Isle of Dogs
It's a Japan of the future and the fear of Dog Flu and Snout Fever has banished all dogs to Trash Island but an intrepid little boy travels there to find his dog, Spots.
I am not a big fan of stop-action animation and Wes Anderson is a strange guy. I mean I am still mulling over what the heck was going on in "Moonrise Kingdom," though he won me back with "The Grand Budapest Hotel," and I am still a big fan because I absolutely loved this film. And it is a testament to Anderson that so many big name actors wanted to do the voices in this film - from Bryan Cranston to Scarlett Johansson to Yoko Ono, there are almost 20 A-listers here, not to mention a boat load of big name Japanese actors.
There is a dog flu virus rampant in Japan and the new mayor of Megasaki City, Kobayashi (Kunichi Nomura), a member of a long-time cat-loving family, banishes all dogs to Trash Island, despite the fact that a scientist named Professor Watanabe (Akira Ito) insists he is close to finding a cure. But Kobayashi ignores him. Japan is a cat world now. The first dog to be banished is Spots (Liev Schreiber), who was the canine bodyguard for twelve-year-old Atari Kobayashi (Koyu Rankin), the orphaned nephew and ward of the mayor.
Missing his beloved Spots, Atari steals a plane and flies to Trash Island to find him. After a crash-landing, he is rescued by five dogs: Rex (Edward Norton), King (Bob Balaban), Duke (Jeff Goldblum), Boss (Bill Murray), and Chief (Cranston) who decide to help Atari locate Spots, although Chief, who was a former stray, wants nothing to do with it at first. He doesn't trust humans, is bitter about his life and often says, "I bite." But with the help of a female show dog named Nutmeg (Johansson), Chief has a change of heart and decides to help.
Nutmeg: Will you help him, the little pilot?
Chief: Why should I?
Nutmeg: Because he's a twelve year old boy, dogs love those.So the motley crew traverse Trash Island to look for Spots and survive a series of adventures that involve fighting off a rescue team sent by Kobayashi to retrieve Atari and a band of cannibal dogs.
Meanwhile, back in Megasaki City, Professor Watanabe finds a cure, but is poisoned by Mayor Kobayashi to prevent the dogs from being returned from Trash Island, but American foreign exchange student, Tracy Walker (Greta Gerwig), suspects a conspiracy to exterminate all dogs and begins to investigate. When Atari and his dog friends arrive back in Megasaki City and confront the Mayor, a fight ensues, but it all wraps up nicely because, hey, it's a cartoon.
I say it's a cartoon but that's not to say that this film is for children. It's not.
This is definitely too dark for young children. On a superficial level, it's about the love between humans and dogs and the companionship they provide, though Anderson uses a humorous device to remind us that little Rover doesn't really understand us when we ask him about his day. All of the humans speak only in Japanese with no subtitles and the dogs speak English, reminding us what we humans must sound like to our dogs, like we are speaking in another language. But there are deeper themes at work here - genocide, loyalty, death, and the abuse that animals suffer at the hands of humans.
I say it's a cartoon but that's not to say that this film is for children. It's not.
This is definitely too dark for young children. On a superficial level, it's about the love between humans and dogs and the companionship they provide, though Anderson uses a humorous device to remind us that little Rover doesn't really understand us when we ask him about his day. All of the humans speak only in Japanese with no subtitles and the dogs speak English, reminding us what we humans must sound like to our dogs, like we are speaking in another language. But there are deeper themes at work here - genocide, loyalty, death, and the abuse that animals suffer at the hands of humans.
Narrated by Courtney B. Vance, the story, which Wes Anderson wrote with Roman Coppola, Kunichi Nomura and long-time collaborator Jason Schwartzman, is an engrossing and often humorous one but also a touching tale of dog and human love. It has also been controversial as some critics felt the film was an appropriation of Japanese culture and an example of the "white savior." You will have to decide what you think of that.
As I said, I am not usually a fan of stop-motion animation, but thanks to animation director Mark Waring, who worked with Anderson on "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," this film pays homage to Japanese anime and pop culture and was really life-like and lovely to look at, and thanks to Anderson's story, it pulled my heart strings. However, it helps if you love dogs.
And I do.
Rosy the Reviewer says...an enjoyable and original film experience and a clear nominee for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film. One of my favorite films of the year so far.
And I do.
Rosy the Reviewer says...an enjoyable and original film experience and a clear nominee for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film. One of my favorite films of the year so far.
***Some Movies You Might Have Missed***
(And Some You Will Be Glad You Did)!
On DVD
Molly's Game (2017)
What do you do when you are an Olympic class skier who has sustained a career-ending injury? Why you run one of the world's most high class and exclusive poker games, right? Huh? How did that happen?
Based on a true story, this film takes us on Molly Bloom's journey from a skier on her way to Olympic glory to a career-ending back injury to running high stakes poker games and ultimately tangling with the FBI.
Molly (Jessica Chastain) was one of those athletes with a Dad who was short on praise ("What's the worst thing that can happen in sports? Coming in fourth.") and big on working his daughter to the point of exhaustion. When a back injury ended her skiing career, Molly moved to L.A. to go to law school but before starting school she just wanted to take some time off, be young and enjoy the nice weather.
So she got a job as a cocktail waitress, but when she met Dean (Jeremy Strong), an obnoxious but successful real estate developer, she became his office manager. But her job didn't just include office work. Dean also ran underground high stakes poker games for celebrities, so when he asked Molly to help him - set up the bar, handle the music and the food - and she made $3000 in tips, a light bulb went off in her head so I guess it was only natural that when Dean and she had a falling out Molly figured she could run her own games. And that's how Molly found herself running her own poker games and raking in the cash. And she was good at what she did. She kept the confidences of the rich and famous players who populated her underground (but still legal) games, and she was living large until the inevitable happened. She got into drugs, started taking percentages of her large pots and found herself involved with the Russian mob. That's when the FBI got wind of what she was up to which led to her arrest. Not good.
Adapted from Molly Bloom's memoir and directed by Aaron Sorkin who is best known for his writing smart and fast-paced dialogue for "The West Wing" and movies such as "Moneyball" and "A Few Good Men," this is his directorial debut. It's also a tour de force for Jessica Chastain because the film is all about her and it's a true tale of a tough woman making it in a man's world. Told in a series of narrated flashbacks, she plays a powerful woman living life on her own terms and she delivers a powerful performance.
The rest of the cast is also good especially Idris Elba (sigh) as her lawyer, Kevin Costner (another sigh - he and Idris are two of my celebrity crushes) as Molly's father and Michael Cera as Player X, who I am pretty sure was supposed to be Tobey Maquire. Remember? I told you it was a true story.
Anyway, with that said - all of those great performances - the film just didn't resonate with me. It was too long and there just wasn't that much of a story to sustain it. The first half of the film sizzled. The last half fizzled.
Rosy the Reviewer says...Though I enjoyed Chastain's performance, the second half of the film bogged down and I couldn't help but wonder why this story was worth telling.
Proud Mary (2018)
Mary (Taraji P. Henson) is a hit woman for a crime family whose life is changed when she meets a young boy in trouble.
This is a stylish film that pays homage to the Blaxsploitation films of the 1970's - remember "Foxy Brown" and "Shaft?" And in case you didn't notice that right away, the film begins with "Papa Was a Rollin Stone," which puts you in the mood as we watch Mary get ready for a hit.
During the hit, Mary notices a young boy in one of the rooms and realizes that she has just killed his Dad. Then she sees him later walking around town, and figures out what he is up to. He is a young drug runner and when he is beaten up and lying in an alley, Mary's so far suppressed maternal instincts kick in and she takes him to her apartment.
When it becomes clear that Danny (Jahi Di'Allo Winston) is in deep with "Uncle (Xander Berkeley)," a Russian mob drug dealer, she takes charge and shoots "Uncle" to save Danny, but in so doing becomes a target herself, not just of the rival drug gang but in her own circle as her boss (Danny Glover) tells the rival gang he will find out who killed "Uncle" and deal with "him" so as to avoid a drug war. To point suspicion away from herself, Mary fingers someone else and when ordered to kill him she does, so our girl is not above immorality to save her own skin, but the gangster life is starting to get to her and her relationship with Danny brings those feelings to the surface. So now she wants out and she discovers getting out is not as easy as getting in.
Directed by Babak Najafi with a screenplay by Steve Antin, John Stuart Newman and Christian Swegal, this reminded me of "Atomic Blonde," which was also about an empowered woman who takes care of business, her business being shooting people. But "Atomic Blonde" was a stylish cartoon compared to this gritty story of the drug culture, child abuse, young children just trying to survive and a hit woman who experiences guilt.
Speaking of children. By now you must know how much I dislike annoying, overly precocious child actors but I have to say that Jahi was not that kid. His Danny was a tough street smart kid who was suffering and he brings that character to life beautifully.
Taraji B. Henson is wonderful in this. She makes a great conflicted hit woman. This film pays homage to the Blaxsploitation films but where those were short on character development, this one allows Henson to show her full range of acting skills and characterization.
I have to add that twenty minutes into the film, I thought I had figured out the twist. Turns out there was no twist, but I really think this film would have been better if my plot line twist had been how it ended. But that doesn't matter. I still liked the film. The soundtrack is spot on and of course we can't call this film "Proud Mary," unless we play that iconic song, perfect for when Mary is taking everyone out. This film is as much about the soundtrack as it is the story.
Rosy the Reviewer says...not a fan of gangster films that involve nail gun torture and plastic bags over people's heads, but I love bad ass women characters and this film showcases Henson nicely.
***My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project***
147 to go!
Have YOU seen this classic film?
Lola (1961)
Two ex-lovers rekindle their romance even though one of them is carrying a torch for another old love.
Lola (Anouk Aimee) is a cabaret dancer who is still in love with Michel, who left her. However, she rekindles a romance with Roland, a childhood friend she hasn't seen in ten years and, if that wasn't enough, an American sailor is also in love with her. Our Lola is a busy girl.
Lola has never gotten over Michel (Jacques Michel) who is the father of her child and she is waiting for him to come back to her, but in the meantime she carries on romances with Roland (Marc Michel) and Frankie (Alan Scott), the sailor. There is a parallel story about Roland and his inability to get his life together but when he meets Lola that gives him the spark he needs to get a job and become someone. However, wouldn't you know it's a dodgy smuggling job. Can't end well. And the film is all about unrequited love which also can't end well. And it doesn't.
Anouk Aimee was already a star when she made this film but before she became a huge international star in "A Man and a Woman." Here she personifies the feminine yet complex woman men so adored in French New Wave, but her acting ability imbues the role with a softness and vulnerability not often found.
The score is lush and romantic and establishes the long-ranging relationship that would develop between composer Michel Legrand and Director Jacques Demy. Anouk pays homage to Marlene Dietrich in "Blue Angel" with her cabaret act (Dietrich's character's name was also Lola) and writer/director Jacques Demy dedicates this film, his feature film directorial debut, to Max Ophuls who was known for his smooth camera shots and films told from a female point of view. It's also a sort of fairy tale of lost love, which hints at Demy's films to come, the dreamy "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg," which was to follow three years later and "The Young Girls of Rochefort" which followed six years later.
Why it's a Must See: [This film] is imbued with a poignanet awareness of the transience of happinesss and the difficulties and unlikelihood of love...Oh, and Anouk Aimee is unforgettable."
---"1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die"
Rosy the Reviewer says...if, like I did, you loved "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg," you will like this.
(b & w, in French with English subtitles)
***Book of the Week***
I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara (2018)
For over ten years in the 1970's, The Golden State Killer sexually assaulted 50 women in Northern California, then became a murderer, killing ten people in Southern California, avoided capture and then disappeared. Who was he and would he ever be caught?
Michelle McNamara, a true crime journalist and creator of the website TrueCrimeDiary.com was obsessed with finding out who The Golden State Killer was. His crime spree began in the Sacramento area in the 1970's where he was dubbed The East Area Rapist. He had an MO - he was a young Caucasian guy who staked out his victims beforehand, often entered their homes to check out it out when they weren't there, then wearing a mask broke in during the night shining a flashlight in their eyes to blind them. He had a strange gutteral whisper of a voice seemingly through clenched teeth, smelled bad, and took items of little value. He started by attacking women who were alone but graduated to attacking couples as they slept. He terrorized the Sacramento area - and then he moved South and his rapes became murders.
Thirty years later, McNamara, who was also the wife of actor and comedian Patton Oswalt, became obsessed with him and it was she who dubbed him The Golden State Killer. For years she focused on his crimes by reading police reports, interviewing surviving victims and participating in online communities who were also obsessed with trying to figure out who he was. Sadly McNamara died tragically before finishing the book, but it was completed by her lead researcher and friend using McNamara's notes, and it's a compelling true crime story as well as the story of a woman's dogged journey to discover the identity of the Golden State Killer and bring him to justice.
The title comes from something The Golden State Killer said to a victim: "You'll be silent forever and I will be gone in the dark." Chilling.
Did McNamara discover the identity of the Golden State Killer? You will have to read the book to find out.
Rosy the Reviewer...if you enjoy true crime, this is a good one. But be forewarned. It's scary and you will also want to make sure all of your windows and doors are locked!
Thanks for reading!
See you next Friday
for my review of
"I Feel Pretty"
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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Go to IMDB.com, find the movie you are interested in. Scroll down below the synopsis and the listings for the director, writer and main stars to where it says "Reviews" and click on "Critics" - If I have reviewed that film, you will find Rosy the Reviewer alphabetically on the list.
