June 11th, 2018

More Netflix this publication, with watching of Savages directed by Oliver Stone. We have Blake Lively as a free thinker and presumably living life on the West Coast supported by her two boys. They are making and selling their own brand of high end pot. Selma Hayak plays a Mexican drug lord (inherited from her husband) and wants in on the action. This familiar story has been done better in Sicario and even Breaking Bad. Funnily enough Benicio Del Toro always seems to have a role in them. His Sicario role is closely resembling this one, only he is on the Dark Side here. Alison reviewed this one long ago and I agree completely that the ending takes this to a new level of exasperation. The audience quickly sees the opportunity that shows itself quite plainly and yet the actors here go completely against what would make sense. The price was right for this (my Netflix fee pro rata) but I wouldn’t go out of my way to find this.

Limitless stars Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro. In it Cooper is a do-nothing writer who can’t seem to write. He has a girlfriend, but little else. Then he stumbles upon an ex-brother-in-law who gives him a “freebie” drug to assist him. This drug allows him to utilize more percentage of his brain and he immediately shows spectacular feats that he couldn’t do before mentally. Note, there is a TV series also on Netflix NOT starring Bradley Cooper which addresses similar issues. This movie just becomes silly especially in the end. Because “D’uh!!!!” who wouldn’t have used the powers here to do what Cooper proposes? Anyway, a pass for me.

I have started the crime series The Staircase which explores the real-life death of novelist Michael Peterson’s second wife. She fell down the stairs in her home as is alleged. You can determine yourself whether the Courts made the right decision(s)…first episode down, so far so good. [Update: I couldn’t stay with it, and it remains on Hold]

June 4th, 2018

Been busy in the past little while at the movies.

First off I was at the theatre with youngest son to see Solo. To borrow the intro from Roger Ebert’s site “As unnecessary prequels go….” and that’s my immediate thought to begin it. And to borrow from daughter’s words I would say “Meh”… But for a little more clarity and commentary, I would add that there are certain things that seem more than a little contrived (without giving too much away). We see how Han meets Chewbacca, and incredibly Han speaks a little Wookie, and demonstrates! Really??! Han is a street rat on a planet that makes spaceships, how would he ever even know about Wookies let alone speak and understand the language? But nevermind. There is also this new thing about dice which were prominently displayed in The Last Jedi (previously discussed in that epiosde). Luke makes them virtually appear they are so important. Now we see where the genesis from them comes. Does it add anything at all to the Star Wars lore? No. Could it be meaningful? Also no. So why add it? The timeline here for me on where to place this episode is a little fuzzy too. Han was older then Luke, we never really know how much older. Han to start this episode is high teens, low 20s. Presumably Luke is born at this time, and about 10 years old. But maybe not. Without giving anything away the timeline is upset a little near the end of the film. You’ll know it if you see it. As for the performances, I think Woody Harrelson is the best performance as a scoundrel and independent gangster looking for “one more score” before he can retire. Emilia Clarke is a love interest, and is decent too. The young man playing Han has some personality and embodies the role ok. He’s not Harrison Ford and he doesn’t try to be, for which I give him credit. I have heard other people talk about being bored seeing this, or just not engaged. To that I can understand it, as in the universe of Star Wars films, this was closer to Episode I or Last Jedi than the better of the films like Rogue One or Empire Strikes Back.

On Netflix I saw that Mother! from TIFF was released. Alison has already covered this, and I won’t even try to explain this film in any real detail. It is a mess. Javier Bardem for me is just not a compelling actor. Here he plays an aloof, narcissist writer unable to write as he and his much younger wife (played by Jennifer Lawrence) fix up a house that was burned down. This movie could have ended for me (and I should have stopped watching) in the first five mins after Lawrence gets out of bed and stands in the hallway in a white linen sleep outfit. But it doesn’t. There are SO many tight close up face shots of Lawrence that I can count her nose hairs. This so called “horror” had only two scenes near the end that simply made me take aback. That was for the sheer shock of what occurred. I won’t describe it here. But the level of chaos that ensues from supposedly the written word makes zero sense along the way. In the end it’s much ado about nothing. And as your hand raises up to smack yourself on the forehead as credits roll, you will realize that almost two hours of your life will never come back. The only solace in that, is all those involved in creating this mess, have spent a LOT more than that (just not enough in white linen sleep outfits).

The Best Picture of last year from the Academy’s point of view was Shape of Water. That film was a tale about a mute woman who assisted and fell in love with the Creature From the Black Lagoon (with notable upgrades). Netflix has clearly seen this film, and decided to have somewhat of an Interstellar twist on this story. In The Titan, Earth is dying and large parts of it are uninhabitable (like LA). Bu rather than finding a wormhole in space near Saturn to go to other possible habitable worlds, here mankind is looking to stay on Titan, the largest moon that orbits Saturn. The way we do that, is we mess with the genetic make up of man, to form a “superhuman” or as the movie says “you only better”, by changing the DNA and make up of the host person. This movie stars Avatar Jake Sully Sam Worthington, and the chick from Orange Is the New Black. They are husband and wife with a young son, and he has volunteered to be part of this team. Turns out they are transforming these volunteers, and this is where Shape of Water comes in. I won’t spoil any more. I may not have spoiled anything. The one flaw that I have in this picture is when a speaking character is then unable to speak and communicate. But the whole thing was more than a little silly. Finishing up with this thought – if you were looking for a new form of human to inhabit and thrive on another planet – how many of them would you think you should send?

May 28th, 2018

After some business travel and not getting a chance to get out to the theatre, this week I was finally able to do so.

I have been watching a fair bit of Netflix, and that is mostly on Suits. I am nearing the end of Season 2 (there are 16 episodes or so) more than you would expect, but it has been engaging. Most roll their eyes at my interest saying it is a Meghan Markle thing, and honestly I find Donna (the assistant for Harvey far more engaging than paralegal Meghan). Good to note too that the young non-lawyer is played by Torontonian Patrick J Adam. Anyway, I will continue to get through this, but onto the films.

Deadpool 2 – Alison summed this one up quite succinctly. I will be more verbose. But not much more. For me this was a film that suffered somewhat from expectations. There was the surprising first one that packed laugh after laugh and had all the crass and violence attached with it. The story was the backstory with a villain who was just a bad guy. The hype for this one being “amazing” was already out there. Here we have the metal man (Josh Brolin) doing his best to impersonate The Terminator, and then the task of dealing with the wayward fat teenage mutant. If you make him a turtle, come to think of it, that movie has already been made. Never mind. Some new characters are introduced. One of the better sequences is when DP tries to form his own “X Force” with not so predicable results. I laughed about the legs being grown back and sitting splayed out. In the end, despite the frenetic pace of laughs, there were only a few truly memorable ones. Girlfriend liked this far more than I did, and that’s to be expected as she really likes superhero movies and I generally am not. Certainly she follows X Men and Avengers more than I, and laughed heartily at one of the X Men jokes.

Monster Money – on Netflix, this is the George Clooney and Julia Roberts film, directed by Jodie Foster about the Jim Cramer-type investment talking head whose advice was taken literally by an investor of modest means and the result is a stock that tanks. The disgruntled investor does what seemingly everyone these days in the US does, and grabs a gun and a bomb and threatens the TV guy and gets his 15 mins of fame. This story reminded me a bit of Phone Booth with Colin Ferrell and Kiefer Sutherland). Both move along with a good pace and create tension with the scenario they provide. The audience is left to wonder, where is this going to end up? Here the Outlander star helps out with The Affair actor acting as the CEO of the company that had a one time computer glitch cause his stock to lose $800M. It was worth a viewing, and at the right price. My expectations were exceeded with this in truth.

The Fifth Estate – is the Wikileaks, Julian Assange movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Funny in retrospect that we are still feeling the reverberations from all of these activities even today. The film was in 2013, and 5 years later we are still dealing with the political turmoil of the Russian influence in the election, that put Trump in power. The idea (in concept) of people knowing what is happening and transparency is a good one, but like many ideas in practice needs to tailored to the situation. It’s not an absolute right to knowing everything, and there are those people who need to be protected in the jobs that they do. Is Assange a fighter for open government (like the example in the film of UK newspaper people who were hanged for reporting on the Parliamentary debates)? I am not sure. One could argue that elected officials are paid for by the taxpayer and we have a right to know. That would included emails and private servers from “Crooked Hilary”. But seemingly things like tax returns and other sensitive documents are things that should only be protected if you are high enough up on the food chain. Assange is living in London at the Ecuadorian Embassy in asylum. His name popped up just last week about Russia and it might impact his continued stay there. As a movie this is not as engaging as I would have expected. The political climate and impact is there but it didn’t hold my attention and wasn’t really memorable.

May 14th, 2018

Netflix has the classic David Lean film Lawrence of Arabia from 1962. This is the “restored version” whatever that means. This film won Best Picture and Best Director, along with 5 others. This is an epic picture with incredible cinematography and a story about a remarkable young Brit. Young and unconventional. What’s remarkable in all of this is how Peter O’Toole didn’t win Best Actor. And I know the formidable Gregory Peck actually won the award for To Kill A Mockingbird but just watch the performance of O’Toole here (sidebar: two remarkable performances face off in 1962 while dude in The Artist wins). I had watched bits and pieces of this before and at 3:35 it takes an investment in time, but I hadn’t seen it in total. The emotional arc for Lawrence is quite remarkable. But look at the film in the eyes and face of O’Toole. O’Toole over his remarkable career never won a statuette; 7 nominations in a 20 year span starting in 1962. The best role was and is Lawrence.

I am working through Suits. Donna the assistant for Harvey Spectre is really good.

May 7, 2018

I will echo the positive review by Alison about A Quiet Place. I will say that her review noting that she jumped a couple of times prepared me and I was not really startled – in the back of my mind I am thinking “this seems like a pretty good spot for a jump to occur”. Anyway this film is pleasantly NOT a horror film nor a gross out, like a Friday 13th, or Nightmare of Elm Street, Saw etc. Instead it is a thriller about a family set in the future after some extraterrestrial incident. It’s a movie where you feel exhausted from clenching your stomach muscles tightly for 1.5 hours. It takes ordinary actions and situations, and let’s you realize how difficult they all would be if they had to be done silently. But it also explores the dynamics of a young family and surviving through difficult times. I really enjoyed this.

On Netflix, besides getting caught up in the Monty Python wave that has come to it with interviews and old shows and then the movies (Holy Grail and Life of Brian are just priceless) – last night I watched a new documentary entitled End Game. It documents the stories of a few people of varying ages in San Francisco area hospitals and hospices. They are all dying and soon. They have doctors, nurses and other people there to assist in this process. It is very emotional as you see a Mother and husband grapple with a Wife/daughter who has cancer and there is nothing more that can be done for her. It shows to me that I want to be crystal clear with those around me on my end of days wishes and intentions for me. I don’t want to see people already under stress wondering and worry about “what would Robbie have wanted to be done at this stage?”. No. They will be able to provide their own filter and thoughts on their own feelings, but knowing what I want, will be clearly known. I found that the doctor who had his own story to not be very helpful in some aspects, I’ll let you make your own choice if you choose to watch this. TIFF film Euphoria addressed some of these issues. Here it is in the US, and we have reality entering into the lives of all these people, when clearly they would rather it not be the case. Still – good to watch, but not easy.

April 23rd, 2018

Loving Vincent – animated, and nominated for Best Animated Feature. This one is recently added to Netflix and its claim to fame really is the use of hundreds of artists who made real paintings used in the film. It took years for the pictures to be painted, and this film is remarkable in showing the Van Gogh masterpieces set within a fictional story. The fictional story is a letter that is addressed from Vincent to his brother. The Van Gogh brothers exchanged many letters over the years. The story here is not significant. But rather the visual splendor that is Van Gogh paintings and how they weave their way through the film. There are actors here, and those you will know from Peaky Blinders and Game of Thrones and Saiorse Ronan too. They provide voices, but are animated in a way and style that shows who they are. The black and white flashbacks too a lot like the technology for the animated music video Take On Me. Full disclosure, I like Van Gogh paintings, and I have been to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. I have also seen his works in Chicago and Paris and other cities. It is remarkable to me that this troubled soul did not sell a painting during his lifetime (this is a debatable fact, but the number would be minuscule), and his brother had the foresight and means to recognize his talent and unique gift. Here is yet another genius (like Mozart) who left the world too early, but made a last impression that is still felt today.

For those who are interested in how this was made, see this YouTube on it:

Kodachrome – is recently released on Netflix as well and stars Ed Harris, Jason Sudeikis and Elizabeth Olsen. This is a well worn story about a dying man seeking out estranged children to head out on a road to do or find something. A couple years back it was Nebraska with Bruce Dern. This is formulaic and so the value in watching is really on the performances. Here Harris plays the dying well-known photographer/journalist who was a lousy husband and father but was known for his pictures/images. He insists that his pictures be put on celluloid and there is one Kodak location left in Parsons KS that can develop his film, some film that he had taken many years before. The rest unfolds predictably but it still has some emotional impact. The music includes Pearl Jam and the band Live which is discussed at length. The Paul Simon song, ironically enough, is NOT included here. Still worth a look, and make sure you are prepared for emotional side in the fourth act.

April 16th, 2018

Two films were reviewed this week and both were on Netflix.

First I watched The Florida Project which had my attention because Willem Dafoe was nominated as a Best Supporting Actor in his role. This is a simple story about a budget motel outside Disney grounds in Orlando. There are a group of characters at the motel, along with some single parents and all are women, mostly tattooed up here there and everywhere. The children run around with little oversight and are generally obnoxious. Dafoe plays the Office Manager and fix-it-guy who is responsible for the property and maintaining peace. He can nip problems in the bud, or prevent things that may happen. He also watches and sees what his customers are doing. He gets more in his job than he bargains for, especially with the children. I don’t see the Nomination quite frankly for him. Yes he was decent, but there are other roles to me that are more crucial and add more value for the lead roles. In the end this is a tale of poor circumstance and poor choices with adults who shape the lives of these children, and yet have no real direction for themselves.

The other film was one I thought I heard rumblings about at TIFF. Killing of the Sacred Deer, is a modern day telling of a Greek fable. There is reference to which Greek fable in the film, but that really is not all that important. I did not know that going in (and I puzzled over the title of the film to begin with). This is a story by the same director as The Lobster. I like this one more and it is more impactful. Colin Ferrell stars once again, and does a really good job, along with Nicole Kidman, and the children who play their kids. Add to that another young man who is a central part of the story. There is dialogue here between the parties involved that is polite, but not quite normal communication. It’s stilted and truncated almost. It gave me the impression of it being more like a fable. Farrell plays a heart surgeon and he has his wife (Kidman) an opthamalogist, and two kids. We are introduced to a young man that Farrell has seemed to befriend. The story then unfolds in ways that I did not anticipate nor will I share at this point. The Ebert review I think went too far in describing the plot and I won’t duplicate the mistake. To me, this film is best seen as it unfolds. Quite honestly my reaction to it was “wow”. It goes from being somewhat slow and unsure of itself to then gaining some momentum to where there is such tension and thrill as to where it will go next, that it will stay with you for some time afterwards. Without a doubt this is a TIFF film. But also it would be one where I am glad that I was able to see it and reflect upon it. Happy to have discussions later if others have had a chance to view.

April 9th, 2018

Two reviews for this week are small screen reviews (I didn’t make it out to the theatre).

First was on the plane I watched Battle of the Sexes, the TIFF film from a year ago starring Steve Carrell as self-proclaimed male chauvinist pig, and facially challenged Best Actor winner from a year ago Emma Stone. Interestingly I think as she is made up to look like a younger Billie Jean King, that her face isn’t so obviously a jumbled mess. I was very young when this whole Battle of the Sexes tennis battle took place (Sept 20 1973). I however knew nothing of the Riggs match with women’s Number 1 Margaret Court. She was beaten handily. In steps King. You would think that this is the focus of the movie. But it’s only scratching the surface, as the movie deals with Riggs and his motivations (gambling problem, and a desk job that cannot match the excitement of his previous spotlight life) and also the early days of King realizing despite being married that chicks are her thing. So the Battle of the Sexes can be about repressed leanings and having to show well for the public (who aren’t ready for what we take for granted each day in 2018). This isn’t a great film, but it highlights the issues well, and gives a sense of the 1970s. King’s then husband clearly shows that he knew what she was all about. He is likely more understanding than one could expect. Carrell to me is better than Stone, but then again I am not really a Stone fan as we all know. Worth checking out, and the price was right (zero) for me.

Next was Netflix had on Hanna, a 2011 film with Saoirse Ronan back in her teens and Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana. Bana had done Munich, Star Trek and Time Traveller’s Wife here, and Blanchett was a rising star. I like all the actors here, and notably the females. Ronan keeps getting better and better and I wanted to see an earlier work of hers. Here is a challenge and she embodies it very well. An isolated teen with her father in the woods, hunting and living off the land. She is multi-lingual and highly skilled in combat. We learn he was an agent of note, but now isolated with her. The plot unfolds and the girl learns about her isolation and her intense training. Father and daughter are split and are pursued. Tom Hollander is the real find here a the bad guy, and does his creepy best to add tension. I liked this film, and feel all made this a story good on a number of levels (thinking about family, and threats both perceived and real, and the ends justifying the means).

April 2nd, 2018

Welcome to April – first quarter of the year is already finished, scarily enough.

Thursday night we went to see Ready Player One with two teen boys. This is the virtual reality movie with Steven Spielberg at the helm. It is from the book released in 2011 by Ernest Cline, unread by me, but devoured by girlfriend’s son in one sitting.

This is a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-like storyline with a virtual reality world that people are playing globally in the future (2044). People live in shacks and their lives are not very exciting, and so they play in this world, called Oasis, created by these two Jobs/Gates like guys. The one creator played by geeky and awkward Mark Rylance, in yet another quality performance from him, has him note that he has hidden three keys in Oasis, and the person who can find them gets an Easter Egg and more importantly control of the entire thing, and it’s value (in trillions). To date no one has found any keys, although the race to find the first one finds many potential takers. Our story continues, with the mighty corporation trying mightily and then an unknown street rat from Ohio, living in a raised mobile home. Who will find the first key? What does this have to say about our society? Since the Rylance character grew up in the 80s, there are plenty of references here back to the time. Cars, movies, sayings, Atari games all come back – and the younger members of the audience won’t get all of these, and it won’t make much difference. In the end there is a message, and commentary on the direction of where we are all going. This had some moments of fun. The CGI is good as it meshes with the real people. I liked Rylance and the TJ Miller characters the best. It is better on the big screen, although I didn’t find the 3D compelling – it rarely is.

March 26, 2018

On Netflix, I have been catching up with some documentaries and watching in more committed fashion the legal drama Suits.

The documentary that was interesting was John Mellancamp’s Plain Spoken. There is a concert from Chicago with him doing a voiceover with his life story and just stories for him. I had never realized that he had spina bifida. He was surgically worked on with three other babies at the time, and the only one to have survived.

Another documentary was the Leo DiCaprio Before the Flood, that as a Global Warming film that was not all that compelling. I found that those who speak about ice and coral are far more able to make one feel action is paramount (see Chasing Coral and Chasing Ice). Here we talk about a “turning point” being Paris Accord from 2015. Well, Mr Trump isn’t signing and there appears little political will in the US to move forward. The disturbing aspect of this are countries like India and China who look to the US to take the lead. In truth China has progressed better with solar. But still. Don’t look for any leadership for the time being.

On the plane I started watching IT. I think IT needs to be on a bigger screen to get the jumps that IT wants to illicit. I can see how IT creeps some people out, but for me, IT just doesn’t or didn’t do IT. IT was very popular in the theatres which would suggest that IT and others will follow. I was glad that I did not pay for IT. Also glad that I won’t be seeking out the end of IT which I didn’t manage to see.

I also enjoyed the documentary about the Men behind the Apollo missions in the Control Center. There were real faces of people that Ron Howard used in Apollo 13, like vested Ed Harris as Mission Control. It is an exciting time to be looking forward with NASA and the missions ahead to Mars, and more closely the new rocket to orbit around the moon once again. This younger generation may remember some Space Shuttle launches, but this will be something more exciting. The US getting back in space exploration after paying the Russians for travel up to the International Space Station. Exciting!

I was re-watching The Right Stuff which still holds it’s own in showing the Mercury program and those astronauts. There is Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier. Then breaking twice the barrier just a few years later.

This week ahead is Steven Spielberg’s new Ready Player One. We’ll see how the boys will like that.