Labour Day 2018 edition

Happy September as we get right into TIFF season once again starting Thursday. My first film is 22 July on Monday. I see Driven Tues and Kursk on Thurs.

There are some days that the thought of becoming a Roger Ebert sounds sexy and interesting. Heading to film festivals around the world (like Cannes and Sundance etc) and seeing all the movies. Then there are other times, like now in the theatres, where I look and there is so very little to want to see. I heard Crazy Rich Asians at TIFF last year was a hit. Not sure that I need to see it. Others don’t really excite or interest me. But there is always Netflix. Still the idea of having to go out and see and then review on all these current films would be exhausting. I remember Roger talk about films like Jack Frost where he felt that 2+ hours of his life had been taken from him. That would be frustrating!

I saw two recent films on Netflix, one was Downsizing, the Matt Damon film from TIFF a year ago. Man I am happy I didn’t see this there and pay $25 for the privilege. It starts out okay and I liked the premise. You find a solution to over-population by shrinking people down to size. Then their average savings can make them live like kings in the shrunken world. They impact the planet less, take less space and create less garbage. The Matt Damon character decides with his wife (Kristen Wiig) to shrink down. Only she has a change of heart and he is left alone. The signing of the divorce papers was a funny scene as were a couple others. But then it bogs down in this social-political discussion, and this annoying Vietnamese woman who stumbles into Damon’s life who formerly had a life in the public eye for being a protestor. The best speech in the entire movie is one about what “type of fuck” happened between two characters (eg: friend-fuck, pity fuck, you get the idea). But the film loses all its momentum and fades to black without really fully exploring this world. Can’t recommend this one.

Annette Bening who is married to Warren Beatty (now 80yo and seldom seen except for Oscar goofs) has had a storied life in film. Notable films include for me Bugsy where she was excellent and Grifters with John Cusack. Others are out there too like American Beauty and Being Julia and The American President. In 20th Century Women, she has a young teenage son as a single Mom, and she turns to two other female characters principally to shape and provide guidance to him (all without consulting him about whether he feels the need to do this). The film takes place in the late 70s, and the other two are played by Greta Gerwig (of Ladybird director fame) as a new wave, artsy-type who survived cervical cancer and lives as a tenant with Mom and kid. The other is free spirit young woman, Elle Fanning, who appears permanently damaged and pissed, but is a girl this young man loves. The main male character here is a handyman working on the 1900 house they have, and is played by Billy Crudup. All these characters are looking to have an impact on the son and on each other. Mom is a standoffish parent, who lets son pretty much do what he wants and doesn’t really discipline much. She chain smokes and helps others, and has some interesting views on life and relationships. And that pretty much sums up each party here. It was fun to watch and see the arc of the stories. The young man in this is very good. He has his own ideas, and reads plenty to form opinions. In the end I was glad that I saw this, and I can see where the nomination was for Bening here (Golden Globe for Best Actress in Musical or Comedy). This really isn’t a comedy but has some moments.

August 27th, 2018

After a brief hiatus at the cottage where I was relaxing on the dock, I was able to get out and see a film in the theatre this past week.

Tuesday was venture out and see The Meg. I am a sucker for any shark movie as anyone knows about me. I just re-watched Jaws this past weekend and it reaffirms that even with 1970s technology and no CGI, it the classic, and best shark movie ever. There is a weight to Bruce the shark, and size that other films don’t have with computers. Yes, there are moments when it looks more fake, but it works. The Meg is a story where Jason Statham, who doesn’t seem to age, is asked to assist with a submarine rescue at the “new” bottom of the ocean, deeper than Mariana Trench where they think they found a false bottom. They did. And there are creatures there, like a giant prehistoric shark. All of that doesn’t really matter, quite honestly. The question becomes “is the shark stuff cool, and worth the fee at the theatre?” There are a few good scenes, and some jumps. Not like the jump when the fisherman’s head pops out of the bottom of the wrecked boat in Jaws, but again, one can’t compare. I found the film a bit longer than it needed to be. It was a fun escape for those who like seeing sharks, and very big ones.

I watched on DVD the complete film for the original Fargo. I had seen bits and pieces of it, but watched from beginning to end, and I had noted the TV series available on Netflix that is getting accolades. Billy Bob Thornton plays an intense gun-for-hire, who stumbles upon a small town and runs into Dr Watson/Bilbo Baggins who has a number of problems. The TV sereies continues. For the film, I thought that William H Macy and Frances McDormand are both excellent. They have the campy, rural voices and attitudes shape what happens in the film. This is the Coen Brothers at their finest. Good dialog with incidents of intense violence amongst an environment of stark winter. This film won 2 Oscars and deservedly so, although not Best Picture (but Actress and Writing). It one of those movies I should have seen long ago, but hadn’t.

TIFF selections are due this week.

August 6, 2018

Mission Impossible: Fallout

Last Tuesday was seeing Tom Cruise as Tom Cruise aka Ethan Hunt – but really it’s Tom Cruise in his latest adventure. The high bar of expectations was set when the Ebert site (rogerebert.com) said this was “one of the best movies of the year!” High praise indeed. I did not read the review beyond that headline, as I am learning my lesson.

The MI movies have been around since 1996, and this is the sixth installment. And the last three have been the best of the series, and getting progressively better. When I first saw the very first one I mentally called it “Ending Impossible” since the whole flying a helicopter into the Chunnel and exploding forward was just ridiculous! The series ebbed into the third edition, until someone got wise and made a better film with better story (somewhat) and stunts. It also becomes a bit a travel log as well. Here we have great scenes of Paris, London and then Kashmir (never been myself). The plot really doesn’t matter much but this one ties in well with Rogue Nation, where there was a choice on what to do with the really bad guy. Here it continues. There is some politics thrown in for good measure. I attended with three people who all had never seen a previous film. It didn’t matter as this one kept them all on the edges of their seats with appropriate jumps and surprises. Mission accomplished, as all were entertained. This was fun in the same way that the last two and even films like Speed keep you going and tense. Yes, there were ridiculous aspects of this, but aside from the odd eye roll, I stayed focused on the task at hand and enjoyed the ride. Rebecca Ferguson is again really good, and certainly Tom has a look for his women – Ferguson and Monaghan could be twins, or certainly sisters. So worth seeing a worth a recommendation. I have said to both my older kids that they should see this. Youngest saw it last night and enjoyed.

I watched more Netflix including the end of Vietnam, the 10 part series by Ken Burns. I learned a lot from watching it, none the least was that any third party propping up a corrupt government is going to fail. I also hadn’t realized just how long the conflict went into 1970s (April 1975). I was 8yo. This film will impact the next viewing of Apocalypse Now, without question and the insanity of the leadership in the South both US and otherwise.

I also re-watched American Graffiti the George Lucas film, which was produced by Francis Ford Coppola and has Richard Dreyfuss and Harrison Ford in it. Talk about a movie that launched stars for the coming decades in film!! Funny that the main leads in the film are TV icons (Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley – Ron Howard and Cindy Williams) while the other players became more movie superstars. It is a good film to watch and a classic film for the times (the ending interestingly for the time talks about Richard Dreyfuss character being a writer in Montreal. Obviously a conscientious objector who fled from going to Viet Nam.)

July 30, 2018

Last movie I went to see (Jurassic World) which was forgettable, I tried to use my Sinemia pass and it didn’t seem to work. Likely user error, but when I tried for Incredibles 2 later in the month it was’t available. So I have cancelled my subscription. It is only the stale, aging films in the theatres with empty seats that are available under this program. So not only do you need to see a movie a month (2 to make it pay for itself), they have to be older. It’s just not working for me.

Onto the films. I have only seen older films this past couple of weeks. One was Spiderman Homecoming which is the Avengers side story when Spiderman the 15yo kid is parked by Iron Man to “mature” and he bungs the whole thing up by getting all “I’m an adult and can take on the world thing”. He’s a kid. A quirky kid who hangs out with the overweight dude excited about building the Lego Death Star. Here we have Michael Keaton (the original Batman) portraying an ordinary guy who is cleaning up an Avengers Alien mess and stumbles upon alien power eggs – so he goes into the underground weapons business. As part of this he creates his own Birdman (how clever!!) outfit to steal his materials. Birdman of course is the 2015 Oscar Winner for Best Picture, NOT supported by me who maintains Imitation Game is the superior film — but I digress. Here Birdman takes on the Spider-child. There is a moment of shocking disbelief in this film that I won’t describe further. But in the genre where your level of disbelief must be rather low already, this is a kick in the frank and beans. Do I need to see more Avengers and superhero movies? No. Not unless they are Christopher Nolan Batman quality. In an age of Ant Man and Aqua Man, do I think that those will materialize? Nope. But one can always be hopeful. I don’t certainly need to see another Spidey like this one.

The Stranger is by Orson Welles and from 1946. It is a black and white picture. It was nominated for Best Story. It didn’t win. It’s a basic story with a detective of sorts (Edward G Robinson) trying to track down a Nazi who was responsible for Death Camps (Welles). Welles a Professor named Rankin is looking to disappear in the US, and hopes to marry a Supreme Court Justice’s daughter. I had been curious lately about Welles and I had seen previously Third Man and Citizen Kane. Welles is a master, although he seems to have only been deemed that in his later years and after he was gone. He died at 70yo back in 1985.

I am hearing good things about Mission Impossible Fallout. Ebert site calls it one of the best pictures of the year. I liked Ghost Protocol, as I felt the new female lead was a good addition (Rebecca Ferguson) and she was also good in The Greatest Showman. I wasn’t as happy about the peeling faces off in earlier versions, but these were better. Anyway, it is on the list to see – without the Sinemia app!

July 16, 2018

For my movies I have a few that I was able to finish and complete or see fresh but on the smaller screen.

IT: So I had not finished IT, as I eluded to in my first review. I had no real reason to do so but then in Atlanta it was on HBO, costing nothing and I did. On a larger room tv the scary jumps were more scary without a doubt. I did jump once a bit with the brother creeping around. Still the premise of how to address and confront Penny Wise is a weak one in my opinion. Still there is a good dynamic amongst the kids (even though it feels a lot like Stranger Things). They do have the one same bespeckled actor. It also feels a bit like a retread of King’s Stand By Me. If you can see for free, and like scarier films maybe check it out. I will note that A Quiet Place for me is a superior thriller.

The Greatest Showman. This was not on any list for me. It was a musical, which generally in the theatre I do not wish to see, but I will admit that I expect that the theatre version of this would make sense. But anyway it was free on an airplane. So I watched. I thought that this was decent. It kept my attention. At it’s core it is a story about PT Barnum, the circus guy. Part of me always thought it was Barnum & Bailey circus and it was a travelling show going town to town. Here he is a Disney-like dreamer coming from nothing who starts in a building in New York. Wolverine plays Barnum and Michelle Williams plays every Michelle Williams role she ever gets. Zac Ephron is also in it which should end Alison’s journey and reading right there. In the end it was a story about diversity and being who you are. The music is catchy and decent. There are a couple twists and it made the flight to Halifax go quickly.

Black Panther. Another in flight film that didn’t cost a penny. This was a decent superhero film in a sea of average. I confess I am not a huge fan of the genre, and the noted Ant Man is a reason for me to remain unenthusiastic. I can picture Stan Lee (and others) sitting in a room and brainstorming over any deformity or childhood trauma that they can exploit and make into a new ability. Here we have a hidden African community with amazing technological advances that they keep to themselves. Maybe that is because there is all this in-fighting going on looking to hold supreme executive power in the form of a monarchy. Wouldn’t a modern technological wonder community have a modern method of selecting the next leader? Wouldn’t they realize monarchies are outdated and only for show in the modern world? Just because one can beat up someone else may not be the best selection process. But I digress. The women in this film are interesting and bad ass. The story with King and then next in line makes sense (I suppose) despite the musings from above. I saw this and it kept my attention. It likely suffered a little from the hype and higher expectations. Finishing I would rather see more of Black Panther than Ant Man. Or Aqua Man or Thor.

Jurassic world. This is the first dinosaur movie I have seen in a theatre that was just “Meh” to borrow my daughter’s word. I can remember the awe and excitement from years ago seeing the first Jurassic Park. The t-Rex attack was incredible! It filled me with wonder. Even Jeff Goldblum has returned to give voiceover in speaking to a Congressional hearing. It is about the dangers of wielding genetic power. How someone will weaponize it. How it is simply something not to be trifled with. From Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard looking to save the dinosaurs from an exploding island (the thick irony of trying to lobby and save an extinct animal from becoming extinct again) we have Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs who you just know can’t be a good guy. Things progress and recede as the plot bogs down. There are some head scratching moments including the resolution of the film that I will not share. In the end I felt this film repeated more scenes from previous films than putting forth new scenes and ideas. There doesn’t need to be another one, but if it makes enough money there will be.

Canada Day edition July 2 2018

Game Night – a fun film with an interesting evening of board games being taken to another level. Here older brother to Jason Bateman sets up a game night on steroids. What ensues is far fetched but still some good mind candy. Bateman and McAdams have good chemistry as husband and wife. Worth seeing.

The Insult – a TIFF film that explains in an excellent way the Lebanon and Palestine situation well. I learned plenty watching this. From what starts out so simply in builds in layers and complexity to show that it is anything but simple. And what at first appears to be a stubborn man, just being a man isn’t. It didn’t win Best Foreign Film but easily could have. The legal aspect of this case is very interesting and complex as well. In the end you can see how what at first seems a small matter becomes a rallying cry for long held positions.

Fantastic Woman – this picture won Best Foreign Film for 2018. Another really good film that shows the relationship of a transgendered male and his older male partner. I give nothing away saying that the partner dies. It happens early on. But then the story unfolds with this person and the challenges she has. Another film I was glad to see and experience. The subtitles are in no way distracting in this or the other film.

All the Money in the World – the J Paul Getty film that was re-filmed by Ridley Scott after he heard the news about Kevin Spacey. Also notable in that Marky Mark secured a $1M payment to him for his extra shots with Christopher Plummer while Michelle Williams got nothing (someone needs to get a better agent!). Marky Mark in the end “donated” that money to charity or something. This film was interesting but I am glad I didn’t spend money on it. Getty Senior is a self made billionaire (the richest man in the world during this time) because of the oil deals he arranged with Saudi Arabia. He is Getty Oil. His family is dysfunctional, and one son cannot stay away from drugs. He married and had children. The one grandson is kidnapped and taken for ransom. Getty famously says he wouldn’t pay a cent. It’s one thing not to negotiate with terrorists, it’s another when the reality of a teenage grandson gets put into this situation. For Getty, everything was a negotiation, and he would often be penny wise and pound foolish. There were so many good films this past year, not sure how this ended up in the Best Picture nominees. It is not as good as others (Three Billboards, Shape of Water, Dunkirk). Have to say that I am not a big fan of Michelle Williams, as I always feels she plays the same character; the wife who gets beaten down by life and her situation, who tries to cope but feels helpless. Roles in Brokeback Mountain, Misery by the Water etc. all seem to add up to much the same. Here she is a bit more independent and strong, defending her child and herself. Still.

June 18th, 2018

This weekend in the heat it was The Incredibles 2. First there was a short film done by Pixar with an Asian theme. An older Asian woman makes dumplings. She serves 3 to her husband and three to herself. He gobbles and runs. She eats two and then the last one grows eyes and limbs and screams out. The living dumpling. She nurtures it. It grows. Then resents her. Then shows up with a living female sporting an engagement ring and tries to leave the house. Before he does. I’ll leave it to you to see. Suffice it to say, there may be a message here, but boy it was muddy. I was left scratching my head and and chuckling to myself on a few levels.

But then the main event begins and starts right where the original left off. The mole-like bad guy robs a bank and destroys a good chunk of the city. The “illegal” supers did a lot of good, but the bad guys did get away. They did cause damage. And the lawyers and bean counters are upset. Enter some rich idealists who want to Make America Super Again. In other words, show the value to the people and change the laws. The movie continues on all levels with I feel the best story being Jack-Jack. But Elastigirl is at the forefront of the new dynamic to get people feeling better about supers – since she generally doesn’t cause as much damage. The family functioning all moves forward and it culminates in a fun film. Pixar hits it on the mark and delivers on the solid foundation with another quality sequel. Worth viewing and delightful.

On Netflix. I started watching The Horn. It is a helicopter rescue show from Zermatt Switzerland. The pictures of the mountains are incredible. Some of what they do is unreal – like climbing down into a crevasse that a skier fell into. Worth checking out.

The Paper Chase – is a good movie about a first year law student at Harvard. Having just walked the grounds I wanted to revisit that. I am glad I did. John Houseman plays the iconic Contracts professor Kingsfield.

I started watching The Post on the plane but did not finish. So far it’s okay. Will follow up with more.

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.