PHILOMENA, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, ALL IS LOST, ABOUT TIME, BEST MAN HOLIDAY, DELIVERY MAN, WADJDA plus Billy Wilder's AVANIT!, 5 YEAR ENGAGEMENT, BALL OF FIRE

The films of Richard Curtis include the memorable  FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL (1994), NOTTING HILL (1999), and LOVE, ACTUALLY (2003).  He also wrote the two BRIDGET JONES (2001/2004)films, BEAN (1997), WAR HORSE (2011),  and for TV he wrote BLACKADDER, MR BEAN, and THE NUMBER 1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY.  His newest film ABOUT TIME is very much his film, and I think it is his most intimately personal endeavor.  It's the type of ambitious film that manages, despite some iffy plot devices, to convey how important it is to find happiness in your own life, how your actions can affect others, and how doing the right thing can be the best action despite the possible down falls.  He wraps this all up in comic, dramatic and romantic style, and it will make you feel that you've really witnessed something substantial.  The plot device he uses---how the men in his family can travel back in time to change their behavior and get what they really want, actually becomes rather unimportant by the end.  The device almost becomes a McGuffin--it's intriguing and creates some funny scenes, but in the end, the film becomes a heartfelt document on the human heart.  It's really a beautiful film.     GRADE---------A-

Modest but perfectly constructed and acted, PHILOMENA is based on a true story novel about a woman who is searching for the child she gave up for adoption 50 years earlier.  With the help of a skeptical journalist interested in writing her story, the two set out to find out what has happened to her now middle aged son, and track him to America from Ireland.  The relationship between the writer and the mother carry drama, tension and humor, and there's a lot of sting to this story to keep it from becoming maudlin.  Stephen Frears (THE QUEEN 2006, THE GRIFTERS 1990, DANGEROUS LIAISONS 1988, MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE 1988) directs with a solid unobtrusive hand.       GRADE---------A-

Based on a true story, the DALLAS BUYERS CLUB may not be the best constructed film of the year, but thanks to two beautifully audacious performances, becomes a fascinating depiction of the mid-1980's, when AIDS raised the political and medical consciousness of the nation.  Matthew McConaughey raises the bar he set earlier this year in MUD, by throwing himself into the role of a homophobic, drug using electrician and rodeo man who becomes one of the first heterosexual man to get full blown AIDS.  The film shows how he must deal with homophobia and fear from others as he battles the disease the only way he knows how---by importing from other countries drugs to help fight the disease--for himself and others.  All this clashes with the slow medical results and the government actions to block his efforts.  The other performance comes from Jared Leto as an HIV infected trans gendered man who wants to live as a female.  Leto is transformed and illuminating as she fights for her life against the deadly disease.     GRADE---------A-

The surprise film of the season comes from the effective BEST MAN HOLIDAY--a comedy drama that becomes a likable tearjerker featuring a half dozen fine attractive actors portraying some best friends in past years who gather at the holiday time to hash out their relationships.  The film reminded me A LOT of THE BIG CHILL (1983), but the soundtrack is filled with soulful holiday songs instead of rock songs, and the film doesn't hedge when it comes to the sometimes unpleasant past.
   GRADE------------B+

The reliable Robert Redford single handedly keeps the one character ALL IS LOST a fascinating experience.  He portrays a lone sailor attempting to sail across the ocean alone, but must fight for survival when his sail boat is damaged by a floating container filled with tennis shoes.  It works a lot like the current GRAVITY--putting you in his place and mind as he battles the elements.     GRADE---------B+

Based on the popular French Quebec film from two years ago called STARBUCK, the new film featuring Vince Vaughn is now called DELIVERY MAN, and I'm pleased to report that the remake, written and directed by the same director, is very faithful, and effective.  Vaughn plays a man-child who in his 20's visited the sperm bank a lot, and thanks to the unethical practices of the bank, finds that he has impregnated over 500 women.  Nearly half of these children, now nearly 20 years old, want to know who their biological father is.  The film doesn't go into any discussion of the adapted parents, or the lame subplot of how Vaughn came to owe the mob $80,000.  But the film does have some moving moments as he tries to get to know a few of his children, and there are a lot of laughs as he tries to become a better adult.  I enjoyed it.     GRADE------B

From Saudi Arabia comes WADJDA, about a smart young girl living in a repressive society where women are second class citizens.  She wants to get a bike, but according to her family and neighbors, bikes are for boys. (It is suggested that bike riding will cause her to lose her virginity.)  The trouble with this film for me is that most films set in the Middle East have a similar theme, and watching some of the twisted logic that passes for religion makes me want to scream.  The film is leisurely, familiar and predictable.       GRADE------C+


DVD Choices-----------------------

In the summer of 1972, I went with a friend to help pick apples at the Chelan orchard of a mutual friend.  It was hot, hard physical work.  One night we decided to go to the movies in Wenatchee, nearly a 40 mile drive away, and ended up at the drive-in.  I don't remember what the main feature was, or even the co-feature, but when the third feature started (!!!!), which must have been after midnight, I was wide awake and alert, as my friends were sound asleep.  This bottom of the bill feature was AVANTI!, a film I knew nothing about at the time.  It engaged and delighted me, and I've never forgotten it.  This is old-fashioned film making at it's smoothest and most intelligent best.  Jack Lemmon is the haggard and fussy son of a man who heads a large cooperation, and who has just inconveniently died in a auto accident in an Italian resort.  When he arrives at the hotel to pick up the body, he meets the daughter of a woman who has just died in the same accident.  His father and this woman were secret lovers and died together.  Then the bodies disappear from the morgue.  This film takes its time to create interesting characters, all with wacky and curious traits, and if you take the time to  let the film get under your skin, you will enjoy AVANTI! fully.  It helps to have the eye candy of beautiful Italy as the back drop.  This is typical, delightful Billy Wilder stuff (SOME LIKE IT HOT, THE APARTMENT) and it you've never seen it, try it.        GRADE-------A-

I recently saw, for the first time, BALL OF FIRE (1941), a charming screw ball comedy directed by Howard Hawks and staring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck.  She plays a gangsters moll who hides out in the large home of Cooper who directs a group of socially backwards older academics who are trying to write an enclycopedia.  The similarities to SNOW WHITE end there, but the film is consistently amusing, the leads create some delightful chemistry, and there are some charming scenes as the woman finds her way into all the gentleman's hearts.      GRADE-------A-

THE FIVE YEAR ENGAGEMENT (2012) is one of those dramedies that work harder at creating interesting characters than throwing gross jokes at you every minute.  I found the characters to be quite believable and sympathetic, and every time I see it I think it is funnier and funnier.  Emily Blunt and Jason Segel are the couple who must postpone their wedding due to various life complications.  GRADE-----B+

A smart, witty British comedy about an eccentric scientist (Alec Guiness) who discovers a new material that repels dirt--it never needs cleaning or replacing, THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT (1951) creates a dozen funny characters as the plot, which involves the garment industry trying to suppress his invention, spins merrily along.  It's a corker.      GRADE-----B

Shortly after BALL OF FIRE, I saw Gary Cooper, again, in an earlier film version of Ernest Hemingway's FAREWELL TO ARMS (1932) in which he plays an ambulance driver during WWI who falls in love with a nurse (a young Helen Hayes).  They will do anything to be together, including going AWOL.  The film stresses the love over the war, but there are some impressive "montages" as he tries to escape the war to find his love.     GRADE------B-

I recently finish reading A WIDOW FOR ONE YEAR, a novel by one of my favorite writers, John Irving, and in that novel is a small short story about A DOOR IN THE FLOOR(2004), which is the title for this film, which offers up only the first third of the novel.  It's a faithful, somber adaptation that limits itself to the break down of a marriage between a writer of children's novels and his wife--he arranges for a young assistant to become his wife's lover--possible to help her overcome her depression at the death of their two sons several years earlier.  Or possibly to cover his own need for extra marital affairs.  The actors (Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger, Elle Fanning, etc) are quite good, and the film is handsome to look at, but it feels quite sad and empty--and incomplete.  The novel goes on for 50 more years, and actually is about their young daughter, who is abandoned by the mother in the final scene.  I liked it better watching this film now than 9 years ago when I first saw it, but it still feels unsatisfactory.      GRADE------------C+

I saw two films directed by Ida Lupino and featuring Edmond O'Brien, both made in 1953.  The first is a straight forward story of THE BIGAMIST, about a man who ends up married to two women in different cities, and can't decide which one he loves the most, which drives him to distraction.  The second is THE HITCHHIKER, where two men on a camping trip pick up a hitcher who turns out to be a serial murderer, and the three play a cat and mouse game.  Both are rather straight forward in their plotting, and certainly watchable, but the low budget keeps either from becoming better than they are.       GRADE FOR BOTH FILMS-----------C+

ENDER'S GAME, GRAVITY, RUSH, CARRIE, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, THOR: THE DARK WORLD, FIFTH ESTATE, RUNNER RUNNER, and MILDRED PIERCE 1945

Starting at the top of the list from the past few weeks one must put ENDER'S GAME right up there as a smart, exciting, cerebral science fiction experience, that actually got a round of applause at its conclusion, something that doesn't happen very often, especially with sci fi films.  The story of a  brilliant young teen trained to save the world at the risk of his soul, the film has delicious eye candy special effects, a compelling story line and some great actors (Ben Kingsley, Harrison Ford, Viola Davis, Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld, to name a few), and the film moves along at an exciting pace before coming to it's disturbing and shocking (for me) ending.   There is a whole handful of gaming and literary ENDER'S GAME product, and I look forward to the next cinematic installment, much like I looked forward to each LOTR episode.       GRADE-----A

Another impressive science fiction experience is the unique GRAVITY, nearly a one woman show featuring the resourceful Sandra Bullock as a stranded astronaut trying to make her way home from space after a series of disasters leaves her stranded and in a near helpless situation.  The story line is simplistic, but the film puts you in her position  and creates an atmosphere of claustrophobia, fear, loneliness and hope.  It's like nothing you've ever seen on film before.       GRADE-----A-

Tom Hanks and cast really shine in the docu-drama CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, and he's the compelling, main reason for watching this based on a true story film about the capture by Somali pirates of a shipping vessel in the Indian ocean.  I'd rate this film even higher if it weren't for the annoying hand held camera business that makes the film so unpleasant to watch at times.  Especially impressive is the sympathy and empathy given the Somali perpetrators hopeless cause.        GRADE-----B+

I wasn't really motivated to see director Ron Howard's new biographical sports (car racing) film RUSH, but I found it to be incredibly well constructed and involving, and the actors were fascinating, especially Daniel Bruhl, who also is so effective in the currant FIFTH ESTATE (see below).   GRADE-----B+

It came and went quickly, but the independent film UNA NOCHE creates a fascinating world of life in the oppressive Havana, and deals with a brother and sister, and the object of their affection, a male friend, who try to leave Cuba on a wooden, makeshift raft.  It is thoughtful and bittersweet.    GRADE-----B+

A new faithful version of CARRIE is a success, mainly because the actors (Julianne Moore and Chloe Grace Moretz) breathe new life into the story of a shy high school girl who is berated and teased by her classmates, just as she is learning about the strange psychic powers that she has.  The film is also updated for a modern audience (Carrie's horrible shower experience goes viral from some one's cell phone, etc).  I enjoyed this version as much as Brian De Palma's 1976 thriller, and if you haven't seen CARRIE in a while, this is worth the watch.        GRADE-----B

I was NOT a fan of the 2011 version of THOR, which I found to be dull, with a confusing and unnecessary subplot stuffed with political blah blah about one race of aliens hating another etc.  Good news----this sequel called THOR; THE DARK WORLD is a giant step in the right direction.  The special effects are outstanding, there's a lot more humor, and film moves along without getting bogged down in political clap trap.  And then there's the amazing Tom Hiddleston who plays Thor's evil (adopted) brother Loki.  He steals this film (as in the first) to very good effect, and if the film makers were smart, they'd figure out a way to cast him in a starring role, since muscle bound Chris Hemsworth (also starring currently in RUSH)  who plays Thor, is not nearly as interesting as Loki.
      GRADE-------B

A small run for the SIFF film I USED TO BE DARKER has a confused teen running away from her parents (in Europe!!) to her aunt and uncle in Baltimore (!!) only to find that they are in the middle of a nasty divorce.  It's a little film, but I liked the subtly and nuance that many scenes displayed.      GRADE-------B

Benedict Cumberbatch makes an excellent Julian Assange in the stylish thriller THE FIFTH ESTATE, based on the life of the computer genius who started Wikileaks, a place where whistle blowers could expose government and corporate corruption.  Daniel Bruhl (RUSH) is also excellent as his friend.  But over all, the film suffers in comparison to the excellent documentary that came out this past summer called WE SELL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS, which covers the same ground in an even more provocative and fascinating manner.  They would make an interesting double bill.     GRADE------B-

It's been only a couple weeks, but I've already put RUNNER RUNNER out of my head.  A predictable story of a young hot head computer champion who thinks he can take down a world wide computer gambling king pin (Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck, respectively), the film plays along in predictable fashion until the unrealistic ending.  There is just nothing memorable about this film.     GRADE-----C


_______________________

A couple films from TV and DVD......


I watched GOLDFINGER (1964) in incredible Blu-Ray and found it to be a fascinating 007 James Bond adventure, still.  The gold paint death, the amazing theme song belted out by Shirley Bassey, the bowler hat of death, the laser beam creeping towards Bond's crotch, and outrageous women including Pussy Galore, -----the list goes on and on.  This film is a classic.      GRADE-----B+

MILDRED PIERCE (1945) is a Joan Crawford classic, but the film is soapy, lurid and sort of rambles along when is should be film noirish sharp.  Still, there are many fascinating elements about it.  I watched it because the night before I stumbled upon LOVE CRAZY (1941), a wacky screwball comedy featuring William Powell and Myrna Loy, and was particularly impressed with the madcap portrayal of Jack Carson--one of those faces that look familiar, but you can't quite place it.  He is featured in MILDRED PIERCE, and quite effective too, though he never made it to the big big time---he's more of a character actor.  LOVE CRAZY is about a series of misunderstandings that has a married couple on the brink of divorce.  The husband decides to pretend to be crazy to postpone the divorce, but ends up getting institutionalized instead.   He (Powell)  pretends to be a woman to escape, so the last 30 minutes is played (to decent effect) in drag.  Not great, but it had it's moments of mirth and laughs.          GRADE for MILDRED PIERCE and LOVE CRAZY----------B for each.

ISLE OF THE DEAD (1946) featuring Boris Karloff, promises horror when it is really about a plague that keeps a group of people quarantined on an island so that they don't infect those on shore.  Watchable if unmemorable.       GRADE------C+