Showing posts with label movie reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movie reviews. Show all posts

Friday, August 11, 2017

"Detroit" and The Week in Reviews

[I review the new movie "Detroit" as well as DVDs "The Lovers" and "Boss Baby."  The Book of the Week is "Choosing The Simply Luxurious Life." I also bring you up-to-date with "My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die" with Satyajit Ray's"The Music Room"]





Detroit


In 1967, a police raid led to riots in the black communities of Detroit, and police brutality was never more apparent than what happened at the Algiers motel.  This is that story.

Director Kathryn Bigelow, the first and, so far the only woman director, to win a Best Director Academy Award, has never shied away from uncomfortable topics as we have seen with "The Hurt Locker (for which she won her Oscar)" and "Zero Dark Thirty."  And this film is no exception.

The centerpiece of the film is an incident that occurred at the Algiers motel in Detroit, Michigan on July 25, 1967.

In the early morning hours of July 23, 1967, the Detroit police, a police force that was 93% white, raided The Blind Pig, an unlicensed, after-hours club with mostly black patrons.  The confrontation of the club patrons, locals and police became known as the 12th Street riots, which lasted  five days and resulted in one of the deadliest and most destructive riots in U.S. history.  Looting and violence was rampant. To help end the disturbance, then Governor George W. Romney (yes, father of Mitt), sent in the Michigan National Guard, and President Lyndon B. Johnson sent in both the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions. When it was over there were 43 dead, 1,189 injured, over 7,200 arrests, and more than 2,000 buildings destroyed.

On the night of July 25th, approximately one mile from where the riots were happening, a gunshot (later identified as a starter pistol) was heard and the National Guard and police zeroed in on the Algiers motel where mostly black youths were hanging out, partying and seeking refuge from the rioting.

With a screenplay by Mark Boal, the film centers on several characters staying at the Algiers: Larry Reed (Algee Smith), a member of the singing group The Dramatics and his friend, Fred (Jacob Latimore), both of whom had just gotten back from an aborted singing engagement at the Fox Theatre; Robert Greene (Anthony Mackie), a black Vietnam Veteran; Juli Hysell and Karen Malloy (Hannah Murray, Kaitlyn Dever), two young white women from Ohio staying at the Algiers and several other black friends, 12 in all.  Then there were those from outside:  Melvin Dismukes (John Boyega), a black security guard, who was guarding a store across the street from the Algiers and Detroit police officers, Philip Krauss (Will Poulter) and his cohorts, Demens (Jack Reynor) and Flynn (Ben O'Toole) (not the names of the real cops) who took over the investigation at the motel looking for the supposed shooter.

Having rounded up 12 people staying in the annex of the Algiers motel and ordering them to face the wall, Krauss, who had already been reprimanded for unlawfully killing a fleeing black looting suspect, led the other two cops in "The Death Game," where each would take one of the suspects into a separate room and shoot his gun, pretending to kill the suspect in order to get the others to confess...until one cop didn't realize it was a game. When all was said and done, three black men lost their lives and the rest of the so-called suspects were beaten and traumatized.  The cops went on trial, but you can guess how that turned out.

I am a huge Kathryn Bigelow fan.  In fact, when I first saw "The Hurt Locker," I predicted that it would win the Academy Award for Best Picture well before the nominations were even announced.  So I was eager to see her latest effort. In a time where police brutality against African Americans has risen it's ugly head again, it's a timely film that shows how black people have been living with this kind of police brutality for years, and the police have been getting away with it well before the Rodney King incident and trial so this is a story that needed to be told, but, I am sorry to say that I found the film disappointing. 

For a film that was so tension-filled, at 2 and a half hours it was too long, especially the actual incident at the motel. 

During the torture scenes, the tension was so great for so long that I found myself squirming in my seat and talking back to the screen (good thing there were only a few other people in the theatre). Once the cops arrived at the Algiers, in the first half hour, I got mad and could easily see that innocent black people were being unfairly accused and abused based solely on the color of their skin by racist cops, but then, it just went on and on until it became gratuitous. Instead of feeling angry about what these people were going through, I felt like I was in an unrelenting horror movie. And lest you feel I don't get that being black in Detroit in the 1960's was probably an unrelenting life of horror, I get that too, but this movie went on so long that instead of being mad, I was just ready for it to be over. The film lost its power.

Also the characters were too one-dimensional. 


I understand when you have lots of characters, it's difficult to flesh them out completely, but I just didn't feel I knew very much about any of them, even the central characters. What drove those cops, not only their racism, but their sadism? I know it is easy to fall prey to wanting to show how evil these people are but I wanted to know why they were that way, even if the reasons were BS.

And it wasn't just the white cops. Many of the black characters were also one-dimensional, especially Dismukes, played by John Boyega.  A central character, he started strong as a good guy with no particular agenda, just getting by, it showed him trying to save a black kid from getting into trouble with the police.  I was interested in his story, but at the motel (and I am still not clear what he was doing there), he ended up just sort of lurking around in the shadows when all of the torture came down.  What was going on with him?  As an actor, Boyega seemed blank and like he didn't know what he was doing there either. He just basically stood around.  What was his character thinking and trying to do?  I didn't have a clue. 


However, I can't get over how Boyega seems to be channeling a young Denzel Washington.  He not only looks like him but his voice and delivery are eerily similar -- in a good way!

And for the rest of the characters, I couldn't tell you any of their stories or why they were at the Algiers motel, except one of the white girls said her Dad was a judge and she and her friend were from Ohio. 


Casting was also a problem for me.

Will Poulter, as the racist cop Philip Krauss, was not believable. He looked like he should have been in a remake of "Stand By Me."  He is just too young and callow looking and had to work too hard to be menacing.  And it made no sense, that earlier in the film, Krauss shot a looter in the back, was chastised for excessive use of force by his superior officer and threatened with a murder charge, and yet he was let back on the street. 

The use of the hand-held camera mixed in with actual footage didn't help either

I know it was supposed to feel like a documentary, you-are-there, sort of thing, but it actually was a distraction. 

And finally, I am sick and tired of the vomit cliche i.e, characters vomiting so that we know they are really upset. 

This is a movie cliché that has to stop. There has to be another way for actors to show how bad something is besides upchucking (Here's a contest question.  When was this sickening cliché first used?  I first remember it back in 1978 in "An Unmarried Woman when Erica (Jill Clayburgh) threw up outside after discovering her husband was cheating.  I didn't like it then and I don't like it now - anyone remember this phenomenon any earlier other than that - and "The Exorcist" doesn't count)!
 
All in all, I found this film to be an unpleasant, no... excruciating, film experience.  Even with films about unpleasant experiences, I think we should leave the theatre feeling uplifted or satisfied or sad or angry even.  Yes, this is an important story that we should know about, and yes, nothing seems to have changed much when it comes to police and African-American relations.  But instead of feeling a call to arms, when I left the theatre, I felt relieved that it was over.

Rosy the Reviewer says...a timely story that needed to be told.  I just wish it had been told better.




***Some Movies You Might Have Missed***
(And Some You Will Be Glad You Did)!

On DVD






The Lovers (2017)


What do you do when you have been married for a very long time and are bored with your marriage?  Why, I guess you have an affair!

Mary (Debra Winger) and Michael (Tracy Letts) are a long-married couple who have forgotten what it was that brought them together.  The romance is gone and their conversations now revolve around needing more toothpaste. But just because they are no longer having sex, that doesn't mean they aren't having sex.  They are.  With other people!  They each have lovers. 

Michael is enthralled with Lucy (Melora Walters), a dancer teacher, and Mary with Robert (Aiden Gillen, who "Game of Thrones" enthusiasts will recognize as Littlefinger). However, Lucy and Robert are starting to get anxious and are nagging Michael and Mary respectively to tell their spouse about them and to end the marriage.  All of a sudden, Mary's and Michael's affairs are starting to feel very much like being married!  Having an affair can be hard work!  One morning, Mary and Michael wake up nose to nose and their sex life is rekindled. Now they have to lie to their lovers about their own reawakened relationship.  Who are "The Lovers" in this?

This is a movie about real people. 

Tracy Letts, better known for his work on "Homeland" is not your conventional leading man, and Debra Winger is a normal looking middle-aged woman.  She has let herself age naturally which is refreshing in a world where beautiful women do not want to accept their age.  But going against the grain is nothing new to her as she shunned Hollywood and its trappings in her early 40's.  Now she is back in this film and both she and Letts are very believable as two people who are disappointed in their marriage.  I also really like Gillen, and here he gets to show his romantic leading man abilities.  He is a handsome guy whom I like as an actor, even when he plays bad guys.

It's refreshing for us Baby Boomers to see people on the screen who look like us, other middle-aged people with white hair (if there is hair at all), cellulite, wrinkles, sagging stomachs - and they are having sex!  However, one barrier we still haven't gotten over.  Winger may show her wrinkles but she is slim as can be whereas Letts definitely has a "Dad bod," to put it mildly, so it seems it's OK for men to get fat and schlubby as they age and still maintain an aura of attractiveness, but not us women.  That's a barrier we may never get over. (It wouldn't be one of my reviews without a rant, now would it)?

Written and directed by Azazel Jacobs, this film explores the themes of seeking fulfillment in another person when you are disappointed in your own life and how when you are about to lose something you value it more, two common human foibles.

Rosy the Reviewer says...an engaging little romantic comedy that reminds us what can happen if we don't look after our relationships.   Now, excuse me while I go check Hubby's phone. 

 

Boss Baby (2017)


Turns out there are two kinds of babies: those regular little cuddly ones that most of us get and then there are those who are singled out to be BOSS BABIES!

Timothy Templeton (voice of Miles Bakshi) is seven and a half, and he has it made.  He has his parents (voices of Lisa Kudrow and Jimmy Kimmel) all to himself, and every night he gets three stories, five hugs and a special song.  Timothy also has a very rich imagination as he turns the everyday activities of his life into adventures.  One day riding his bike he might be a race car driver winning the Indy 500.  Another day in the bath he is a pirate fighting off skalliwags.  Life is good for Timothy until....

A new baby arrives!

And the new baby is not just any baby.  He is BOSS BABY (voice of Alex Baldwin)!

Turns out that right before each of us is born, we are tickled with a feather.  If we giggle charmingly, we are sent to our families on the regular baby track.  But if we don't laugh, we are seen as management material and sent to work at Baby Corp.

Our Boss Baby is on the fast track until it comes to the attention of Baby Corp. that Puppy Co. has invented a super puppy that is so cute it will usurp babies and steal all of the love that should go to babies.  This super puppy will also live forever.  Something must be done and Boss Baby is sent to Tim's family as their new baby. You see, both of Tim's parents work at Puppy Co. so the plan is that Boss Baby will infiltrate Puppy Co. and steal the plans for the super puppy, thus usurping the evil plans of Puppy Co's CEO, Francis Francis (Steve Buscemi). And if Boss Baby is successful, he will rise to the very top of Baby Corp.

After an initial period where Boss Baby and Tim are at odds (only Tim can see and hear Boss Baby as he really is and Boss Baby puts on the cute baby show for his parents in some very funny scenes.) Boss Baby gets Tim in trouble and Tim is grounded and made to stay in his room, but Boss Baby tells Tim that if he helps him get the plans for the super puppy, he will leave and Tim can have his parents' full attention once again, but if he is unsuccessful he will turn into a normal baby and never leave.  That's good enough for Tim because he certainly wants to get rid of Boss Baby so things can go back to the way they were before he arrived, so he agrees to help Boss Baby.

But how do they get to Puppy Co?  Well, coincidentally and conveniently, Puppy Co. is having a "Take Your Kids to Work Day," so Tim and Boss Baby make a big show of getting along and loving each other, and Tim is forgiven by his parents, no longer confined to his room, and invited to the "Take Your Kids to Work Day" by his parents.

The film is a funny and sometimes charming one-joke about a briefcase-carrying baby wearing a suit entering a family and making the older child's life a misery, a very broad and funny metaphor for what the oldest child must go through when the new baby arrives in the house, what that baby might look like to him or her and the ensuing sibling rivalry.

Alec Baldwin is the voice of Boss Baby, and of course, there has to be some references to past roles, an especially funny one is the homage to his role in "Glengarry Glen Ross, where he played Blake, a man sent by the sales firm to motivate the salemen and gives the famous verbally abusive speech about closing deals.  So if you know that film, you will get a laugh when Boss Baby says to Tim, "Cookies are for closers!" - very funny.  There are also scenes that spoof Indiana Jones and Elvis, and one where Boss Baby, while going on a wild ride on the back of Tim's bike, spouts silly management and positive thinking cliches - "Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right!" 

Directed by Tom McGrath, written by Michael McCullers (based on a story by Marla Frazee), Tobey Maguire narrates as the adult Timmy and, as in most animated films, there is something for everyone here: the kids will enjoy the antics of the characters and adults will enjoy the inside jokes.

Rosy the Reviewer says...this film is great fun for both children and adults and a good message about how there is lots of love to go around, but it's no "Zootopia."  However, I couldn't help but notice, that this Boss Baby looks suspiciously like one of my grandsons!



***My 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die Project***


190 to go!

Have YOU seen this classic film?




The Music Room (1958)


An Indian zamindar (feudal landlord) struggles to uphold his decadent lifestyle despite his fading riches.

Biswambhar Roy (Chhabi Biswas, who looks surprisingly like Bela Lugosi) lives alone in his crumbling ancestral palace in 1920's India.  He sits smoking a hookah and staring out at his once sprawling landscape, now ravaged by floods.  As his ancestral wealth also ebbs away,  Mahim Ganguli (Gangapada Basu), a nouveau riche money lender, who Roy disdains, is becoming richer and richer.  As Roy hears a shehnai playing (an oboe-like instrument), he asks his loyal servant Ananta why it is playing and Ananta tells him that Ganguli is celebrating his son's upanayana, a coming of age celebration rite.  The haunting music takes Roy back to a few years earlier, when he was living with his wife and son and to his own son's party when Roy was still wealthy and at the height of his power.  During that flashback we see what Roy's life was once like and the tragedy that beset him and why he is now alone.

Roy has a much prized music room graced by a huge chandelier.  Roy holds concerts in his music room and the concerts represent his status. But now with his fortunes gone, Roy has closed up his music room.  But when he learns that his neighbor, Ganguli, is going to hold a concert, Roy decides that he will hold one the same night, thus ruining Ganguli's plans, Roy's one final grand gesture even though he must use all of his remaining resources to do so. The chandelier is featured in the opening credits and figures prominently in the film until its lights go out at the end, the chandelier symbolizing Roy's opulent life which has now become obsolete and one he can no longer support.

Director Satyajit Ray, who adapted this screenplay from a short story by the Bengali writer Tarasankai Banergi, often explores the themes of change and the good and bad associated with change in his films and this film is no exception.  Music also plays an important role in Ray's films.

Ray, best known for his "Apu Trilogy," is one of the greatest of our film directors, which introduced the world to Indian art cinema at a time when people thought Indian movies were just Bollywood musicals.  His films were influenced by Italian Neorealism and explored moral and social injustices, showing the world poor people living their everyday lives in small Indian villages. But here he takes another step into a world of Indian aristocracy at a time when that world was fading and creates a fascinating, moody atmosphere that pulls you in.  His attention to detail is amazing.  One scene shows Roy looking out at his land and his prized elephant, whom he proudly rides, only to see the elephant obscured by dust as his neighbor's truck rolls by, a fitting symbol of the new rich overtaking the old ways.  There is also a scene toward the end when Roy is lamenting is losses and we see him and his fading music room reflected in a large mirror.

Why it's a Must See: "Satyajit Ray is exploring new ideas and techniques in this film, and it is fascinating to watch his style expand. [This film] is a sensual delight and an essential masterpiece of world cinema."
---"1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die"

Rosy the Reviewer says..a mesmerizing and haunting film about the clash between tradition and change.
(b & w, in Hindi with English subtitles)


***Book of the Week***




Choosing the Simply Luxurious Life: A Modern Woman's Guide by Shannon Ables (2014)





Gee, who wouldn't choose a luxurious life, especially if it's simple?

Turns out it's not that simple.

Ables, whose lifestyle blog is "The Simply Luxurious Life" and the inspiration for this book, grew up in rural Oregon and was always someone who enjoyed her own company and learned early the joys of animals, her own thoughts and her time alone.  When she started her blog, she was in her 30's and had already rejected the belief that her life had to follow a proscribed formula -  to be married with kids, dress a certain way because she was a teacher and to accept the inequalities she saw around her. Her intention was to share what she loved about how she lived, which she felt was contrary to how others lived.

"I created The Simply Luxurious Life blog based on my own experience as someone who wants to create a life that is fulfilling and regardless of what society defines as 'what should make a person happy,' a life that is immune to the judgment of others.  I had come to understand my basic truth -- that if we live to please the world around us, we will never find joy, the ease that is our 'happy place."

So what does a "luxurious life" look like?

"The foundation of living a simply luxurious life is made up of substance, passion, quality, sensibility, sincerity, appreciation, and continual growth. What a simply luxurious life is not is blindly following whatever society or the media's version of it glorifies, spending more than you make, living in a home that is not soothing or welcoming, having many 'friendships' or 'friends' but few relationships of real quality, creating a wardrobe driven by trends, not being mindful of your body's unique beauty, falling prey to the fears and pressures that marketers and the media push on us, or ignoring the importance of learning something new and substantial each and every day."

Whew! That's a mouthful!

So the luxurious life is really not that simple.  She lost me at "spending more than you make."

But then she goes on to share what her simply luxurious life looks like.  Here are a few of the things...

...making time to have intimate conversations with loved ones

---nibbling on a chocolate truffle late in the evening paired with a hot cup of lavender tea

---living in a home that is free of clutter

---walking her dogs in the early morning hours

I had to stop her right there.  Yes, I believe in having intimate conversations with loved ones but what do you do when Hubby falls asleep right in the middle; I think the chocolate truffle needs a glass of wine; clutter free home?  Good luck with that!  And walking the dogs in the early morning hours?  My dogs know I am not available for walks until at least after 9:30am, if at all.

Ables goes on to make it clear that if we want a luxurious life, we need to become financially savvy and independent, find our signature style and work with a capsule wardrobe, create a sanctuary in our home, look good, have good relationships, travel the world, entertain and, I knew this was coming, do things the "French way!"  Why do the French get all of the credit for doing things right?  I kind of get sick of hearing how French women don't get fat and how wearing the perfect scarf will change my life!  I ranted about that in one of my most popular blog posts "Parisian Chic," so if you want to go there with me, check it out.

So this luxurious life that Ables is pushing is not that simple, but, hey, I get it.  We are all supposed to find our own bliss by living authentically, taking care of ourselves and having good relationships and that will work best if we get enough sleep, stay positive, have some money and try to be good citizens.

But the most important thing she espouses is savoring and living in the moment.  I am with her there.  Living in the present allows you to really enjoy nibbling on that chocolate truffle (with wine!), to wallow in the love of your little dog sitting next to you who is demanding a guzzle of your wine, and to, in the moment, realize your Hubby has been asleep during the most important part of your intimate conversation.

So, see?  I get it.  I must be living the simply luxurious life after all!

Rosy the Reviewer says...want to live the simply luxurious life? It's the little things. 


Thanks for reading!

 
See you next Friday 


for my review of  
  
"The Glass Castle"


and

 The Week in Reviews

(What to See or Read and What to Avoid)


 and the latest on



"My 1001 Movies I Must See Before 

 I Die Project."

  

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Friday, August 4, 2017

"Dunkirk" and The Week in Reviews

[I review the new movie "Dunkirk" as well as DVDs "Patriots Day" and the new Netflix original film "To The Bone."  The Book of the Week is "The Cake and the Rain," a memoir by songwriter Jimmy Webb.  I also bring you up-to-date with "My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project" with "Stairway to Heaven" (orig. title "A Matter of Life and Death."]




Dunkirk


During World War II, by the end of May, 1940, the Nazis had driven British and French forces to the beach near the French village of Dunkirk and 400,000 soldiers waited anxiously on the beach to be evacuated.

Since the United States didn't enter WW II until after Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Battle of Dunkirk is not a WW II event that most Americans are familiar with. But Britain and France had been fighting the Germans since 1939, so it is vividly remembered by the British, whose soldiers, after fighting in France, were driven back by the Nazis and were stranded on the beach like sitting ducks as enemy fighters pummeled them with bombs and bullets.  And the event is vividly remembered and stunningly recreated here by director Christopher Nolan (he also wrote the screenplay), who has already stunned us with "Interstellar," The Black Knight Rises," "Inception," "Memento" and other wonderfully smart and beautifully conceived films.

The story of the Battle of Dunkirk is told in three parts:  from the vantage point of Tommy (newcomer Fionn Whitehead), a young British infantryman on the beach with his comrades waiting to be rescued; from the vantage point of Mr. Dawson (Mark Rylance), his son, Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Peter's friend, civilians taking their own boat from Dover across the English Channel to help evacuate the soldiers; and Farrier (Tom Hardy), one of the ace Spitfire pilots sent to protect the evacuation.

So there is the action on the beach as Commander Bolton (Kenneth Branagh) and Captain Winnant (James D'Arcy) try to  evacuate the stranded soldiers and get them on board boats and ships while at the same time dodging German bullets and bombs; there is the human story of Dawson picking up a shell-shocked soldier (Cillian Murphy) who doesn't want to go back to Dunkirk; and there is the action in the air with Farrier and his cohorts dog-fighting with the German Luftwaffe as they try to protect the soldiers on the ground.

It all adds up to a terrifically tense bit of filmmaking and a remarkable story.

There are some filmmakers that no matter what the subject matter can make a riveting film.  Director Christopher Nolan is just such a filmmaker.  I am not a huge fan of war films but from the opening scene when some British soldiers are seen walking down the lane of a quaint and quiet French village, and suddenly leaflets rain down upon them, leaflets from the Germans telling them they are surrounded to the final scene when our pilot, Farrier, commits to a heroic act, I was riveted.

There are also some amazingly emotional scenes.  As the British civilian boats arrive at Dunkirk to help evacuate the soldiers, Captain Winnant asks Commander Bolton what he sees.  He replies "Home."  I lost it.

Near the end of the film when Tommy reads Churchill's famous speech:


"...we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender..."

I lost it!

And at the very end of the film, I completely lost it.

From the editing to the cinematography to the acting, this film was perfect and will stand as one of the great war movies.  And it wasn't too long, either, which is often an ego thing with directors that I often don't appreciate.  It plays for less than two hours and it is white knuckles all of the way.  Nolan likes to play with time and this film is no exception but it's not confusing as that device can often be.

As you probably already know, Tom Hardy is my guy.  He is one of our preeminent actors who can do anything. Here as the ace pilot Farrier, despite the fact that his face is covered by an oxygen mask for almost the entire film, you knew what his character was thinking.  He acted with his eyes.

Rylance also proves why he deserved an Academy Award in 2016 with another stunning performance as Mr. Dawson, the epitome of British stoicism as he calmly drives his boat toward Dunkirk and danger.  Speaking of which, after what the British went through in WW II and being able to come out the other side, and after seeing this, all I can say is "Don't mess with the British!"  They are a tough lot.

Oh, and for you fans of One Direction, Harry Styles acquitted himself well.

Even if you don't usually like war films, this one is a must see.

Rosy the Reviewer says...you know that when I have a really good movie experience, I cry, right?  Did I cry after seeing this?  I bloody well did!  Academy Award nomination FOR SURE!


***Some Movies You Might Missed***
(And Some You Will Be Glad You Did)!

On DVD



Patriots Day (2016)



Dramatic reenactment of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and the hunt for the perpetrators.

Mark Wahlberg seems to have made a career out of these dramatizations of real life events, if "Lone Survivor" and "Deepwater Horizon" are any indication (both also collaborations with Director Peter Berg, who directed this).  I would like to see him in a one-to-one drama without any action for a change. But he is particularly believable here as a fictional Bah-ston cop, Tommy Saunders, because, well, Wahlberg is a real-life Bostonian.

The movie starts by setting up the various characters - first responders and runners - some of whom will be heroes and some of whom will be victims.  Then we meet our young terrorists, the Tsarnaev brothers (Themmo Melikidze, Alex Wolff), and all of these people are on a collision course that will lead to death and a manhunt. Though there is not a lot of suspense here, because we all know how it turned out, the intensity lies in the seemingly benign and safe atmosphere of a marathon race as everyone participates and goes about their day while we wait for the bombs to go off. 

Likewise, there is suspense in the aftermath as the cops and the FBI try to find the perpetrators, and we discover things we didn't know about them and their bombs. The damage those pressure cooker bombs could inflict was horrifying.  However, I take issue with how long the film lingered on the whole chaotic period of evacuating the victims.  We get it already.  How many bloody legs and feet do we need to see to get the fact that this was a horrible event?

There was also suspense in wanting to find out more about the Tsarnaev brothers. In fact, I hate to say it, but I cared less about Wahlberg's character and the other "good guys" (the story went back and forth between what was happening with the victims and the police) and more about the Tsarnaev brothers, not because I am sympathetic to their cause, but because they were more interesting characters, especially the younger brother, Dzhokhar (Wolff) who was a seemingly reluctant participant but wanted to do what his older brother, Tamerlin (Melikidze), expected when all he really wanted to do was hang with his college friends and smoke dope. And it was also fascinating to see how the police and FBI were able to ID the brothers so quickly.

The film plays like a dramatized documentary and uses real footage from the day.  Remember "Unsolved Mysteries," where actors would act out the scenario?  This film felt very much like that except with A-list actors.  So as a recreation of events, the film was effective. but when it came to Wahlberg's character, not a real person but a composite, he just seemed extraneous because his role wasn't really established early on, and I was totally distracted by his eyebrows which just scream that he has had plastic surgery. 

The strength of this movie and the most interesting part of the film was the aftermath and how the police zeroed in on the perpetrators in the crowd.

"He was the only one who walked the other way."

Also I learned things about the brothers that I didn't know: what they did after the bombings and what their plans were (to do more bombings in New York City).  There is a scene where they carjack a car from Dun Meng (Jimmy O. Yang), a young Chinese man and they take him along with them.  It was his escape from the Tsarnaev brothers that called attention to them and led to the final shootout.  Had that not happened, they might have gotten away with it. 

It's an all-star cast consisting of mostly cameos.  Michelle Monaghan, who I really like, has little to do as Tommy's wife; J.K. Simmons is not his usual hard ass bombastic self, but again, I couldn't help but wonder what he was doing there and Kevin Bacon as one of the FBI guys also shows up with not much to do.

John Goodman plays Commissioner Ed Davis and, oh gee, I feel a rant coming on.  Goodman seems to be one of those actors who started out in a TV sit-com, became a movie star and now takes himself VERY seriously.  Here he is particularly overdoing it as he huffs and puffs around acting officious and Commissioner-like, sticking his chest out and trying to sound like he is from Bah-ston when in fact his Boston accent stinks.  Sorry, John.

Directed by Peter Berg with a screenplay by Berg, Matt Cook and Joshua Zeturner, I liked this film much better than I thought I would but not because of the all-star cast.  It was those two brothers who fascinated me as I tried to understand what drove them to do what they did.  And just what did Tamerlin's wife know?  That's something we may never find out.

The film ended on a flagrantly sentimental, and actually jarring note, which I could have done without, when Mark/Tommy gets to make a speech about how terrorists will never take away our way of life and the love we have for our families followed by a long montage showing the real life first responders, the victims and how they are doing, followed by the Boston Strong message. The ending was very much a memorial to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings, I get that, but it took away from a lasting impression of the drama itself.

Rosy the Reviewer says...a mostly well-done docudrama with a strong message: good will always defeat bad.  I hope that's true.





To the Bone (2017)


Lily Collins plays Ellen, a young woman struggling with anorexia.

The film starts with a disclaimer that some of the pictures may be challenging for some viewers, which as I watched the film I found very strange.  Yes, the young people in the film are very, very skinny, and we see rib cages and backbones sticking out, but I don't remember seeing such a disclaimer in any films that showed violence and destruction - no such disclaimer for "Patriots Day," for example, which lingered so long on bloody limbs and faces (see review above), so I thought that was very odd.

Anyway, based on writer/director Marti Noxon's own experiences with anorexia, this Netflix original movie (now streaming on Netflix) follows Ellen as she unwillingly undergoes treatment for anorexia.  She is not only begrudgingly seeking treatment, she is in fact, defiant about not changing.

She returns home to live with her stepmother, Susan (Carrie Preston) half-sister, Kelly (Liana Liberato), with whom she is close, and her father. It is established early on that Ellen does not approve of her stepmother whose well-meaning attention annoys Ellen, but Ellen eventually learns that her step-mother has her back. Ellen's father is clearly a big force in Ellen's life, but he is never home and in fact never appears in the film. Ellen's mother came out when Ellen was 13 and basically abandoned her and lives a new age type of life on a horse therapy farm with her girlfriend in Phoenix and feels she can't cope with Ellen. It's a self-preservation thing, I guess.

After Ellen is kicked out of the latest treatment facility for being defiant, Susan  hits upon yet another treatment center run by a Dr. Beckham (Keanu Reeves) who is known to use unusual but effective treatment methods, so off Ellen goes, with her usual negativity, to another rehab place. 

But we see early on that this place is different. It's a big house with only six other people, five girls and a young man. Luke (Alex Sharp), who was once a dancer but an injury has curtailed his career, is obsessed with Raymond Chandler and Jonathan Gold's restaurant reviews. The other girls all have their own issues and eating fetishes.  One is pregnant, one is obsessed with peanut butter, another loves "My Little Pony." This potpourri of troubled youth gathered together reminded me of the Angelina Jolie film, "Girl, Interrupted."

And then we meet Dr. Beckham - Keanu Reeves.  OK, sorry, it's rant time.

Keanu has always been a problem for me as an actor. I have never understood his appeal or how he became an A-lister.  He is so phlegmatic most of the time as an actor that I feel like I need to take his pulse to see if he is really alive, but then when he wants to be really dramatic, he does a 360 and starts yelling.  So that is his range.  Barely alive with the occasional shouting thrown in.  Nothing in between. And that's how he plays every character.

Anyway, rant over.  Moving on.

This film depicts the world of the anorexic: the daily rituals to avoid eating, memorizing the exact calorie count for every food, talking about which foods come back up the easiest (ice cream) and starvation as a high to avoid feeling. 

"It's not about thin enough - it's  the numbing of the thing you don't want to feel." 

But the film also depicts how the disease affects the entire family and the well-meaning but ineffective things people say when confronted with something they don't understand.  Word to the wise. Saying "Be strong" to someone struggling with a disease is not helpful.

An Anne Sexton poem is a particularly moving centerpiece to a turning point in the film:

"Your courage was a small coal you kept swallowing..."

Collins, the daughter of singer/musician Phil Collins, who was part of the rock band Genesis, already has a Golden Globe nomination under her belt ("Rules Don't Apply") and is a lovely actress  - those eyebrows - and she is the centerpiece of this film.  She has stated in interviews that she too has struggled with an eating disorder so it was particularly challenging to have to lose weight for this film.

Despite what might seem like depressing subject matter, this is a wonderful film that brings understanding to a disease that is rarely shown in films.  It's also a film that you won't be able to take your eyes off of, mostly because of Collins' extraordinary performance.  As for Keanu, well he's always Keanu.

Rosy the Reviewer says....an uplifting message:  No matter what we are struggling with, in the end we all have to find our own way.  I teared up and you know what that means.




***My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project***


191 to go!

Have YOU seen this classic film?





Stairway to Heaven Orig. Title: "A Matter of Life and Death" (1946)




You've seen the films and read the stories of people having to plead their case to the devil to stay out of hell?  Well, this time a man must plead his case to God to stay out of heaven.

There are several movies directed by Michael Powell in the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" book and there is a reason.  They are beautiful, lush films in Technicolor with dramatic scores, extreme closeups and lots of fantasy. They are the kinds of films I grew up with watching with my Dad so I have a particular soft spot in my heart for these kinds of films.

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger wrote, directed and produced films under the name "The Archers," and they made 24 films together from 1939 to 1972.  They shared writing duties, but Powell did most of the directing while Pressburger mostly produced. Their most famous film is probably "The Red Shoes," but they were very influential during the 1940's and 1950's with such films as "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp," "Black Narcissus" and others. Originally titled "A Matter of Life and Death," this film was renamed "Stairway to Heaven" for the American market.

The film opens with...

"This is the story of two worlds the one we know and another which exists only in the mind of a young airman whose life and imagination have been violently shaped by war -- any resemblance to any other world known or unknown is purely coincidental."

Here David Niven stars as Peter Carter, a WW II Royal Air Force aviator whose plane has been hit by enemy fire, and he is going down.  His crew has bailed out or are dead, and he has no parachute.  He makes contact with June (Kim Hunter), an American radio operator at the military base, and the two share a moment before he plans to jump from his plane. He spouts poetry and makes witty wise-cracks in the face of death which was a common part of showing bravery in these old WW II movies. Then he jumps. 

Miraculously, though (and I mean that literally), he wakes up in the sea -- and he's alive!  Turns out there was a hiccup in heaven, and the angel, who was supposed to go get him and escort him to heaven, couldn't see him because of the fog. Well, that's his story anyway, and Peter escaped his time of death.  Now heaven has to scramble to figure out what to do about it, because, as we all know, in filmdom, God has a file on all of us, and when it's our time, it's our time.

According to this film, Heaven is also a clean black and white place where there's a Coke machine, lots of wise-cracking airmen and soldiers who are all issued their wings - literally, their angel wings. 

In the meantime, wouldn't you know, Peter picks himself up and heads for the road and meets, guess?  Why it's June, who is riding her bike home from work.  Because of "that moment" they shared on the radio, they are instantly in love with each other. Like I said, I love these old movies. 

Now heaven really has a problem.  Because of those unaccounted for hours when Peter was supposed to be dead, the two have fallen in love and that can't be discounted.  Peter now has made a commitment to June. 

So God sends Conductor 71 (Marius Goring) to fetch Peter.  He is a French fop of an angel who is the one who missed Peter and screwed this all up in the first place.

Remember I said Heaven is depicted in black and white?  Well, the "real world" is in color, kind of like how they worked "The Wizard of Oz."  So when Conductor 71 arrives on earth to find Peter, he remarks, "We were starved up there for Technicolor." Then to really make the point, there is a whole montage of beautiful colored flowers blooming all over the place as the camera discovers Peter and June making out. Again, I love these old movies.

The Frenchman finds Peter and tells him a mistake has been made.  He was supposed to escort him to heaven when he died from jumping from his plane, but he missed him because of the fog but now he must go with him to heaven.  However, Peter says, "No way!" He makes his case as to why he should stay alive, so a deal is struck.  Peter must go on trial in heaven to plead his case as to why he should stay alive.  He can choose any dead person to defend him.  Unfortunately, the prosecutor is Abraham Farlan (Raymond Massey), an orator from the American Revolution and, naturally, he hates Brits.

While all of this is going on, everyone on earth thinks Peter has gone nuts because he keeps seeing visions - mostly that French guy.  June takes Peter to see Doctor Reeves (Roger Livesey) and brain surgery is prescribed.  But before the surgery can be performed, Dr. Reeves is killed. Now Reeves is in heaven, and Peter chooses him to defend him.

At the trial, Reeves argues that, through no fault of his own, Peter was given additional time on Earth and that, during that time, he has fallen in love and now has an earthly commitment that should take precedence over the afterlife's claim on him.

And let's just say, love triumphs.  Doesn't it always in the old movies?

"Nothing is stronger than the law in the universe, but on Earth, nothing is stronger than love."

Then we hear that Peter's brain surgery was a success.

Mmm - so did all of that really happen? What was real and what was all in Peter's mind?

Relatively early in Niven's career as a leading man, he was already the charming wise-cracker we came to know and love.  This was an early role for American actress Hunter, too, and she went on to be a staple on TV dramas such as "Playhouse 90" and "General Electric Theatre."

A very smart film, it's a comment on war, wartime love affairs and a satire on English and American relations, and to get the jokes and the allusions, it helps to know something about history and literature.  The set design is stunning and the whole film is visually beautiful and stimulating.

It's interesting to note that these old films are often of their time when it comes to  outdated speech and mores, but this was a British film, and I find the British and European films from the 30's, 40's and 50's to be much edgier and contemporary than what Hollywood was putting out, probably because of the Motion Picture Production Code which was implemented in the U.S. in 1934 and which was basically censorship in the guise of "moral guidelines" for films. 

Why it's a Must See: "...intended as a propaganda film to ameliorate strained relations between Britain and America...The movie outstrips its original purpose...ending up a lasting tale of romance and human goodness that is both visually exciting and verbally amusing."
---"1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" 

Rosy the Reviewer says...a wonderfully fun film experience.  They don't make 'em like that anymore! 





***Book of the Week***





The Cake and the Rain: A Memoir by Jimmy Webb (2017)



If you ever wanted to know what the hell the song "MacArthur Park" was about and why the cake was left out in the rain, then here's your chance!






Webb was a prolific songwriter starting in the 1960's.  If you loved a ballad back then, he probably wrote it. His memoir includes 17 single-spaced pages of songs he wrote and it's only a partial list! He was also the only artist to win Grammys for music, lyrics and orchestration and was hugely successful and rich by the time he was 26.  In addition to "MacArthur Park," he was responsible for "Wichita Lineman," "Up, Up and Away," "Galveston" and countless other hits. 

However, his success was a double-edged sword.  He became known for his middle of the road pop hits at a time when the Rolling Stones and other rock groups were the anthems of the young.  It's a little hard to be cool with the young in-crowd when Frank Sinatra was singing your songs in Vegas and the young people were listening to the Grateful Dead at big concert venues. He also had a personal identity problem. He was a pot-smoking, cocaine-snorting, young hippie writing songs for the straight folks.

Born Jimmy (not James or Jim), Webb's father was a self-proclaimed preacher who moved his family around the country.  Webb grew up poor so when his songwriting career took off and the money started pouring in, he took off, too, into the world of sex, drugs and fast cars and it almost killed him. 

This memoir covers Webb's life from 1955 to the early 1970's, and since he has had a 50 year music career, I would guess there will be another book.  But this one covers his rise to fame, his inability to deal very well with lots of money at a young age, his drug use, and his penchant for married women which could explain why many of his songs are so sad. But he must have had something, because he always seemed to get the beautiful ladies his heart desired, including an early love who became "Miss America." He also shares anecdotes about rubbing elbows with some of the great singers and musicians of the day (The Beatles, Harry Nilsson, Janis Joplin) and includes some great behind-the-scenes stories about recording "Galveston," "Up, Up, Up and Away," and others.

Webb also shares his singing career. What is it about actors who want to be directors, comedians who want to be dramatic actors and songwriters who want to sing, songwriters whose voices are not that great?  Burt Bacharach comes to mind...and Jimmy Webb.  He shares his attempts at a singing career and is a bit self deprecating about it, though I will say, Webb's ego always seems to shine through.

Speaking of his ego, most of the bad stuff he did or bad decisions he made, he blames on the devil who actually plays a real role in the book. Though I found his story interesting and Webb is a good writer, I have to say that the conversations he has with the devil in the book, basically blaming his "bad side" on the devil - "The devil made me do it" as Flip Wilson used to say - was really annoying.  About page 50 I was wishing that old Beelzebub would go away but he never did.

This is the story of the rise and fall of one of our great American songwriters and since the book ends with a drug overdose, I am assuming there will be another installment that will show him rising from the ashes of addiction.

But for this one, just remember the Devil made him do it.

Rosy the Reviewer says...If you enjoy reading about the musicians and the antics that characterized the 60's and 70's, you will enjoy Webb's experiences.  But don't call him Jim or James.  It's Jimmy!



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Cooking Successes and Cooking Conundrums -

"Sweets!"
 
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