, but there were other entertaining films last year. The Spirit Awards have nominated Beasts of No Nation, Anomalisa, and Tangerine for Best Feature as well as the more mainstream, Carol, and Spotlight. I'm never sure how these Hollywood films qualify as Indies. Beasts of No Nation was made for Netflix and tells the story of a rebel army in an unnamed African country. The wonderful Idris Elba stars as the rebel commander. Tangerine has had a lot of buzz. It was "filmed" entirely on an iPhone, and tells the story of transgender prostitutes in Hollywood. It is a bit rough but it is worth seeing. Other good films with Indie nominations include Me and Earl and the Dying Girl which I liked a lot. It is about a high school kid whose mother forces him to spend time with a sick classmate. Another good one is The End of the Tour, starring Jason Segel as the author, David Foster Wallace, and Jesse Eisenberg as the Rolling Stone reporter who interviews him for several days.

Among the Hollywood films that missed getting nominations and didn't quite make my Top Ten, there were some good ones. My favorites include:

• Creed: See my mini-review here. This was probably the best film featuring African-Americans in front and behind the camera and deserved some more nominations.
• Trumbo: This movie is very good, particularly with Bryan Cranston in the title role. It's also a grim reminder that free speech has been under attack before. See my mini-review here.
• Pitch Perfect 2: What can I say, I am in love with Rebel Wilson. There I said it. This film isn't rocket science but I laughed through the whole thing. 
• Bridge of Spies: See my mini-review here. Sylvester Stallone will win Best Supporting Actor for Creed, but Mark Rylance gives the best performance of the year in Bridge of Spies as the Russian spy, Rudolph Abel. Tom Hanks is pretty good too. Duh.

Some good movies sank without a trace, but they are still out there and worth seeing:

• Pawn Sacrifice: The story of the Chess championship between Boris Spassky (Liev Schrieber) and Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire) in Iceland in 1972. This film is very well done.
• Ricki and the Flash: If you've always wanted to see Meryl Streep play an aging rocker, here is your chance. This is an interesting movie because it is a rare story where a woman leaves her family to pursue a career leaving the husband (Kevin Kline!) to pick up the pieces. 
• The Woman in Gold: This film came out at the beginning of 2015 and was well received. It is the true story about a woman played by Helen Mirren who tries to reclaim some painting stolen from her family by the Nazis. 
• Suffragette: This film does a nice job telling the story of the suffragette movement in England. Carey Mulligan is great. See my mini-review here.

Finally, who should win the best acting Oscars?

Best Supporting Actor:
I already mentioned that Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies) should win Best Supporting Actor but Sylvester Stallone (Creed) will win. Stallone was great too so I don't mind him winning. The other nominees, Christian Bale (The Big Short), Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight), and Tom Hardy (The Revenant) were all good too. Hardy should get an award for playing this role along with Max in Mad Max Fury Road and two identical twin gangsters in Legend. Legend is well worth seeing. See my mini review here. Domhnall Gleeson who appeared in four good movies, Brooklyn, Star Wars, Ex Machina, and The Revenant, should get an honorable mention. And why not John Boyega (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)? Why no big nominations for Star Wars just because this is a big budget SciFi movie? He would have been a good non-white nomination.

Best Supporting Actress:
The nominees are Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs), Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl), Rachel McAdams (Spotlight), Rooney Mara (Carol), and Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight). Kate Winslet seems to the slight favorite followed by Alicia Vikander. I think Winslet should win. Steve Jobs is the most underrated movie of the year. See my mini-review here. Vikander is great too although The Danish Girl isn't that great. She had an even better role in Ex-Machina. Mara should be nominated in the Best Actress category but is supporting for political reasons. She was good in Carol but the movie left me a bit cold. See my mini-review here. Rachel McAdams is doing some interesting things these days including True Detective. Spotlight is a very good film and she is good in it. See my mini-review here. The less said about The Hateful Eight the better. I love Jennifer Jason Leigh but read my mini-review here.

Best Actor:
We all know that this is the year for Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant). I don't agree
but other people think it was a better movie than I do. See my mini-review here. I would pick any of Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs), Matt Damon (The Martian), and Bryan Cranston (Trumbo). These are all great movies with great lead performances. I didn't think much of Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl. Some other very good performances that could have been nominated include Joseph Gordon-Levitt (The Walk), Ian McKellen (Mr. Holmes), and Michael B. Jordan (Creed).

Best Actress:
This is another category that is supposed to be a lock for Brie Larson (Room). She is deserving and the film is good. See my mini-review here. Another very good movie she made that no one saw is Short Term 12. Then, there are two perennial nominees Cate Blanchett (Carol) and Jennifer Lawrence (Joy). Blanchett has 7 Oscar nominations and two wins. Lawrence although she is only 25 already has 4 nominations and one win. Joy was a mess of a movie but Lawrence was still great. See my mini-review here. Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn) is nominated for a very sweet performance in a movie I loved. See my mini-review here. Finally, Charlotte Rampling (45 Years) has been making movies for 50 years and this is her first nomination. She might have been a sentimental favorite if not for her comments on #OscarsSoWhite. I haven't seen 45 Years.

The Top Ten Films of 2015

Well, it's only a week until The Oscars so here is my Top Ten List of last year's films. You can click on them to read my individual reviews except for Mr. Holmes. Steve Jobs is an amazing film which almost no one saw apparently because they don't like Steve Jobs. It has the best screenplay of the year by Aaron Sorkin despite his not being nominated. Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet are both nominated for Oscars for their great performances. The Big Short is also excellent. It has an amazing energy and a great ensemble cast including Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt and Christian Bale. Bale is nominated for an Oscar. The Big Short also has an amazing screenplay which is nominated. I really loved Brooklyn. It is a very nice coming of age film about a young Irish woman who moves to New York city. Saoirse Ronan is perfect for this role and I fell in love cinematography and art direction. The Walk is another film that almost nobody saw because of fear of heights, but it is maybe the best 3D movie ever. It's the true story of the frenchman who walked a tightrope between the Twin Towers. Mr. Holmes tells the story of Sherlock's last case, set when he very old and his fabled memory is beginning to fade. It is a beautiful little movie with Ian McKellen in the title role. It's nice to have a couple of SciFi movies, The Martian and Star Wars, in my Top Ten. The Martian starring Matt Damon as the wise-cracking astronaut marooned on Mars is very well done, and not much needs to be said about Star Wars. As Han says to Chewie, "We're home." Youth was surprisingly good, but maybe it's not surprising considering the cast of Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel and Rachel Weisz. Set in a very upscale Spa in Switzerland, Youth tells the story of a retired Maestro who feels that his life is over.  Spotlight is another very good ensemble piece with Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo and Liev Schrieber. This story, in the mold of All the President's Men, follows a group of reporters for the Boston Globe as they uncover abusive Catholic Priests. Finally, Room is the story of a young woman kidnapped and held for years in a shed by a predator who has fathered her young child. The film is split into two stories before and after the life in the Room. Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay both give outstanding performances. The Revenant will probably win Best Picture but I gave it a big thumbs down.

1.   Steve Jobs 

2.   The Big Short 

3.   Brooklyn

4.   The Walk 

5.   Mr. Holmes

6.   The Martian

7.   Star Wars: The Force Awakens 

8.   Youth 

9.   Spotlight 

10. Room