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.

March 19, 2018

This past week was spent in Florida, but on the way there I had a chance to watch Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. In truth, this was watched over a couple of trips. And in both cases, it really didn’t come together and make much sense. The relationship aspect with two agents where he had proposed earlier didn’t work with two people with zero chemistry. Not sure whether that was a “her” or a “him” issue, since they both have their challenges; he is delivering dialogue in his best Keanu Reaves imitation with no inflection, while she just doesn’t seem to give a shit about anything, but with a smirk on her face. The three little annoying aardvark-like creatures were looking to be like the trader in early Star Wars (Ani’s boss). In the end, right up to including when Rhinanna shows up it is a mess, with a strange story and less interesting characters. Did I for a minute think Clive Owen was in any way a good guy? Ummmm no. Incidentally Roger Ebert site gave this a 4 Star rating.

I also watched I Tonya, and there is a part of me that wonders about who is getting paid and how much for this story. Credits seem to indicate we have cooperation from Jeff Gillooly and also with Tonya Harding herself, who isn’t afraid of doing anything necessary to make a buck (like box in Celebrity Bouts). What they provide, as initially advertised, is the self-serving perspective of each of the characters. As they say, truth is one’s perspective on the facts. This is shown in spades here, and quite humourously as well. People know the story from the tabloids, and the Olympics from Albertville and then Lillehammer just two years later. There is the equally well known Incident, where competitor Nancy Kerrigan has her leg whacked after a practice session. Allison Janney deserved full marks for her performance as the scene stealing Mom of Tonya. A chain-smoking, profane, waitress from Nowhere Oregon with a chip on her shoulder and attitude to burn. She is steadfast in her pushing and abuse of her daughter from early age. Tonya may want to come off as a victim, but all the “it’s not my fault” aspects of this don’t resonate. The overall sentence given out for the Incident to her, also shows that others don’t believe her nor her explanation of what she knew and when. But this was an entertaining film. I was astounded at the level of stupidity of the people that surrounded her, and especially the bodyguard. Gillooly tries to portray himself as a “good guy” whil denying the fact that he physically abused Harding. I guess all the restraining orders that should be public record also lie about the “good guy” as well. But in the end, it was Janney who was the most entertaining, even in the film itself when she pointed out that she had been ignored for too long with her storyline.

March 5th, 2018 – Post Oscars

First off, The Shape of Water was not the best film of 2017. It just wasn’t. But this is becoming a familiar pattern with the Academy it seems and political considerations likely are at work more than they should be for deciding on which was the best film of the year.

For me, this year was Dunkirk’s year with Three Bllboards in a close second. Three Billboards is a very American-centric fim, but the writing and performances across the board were excellent. It likely loses votes from non-US Academy members. Dunkirk isn’t a US film at all – it is about a British and French event before the US was involved. It is the turning point in the Second World War. The companion piece, just as exhilarating is Darkest Hour with Gary Oldman playing Winston. They are both set in May 1940. Together they portray the days brilliantly. I will say more about the Oscars later. I tip my cap to Alison who wins the pool for the second straight year. Well done, and picking Shape of Water as Best Picture. That and Get Out for screenplay quite simply just shocked me.

On Friday I went out and saw my second last remaining Best Picture nomination with Phantom Thread. It stays with me still. It is a period piece around 1950ish, but no specific period. It revolves the story of three main protagonists. He (Daniel Day Lewis) an older, persnickety clothing maker perfectionist and then his colleague sister and then his latest muse, who he found while eating breakfast by the sea as she served him his substantial meal. Together they buzz around in initially common ways and then more unique and strange ways. The acting by each (two of the three – sister and man) got Oscar nods. The third likely deserved one for supporting rather than Mary J Blige (but I digress). This is a dysfunctional lot, with those surrounding the male lead as enablers and also challengers at times. I was shaken and confused by the ending and the whole scenario as it played out, but it is a film that can’t win a Best Picture. It is just too “British”, I think. American audiences just don’t have the patience for it. In the end it can be seen on Netflix and be just as satisfying. We saw in 70mm, and even received the companion catalog of pictures as a bonus. Honestly, I need to see Dunkirk in 70mm (and I did) but not this.

For Documentaries I saw Icarus on Saturday night. It swayed my vote away from Abacus: Small Enough to Jail. In it, there is the tale of an athlete trying to showing the prevalence of doping in cycling, but going so far as doping himself and trying to defeat the tests. But it makes a turn as the Russian Director who ended up assisting him gets into political hot water as they Sochi Olympic scandal meltdown occurred. The Director was the main facilitator keeping the State-sponsored program of doping secret. He left in exile for the US. He is a wanted man in Russia. This real life spy caper is very interesting and shows just how far the Russian government was prepared to go to succeed in Sochi. It makes you wonder what they are doing for the World Cup in June!! According to this documentary, the Russians have never ceased using steroids. Period.

February 28th, 2018 follow up

Here is a follow on discussion to Alison seeing Annihilation in a theatre with people insisting on talking through it.

My post: It astounds me time and again the theatre etiquette of many of the movie going public. They are all the clichés as expressed in the Cineplex cartoons, notably many Suzy Soundtracks. And this isn’t limited to the young and obnoxious. Girlfriend and I sat behind an older couple who just couldn’t manage to cease the endless chatter. Girlfriend when she saw Black Panther actually told someone to STFU. Perhaps we are too conditioned with large screens at home to be able to talk loudly and multi-task through a film in a cinema. Perhaps it’s more about the increasingly insular and non-public lives that we lead which contributes to this lack of basic understanding of how to act in a crowd. It’s infuriating, and takes away from the enjoyment of the film. And some films are actually better if you can see them with an audience, like comedies and scary films. But it’s less so with these common issues.

When I went last Thursday night it was a 90% full theatre for a 7:30 showing. The reaction of those leaving was some in bewilderment, others seemingly chatting away. So how did you like the film, if at all?

I watched Huntsman: Winter’s Watch on dvd which you would think with two of my more favourite actresses (Jessica and Emily Blunt) that I would like it better. I didn’t. Quite simply this is a mess, and trying to put together a pre-story for Snow White, but then also a post-story, the nasty Queen (Charlize Theron) is dead but is she really?! Altogether there is just a little too much Chris Hemsworth in films these days. The guy seems to be everywhere, and nowhere is he outstanding. Full review to come next Monday.

I also watched Dirty Money with VW episode, which really puts VW in a bad light, although it takes pot shots at the entire German car making industry. This involves the scandal on software blockers for NOX emissions on diesel engines. The real truth is that diesel is not clean, and that no one has ever been able to get an affordable diesel engine to market that is compliant with US standards. But boy, they played the Hitler card here early, and then talked later about proposing humans and then apes for emissions harm tests (“Germans have a history of using gas…”) and a do-what-the-boss-says-for-sales culture that ignores “killing” human beings, which for me takes it a little bit too far. I don’t see an uproar in China with 1.5 Billion people, and who still uses coal for factories and has smog days in Beijing which are blinding with such emissions. But it’s worth a look.

More to come. Sorry about your movie experience.

February 26th, 2018

With the end of the Olympics, then there comes a time to get back to some movie viewing.

I will be sending out the officepools.com Academy Awards selections for this year as well for those who are interested. Quite honestly I don’t think that there will be much drama at all at this years Oscars. At every major award so far (Golden Globe, BAFTA, SAG) the same names keep popping up.

Anyway, this weekend I saw Annihilation. This is a not very well publicized movie starring Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac. It bombed at the box office but as the attached article will attest, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is bad movie or not worthy of your dollars. In fact, I would argue that it is a good movie, and EXACTLY the type of movie that if you love film should go and see. Why? Because it’s different. Because it has a premise that pushes the viewer to bring their own life experiences to the forefront to have it impact them personally. It won’t impact all people the same way.

The director here is Alex Garland, who directed Ex Machina and 28 Days Later, and shares a futuristic world, set in some reality. In this story, the future world is impacted by a meteor that hits a lighthouse that looks like it’s from Maine. There a multicoloured wall emanates and grows larger and keeps growing out. Efforts to understand the wall and what happens inside it, are fruitless. A team of all women choose to go behind the wall and investigate, and then things happen and the story unfolds. And unfolding and layering is what happens here. The viewer is thrust into the middle of something and then is provided with pieces along the way to have it make more sense. There are strong visuals, and some good scary bits. One scene in particular is just plain shocking.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2018/02/26/annihilations-grim-box-office-fate-was-an-inevitable-tragedy/#798dc1c04ed9

One of the challenges for this movie is the direct-to-Netflix (International) decision of Paramount. Obviously the international box office will suffer as a result. But it’s sad that a unique and original film takes a back seat to any number of super heroes and reboots of other tales. There are parallels to other films from before, and I will happily discuss these once Alison has seen the film. No spoilers. But in the end, I decided to see this without much review or fanfare. I didn’t look at trailers and decided to avoid the Ebert review except to see the 3 ½ star overview.

I have thought about it some more since I saw on Thursday, although I am still on the fence about whether I would need to re-see this or watch again like an Arrival to get more out of it. Likely I would as one focuses on different things than just plot when seeing a second time. Further discussion to be made on this one.

On tap are a few library films: The Accountant and The Huntsman Winter’s War. I also picked up Elizabeth once again to see how badly Cate Blanchett was robbed of an Oscar for that performance by Gwyneth (ugh). So many supporting cast members is that film from 20 years ago (like Daniel Craig, Emily Mortimer, Lily Allen etc) have gone on to amazing careers. 1998 – feeling old yet?!

February 19th Family Day 2018

Blue Is The Warmest Colour is a 2013 Palm D’Or Winner, a film which bested Inside Llewelyn Davis for the top honours. It is another coming of age story about a teen girl finding herself and her place, much as we have Lady Bird and Call Me By Your Name for this year’s prizes. It differs in that it is more graphic than both of those other films. Even though Timothee did some nasty things to a summer peach, there was not the European sensibilities of the nude and sexual nature of it.

It has been debated (like below) whether a man can even depict lesbian love appropriately on film, or is a pre-requisite to have a lesbian on the set who actually knows this first hand?

https://www.rogerebert.com/balder-and-dash/is-blue-a-straight-color-on-blue-is-the-warmest-color-and-representing-lesbians

For me I don’t see why a man can’t put a graphic novel on film. He can film what he read which presumably would include the thoughts and feelings of the involved characters. So I have no issue with it. The story is a long one (over three hours) and takes its time from the days of Adele (our Greek protagonist) in high school and figuring out what satisfies her to her taking on a career and being in a more domestic role. There was part of me that half expected there to be “an event” which she needs to make a choice about her relationship and her career. She works with children in school, teaching young grades like 2 or 3. Anyway, that was her calling and she knew it from a young age. With her sexuality, she saw a blue haired women (university student) just walking on the street and later meets her at a bar with a friend. They become involved. There is shown in detail the euphoria of early attachment, the honeymoon phase, and then later as life takes over the more stable steady state. It travels a familiar arc with something that happens and then some time for reflection.

For me this was a bit slow and too long. There was certain chemistry between the characters. Life is about moments, and perhaps lost opportunities as well. But I am not sure whether it was a Palm D’Or winner. It is a more rare find on Netflix where there is more graphic scenes of sex. Life is complicated and confusing at times, especially when you are young and finding yourself. Choices made can take you down a path, and it is uncertain whether that path is one for you longer term. This is a film, however, like the above two that makes me wonder about the impact of film and media on young people and their choices. Do they choose to be homosexual, and part of the decision can be through film and what they see around them, or is it born in them and inevitable and all the media in the world doesn’t change it. The Danish Girl was from early 1900s, as one example of countless throughout history. There is a longer piece that can be written on the subject, and I may get to it one of these days. Just not now.

Febraury 12th, 2018

Wind River stars Jeremy Renner, from The Town, Bourne, Arrival and many other films. He has an intensity about him. Here he plays a hunter/trapper out in Wyoming. He is divorced from his Native Indian wife, and early on you see that his daughter was missing. Another local girl goes missing too, and he happens upon her in the middle of the wilderness. She is barefoot and apparently ran 6 miles in that condition. What happened? The FBI is called in (Elizabeth Olsen), along with the local police Sheriff (Graham Greene). They enlist the help of Renner as Olsen in particular has very little experience and certainly not in those conditions or in the environment. The story unfolds. I found the resolution to be unsatisfying, and a little disappointing, at the same time think about just how many people might be suspects in this vast countryside. The point that is made however was troubling; the US keeps statistics on missing persons except for Native women. Strange. And the conditions that these people live under, with chronic unemployment, alcoholism, abuse all make for a sad commentary of the North American treatment of Native people. This was worth checking out.

January 31st, 2018 – BR2049

I re-watched Blade Runner 2049 the other night as I had purchased it and wanted to look upon again with fresh eyes. I had said in my initial review that I would speak further on it once everyone had seen it. I am certainly no spoiler of films. Enough time has passed, and fair warning that I will include spoilers shortly in this commentary on this sequel.

So we are 30 years beyond the ending of Blade Runner, in whatever variation and cut that you saw. In the end, Deckard was fleeing LA in his car with replicant Rachel. His Blade Runner colleague, played by Edward James Almos states with echoes bouncing off the walls “too bad she won’t live…..but then again, who does?”….

Blade Runner was a look and feel movie, where the set and production design is a character. Rain, buildings, billboards, street speak, noodles were all part of this futuristic world. This films takes the concepts and pushes the envelope. And push it out mightily. Blade Runner was also about its music and sounds, from Vangelis, who provided a synthetic sound backdrop to a future world perfectly. Together the sets and sounds made Blade Runner an immersive experience. There were characters sure, and a plot but you were transported into the future, and not just onto a set. Denis Villeneuve, fresh off his Arrival experience, is an excellent choice by Ridley Scott (producer) to take the banner of his brainchild forward. He believes in real. Doesn’t like green screen. He wants his actors in the sets and feeling the spaces around them. Here he has various unique locations; from downtown LA in rain and skyscrapers, to a junkyard outside San Diego, to farmer’s fields and then Vegas, in its rundown glory. I have to confess that I didn’t catch on to the Vegas bit on first viewing but got it the second. I noticed the tables before and Elvis of course in lounge, but I got the reference better here and it was more impactful. I believe that every one of the Oscar nominations here were merited, and will make this a difficult film to beat for those. We will see. One could ignore the plot completely and storyline and marvel at the music (so pronounced and contributing – now Hans Zimmer shared with Benjamin Wallfisch). Zimmer has had a brilliant career, and a frequent Scott collaborator as well as Christopher Nolan.

Now to the plot. Some have called the movie misogynistic with the treatment of the female characters and this was partly to blame for the lack of box office success (ie: women just didn’t like it). Perhaps these are the same people who felt Deckard was raping Rachel in the apartment scene with them in the original. I have stated emphatically that I disagree with that characterization. Others have stated that Deckard was the real villain in the film and also a Replicant himself. I disagree with those as well. Much of the killing to address that, and the violent killing takes place at the hands of a woman in this updated version. She is ruthless in her disposition of those seen as being in her way, almost Terminator-like.

Ryan Gosling plays a Replicant, a newer model, who is more obedient, but also a Blade Runner. He is meant to “retire” older Replicants. In his travels he hears about a “miracle” and then the bones of an old Replicant who was buried and appears to have died in child birth.

Tangentially, I was struck on second viewing with the parallels to not only Prometheus and Alien Covenant (and the themes of creation and God) but of the Christ story itself. Much effort is made on two sides to track down this unique child; one to prevent war and destruction as “the walls come down” from Gosling’s boss, but also from the new Tyrell who can’t “make” Replicants fast enough and needs to find out the truth of Replicants who can give birth. Those who know the truth are slaughtered unmercifully on either side. Stories are told and leads followed to find and seek the truth of the miraculous birth! All in the name of saving society, and more so the “souls” of the Replicants. I think that this aspect of the film, or at least my interpretation of it, make the film more impactful.

But continuing on, Gosling searches and has the belief that he himself is the child. He is the right age. He has memories that come true. Realizing later, in one the major findings of the film that he is NOT the one, also puts his life in perspective.

Layer upon this the added theme of artificial or projected beings, similar to the treatment in Her, where a character who is real falls for and has a real relationship with “an operating system” shows the modern society where the being avoids human contact with real humans to stay true to his virtual companion.

In the end, you are left with the Gosling character fulfilling what he feels is his destiny. He recognizes and rewards the earlier sacrifice of Deckard. He sees value in contributing in this way.

January 29th, 2018

With all the hype and the multiple nominations for Get Out, I got a loan from the library to check it out.

I am flabbergasted that this film has been nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director. My only explanation as I grapple with it is one of political correctness. The Oscars are tired of being labelled “White” and want to show just how inclusive and diverse that they are. Given the increased number of films allowed for the Best Picture nomination this one is a throw in (and gains you points with media).

The film itself has a basic premise, inter-racial young couple go for a visit to see her family. They have only been dating a little while and she has not told them that he is black. Then it proceeds to turn strange, and simply doesn’t feel right for our black protagonist. It has some aspects of Rosemary’s Baby in it, but also other movies like Coma etc. About three-quarters of the way through this I just began laughing to myself at how ridiculous it all was. At the end I knew that this would be a different review.

I feel saddened that a Director for Three Billboards (which will likely win most of the awards) was not nominated while Get Out’s director was. It is a head scratcher. Still after reading the article on Harvey Weinstein and how he stole the Oscars for Shakespeare in Love by spending millions on promoting it with Academy members, while Saving Private Ryan was left aside. Spielberg refused to spend the money. His film stands the test of time better. So he wins in the end. But I am mindful that it’s not the BEST films that get nominated, but rather those that put the Academy in the best light. Much like the NFL in the eyes of public opinion.

I watched Concussion on Netflix. Here is a movie about the NFL and doing research into the damage that multiple head shots have on the brain and life after the game is over. I have a couple issues with the film. First the NFL got off pretty lightly in this. Sure they denied the issue from their self-funded research but it could have been much worse (and I suspect that it was). I suspect there was a compromise made there. Then there is the whole argument in the film to dissuade our researcher; “you are trying to shut down the NFL, but bringing forward this issue”. WHAT?!! The argument goes on to say if parents are dissuaded from getting kids into playing because of dangers, the game will die. Clearly they have never been to Texas or Florida or Pennsylvania where football is a religion. See movies like Friday Night Lights, All the Right Moves, Rudy and many others about the sport. So rather than talk about how the NFL has so many charities, the multi-billion dollar business can invest in prevention and protection of players as well. This grows the game! If you claim to love these players, then you help them to deal with post-game life. That is just good business.

I have started season 2 of Peaky Blinders. Season 1 started slowly but finished really well. The BBC scores yet again with quality TV.