October 5th, 2015 – Fall edition

Monday was Sicario which is the new film about the Mexican drug trade that was part of TIFF.   Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro star along with quality supporting roles.   This was a film that my manager absolutely loved.  She still raves about it as a reflection on society today and how the ‘bad guys are winning’ and that staying within the legal box does not seem to work.   The performances are uniformly excellent and Del Toro is a cut above that.  Blunt shows her range in getting away from the pretty lady in a dress role.   She is an FBI agent who is without makeup and looking to do the right thing.   She is brought into a team looking to solve a problem and they keep her in the dark and on the sidelines.   It is all very intriguing and heads in directions that you don’t necessarily see.  Yet it all fits.   I don’t rave about this film, but I liked it.   There is some brutal violence, but it’s part of a violent world.  It is worth a look.

Saturday I saw the much anticipated The Martian.  It is a Ridley Scott film and as I have previously pointed out he has directed some of my most favourite films.   He can miss at times, but I do like his style and films greatly.   Sci-fi for him is particularly strong with Blade Runner and Alien and Prometheus to his credit.

Here is directing a future film (but not too far in advance) where humans are on Mars and taking samples and doing research.   A six person team is there, and things happen which end up having one of them being left behind.   In truth he was left for dead much to the chagrin of the Captain played by Jessica Chastain, who is a favourite of mine (Blunt is getting up there too).   Matt Damon is left on his own, on a planet that has no water and he has modest supplies and no communication back to earth.   The rest of the story is really dealing with that reality for him.   It is funny, with some great moments.   It is timely as it shows political correctness and a NASA commander who is thinking about how things LOOK and budget dollars are as important as doing the right thing.   Or the most expedient thing.  (By the way everyone in the theatre who is paying attention will have the solution that it takes the actors a longer time to understand).   Anyway, there are things that happen, as in life, that are not expected.   And you have a combination of Cast Away and Apollo 13 which is uplifting, exciting and interesting.   This is the movie that Interstellar ALMOST became.  But it’s better.   Well researched and focused on the real as we understand it, this film takes us to a new world and introduces us to Mars.   Very cool.    Well worth seeing on a large screen.   The 3D again, did nothing for me.   Once again you will marvel at what every man already knows about the benefit of duct tape!!  Damn I wish I paid more attention in Science class!