The holiday season went by in a blur as usual, with highlights including some celebrating, and the sadness of my good movie buddy John R.s death the day after Christmas. When it came to film, he could complete my sentences with details and facts. I will miss him deeply.
My favorite of the season is THE IMITATION GAME, a slick, British thriller based on the true story of Alan Turing, a brilliant mathematician and cryptanalyst who created during WWII an early version of the modern day computer, which helped break the German code, possibly shortening the war by 2-4 years and saving millions of lives. In spite of many accomplishments, Turing was persecuted for homosexual acts and given chemical castration. He possibly committed suicide two years later at age 41. Posthumously, he has received many honors, and was pardoned by Queen Elizabeth II just two years ago. The cast is quite good, the story rips along, and overall, the production is of a very high standard, including the writing, cinematography, editing and music. Nominated for 6 Academy Awards, THE IMITATION GAME is competitive in all those categories, and it clearly deserves to be on any one's TOP FILM list, mine included--hopefully out by my next blog. GRADE----A-
It's a familiar theme--a young person sets out to "find" themselves by taking a journey off into the world, but WILD has three giant aces to help stack the deck. The first is a tour de force by the lead actress Reese Witherspoon, who commits wholly and completely to this troubled character who finds herself in over her head as she tries to hike over 1000 miles of the Pacific Coast Trail. I was completely into her character. The second ace is the amazingly effect small role of her mother, played with sharp, emotional resonance by the always reliable Laura Dern. She made my heart break for her. The third ace is the wonderfully photographed "eye candy" of the Pacific Coast Trail itself. I've only been on parts of the trail in Washington state, but the beauty and loneliness creates an impressive character which continues to fascinate throughout the film. Witherspoon and Dern have both received Oscar nominations for their well deserved performances in WILD. GRADE----A-
It's been a long 2 years to wait for all parts of THE HOBBIT to reach the screen, but director Peter Jackson and crew have done a remarkable job of sustaining interest and building characterizations, and THE HOBBIT: BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES is every bit as impressive as the first two outings. Although it might not be as emotionally involving as the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, this story still captures our imagination and attention with awesome special effects, exciting adventure sequences, and memorable characters and creatures. I'm going to miss this fabulous world of hobbits and dragons and giants and wizards and all the other creatures and species. GRADE-----B+
I wonder what parents and their school aged kids will think of the adult fairy tale musical that is based on the popular Broadway music INTO THE WOODS with sophisticated music by Stephen Sondheim. The first time I saw it, I liked it, but I was confused as to what the audience would be. The music later grew on me, and several years ago I saw a brilliant version of the play at a university in Pittsburgh that really blew me away. My reaction to this current film is a bit mixed--I really loved the first ninety minutes, in spite of a few lackluster moments by Johnny Depp's Wolf. I felt the energy lagging in the last 15 minutes or so, mostly involving the giant's destruction---perhaps too literally exposed in the film? Still, there are so many brilliant actors singing witty songs in inspiring tongue in cheek manner that overall I really enjoyed it. GRADE-----B+
Based on a true story, this dramatic thriller tells the slow burn break down of wealthy middle aged millionaire John du Pont who tries to buy his way into becoming a world renown training coach for Olympic training wrestlers. The title FOXCATCHER comes from the name of the camp. He convinces two famous wrestling brothers to come live on his property and start the camp, but over some time his desire to relive his wrestling youth and placate his ailing mother leads him to having mental dysfunctions and moody lapses of appropriateness, which ultimately lead to tragedy. The story is fascinating in an uncomfortable way, and Steve Carell is nearly unrecognizable as the troubled du Pont. GRADE-----------B
I first saw the play ANNIE on the London stage on a one night lay over before flying home from Europe. We got half price tickets which placed us in the front row, and as the play starts, there's a dozen or so young girls singing, dancing and jumping about, and we were looking right up their dresses. I wasn't sure what I'd gotten into, but the play was infectious fun, the songs (Tomorrow, It's a Hard Knock Life, and others) were quite charming, and by the end I was enjoying it immensely ) In 1982, director John Huston directed Aileen Quinn, Carol Burnett, Albert Finney and others in what I felt was an over bloated, dismal version of the play. Fortunately, this new version of ANNIE has been updated, contemporized and slimmed down a bit, and it is much more enjoyable, in a cotton candy sort of manner. (Dog Sandy is now named after the hurricane....and the word "orphans" has been replaced with "social services" and "foster" kids. The best songs have been retained and some new, very modern songs have been added, for better or worse. Quvenshane Wallis brings some of her charming infectious energy she had in BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (2012) to this new version, and even though her voice is soft and a bit thin, her version of "Tomorrow" is just at the right level to avoid the saccharine brassiness that often makes you want to cringe. It's not great, but I had a pleasant enough time. GRADE----------B-
Tim Burton's new film BIG EYES is slick enough, and has some strong leads in Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz and has the advantage of being based on an incredible true story. Artist Margaret Keane has her work "taken over" by her husband because "women artists just don't sell." She finally has the guts to take back her accomplishments, but loses her marriage and nearly loses her self respect. If this had been a half hour short, it would have been a knock out, but this one idea/situation is repeated over and over and over again. Every scene is about this one idea, and I found it rather tiresome by the end. GRADE-------C+
Super star Angelina Jolie is the director of the new film UNBROKEN, based, again, on a true story, and the film is well crafted technically. But the story is problematic. There is the struggle of growing up as an immigrant in a new land, the come from behind running sports narrative, the war time dogfighting in the sky, the lost at sea epic, and the POW depressing and degrading experience. It felt like at least four movies crammed into one, and I've see all these stories many times before.
GRADE----------C+
Films viewed on DVD-----------------------------------
I've seen Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO (1960) nearly a dozen times, and the blend of mystery, suspense, comedy, tragedy and weirdness just gets better with time. This was the first film I wrote about on my blog nearly three years ago. GRADE---------A
Stanley Donen's CHARADE with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn is often called the best mystery suspense Hitchcock film that Hitchcock never made, and I agree. GRADE-----A-
A classic anti-Christmas film with a wicked, dark sense of humor and some howlingly witty lines, this film called THE REF (1994) I see just about every year at this time. Judy Davis, Dennis Leary and Kevin Spacey head the marvelous cast. GRADE--------A-
Classy ghost story THE UNINVITED (1944) with Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey as siblings who buy a very economical house--but that's because it's haunted!!!! GRADE--------A-
We just listened to 20 hours of the Charles Dickens book on tape, so I bought a copy of the latest GREAT EXPECTATIONS (2013) by director Mike Newell and found it to be an effective and faithful condensation of the long story. Jeremy Irvine is fine as the adult Pip, but the real interest is with Robbie Coltrane, Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Finnes as Jaggers, Haversham and Magwitch respectively. GRADE-------B+
Fourteen years ago, Kate Hudson was most memorable for me as the groupie in ALMOST FAMOUS (2000) but on this second viewing I was impressed with many more, including Frances McDormand, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Noah Taylor, Billy Crudup and Patrick Fugit in this coming of age comedy drama by director Cameron Crowe. GRADE-----------B+
I missed this long BBC version of BRIDESHEAD REVISITED (1981) when it first came out, but I was fascinated by careful examination of class differences, parental control, depravity of wealth and dissection of religious issues that Evelyn Waugh wrote about in 1945. Co-stars Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews are both exceptional. GRADE -------B+
THEY MADE ME A FUGITIVE aka I BECAME A CRIMINAL (1948) is a lively British film noir that has Trevor Howard taking the fall and being sent to jail by a gang leader . He breaks out to seek revenge. There are many unusual characters and scenes here which keep our interest. GRADE-------B+
In MAN HUNT (1941), Walter Pidgeon and Joan Bennett run from some Nazis' in New York trying to kill (or capture) Pidgeon for his political stance. (He "accidentally" tried to kill Hitler while hunting in German before WWII...!!!). George Sanders plays his Nazi nemesis. GRADE--------B
The U.S. film noir SCARLET STREET (1945) features Edward G. Robinson as a simpleton artist married to a shrew who falls for a femme fatale (Joan Bennett) who is involved with a minor gangster (Dan Duryea)....Robinson's character seems so obtuse that it is hard to feel sorry for him when he gets taken advantage of. The ending is strangely and hauntingly disturbing. GRADE-----B-
The director/writing team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger created this comic spy thriller CONTRABAND aka BLACKOUT (1940) and it was probably filmed during actual black out conditions in London, because many scenes were so dark that it was difficult to follow the action and the actors. The plot is thin, and the suspense is diluted because of poor lighting and sound conditions on the sets. It wants to be Hitchcockian, but falls short, although Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson make an engaging team, sort of like Powell and Loy from the THIN MAN series. GRADE------C+
The minor Cary Grant comedy EVERY GIRL SHOULD BE MARRIED (1948) features lots of sexist stereotypes that new comer to films Betsy Drake (a future Mrs Grant) pulls out to trap the good looking doctor into marriage. I didn't mind it, but it has drifted out of my memory in the month since I last saw it. GRADE-----C+
COMING SOON-----MY FAVORITE FILMS FROM 2014 which will include GRAND HOTEL BUDAPEST, BIRDMAN, BOYHOOD, IMITATION GAME, and some BIG surprises!!!!
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