The producers of CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR are on to a good thing, and they have been since the first CAPTAIN AMERICA film--namely Chris Evans as the lead, an all-American (white) look with plenty of old fashioned values of loyalty, country and apple pie. This version is expanded by including most of the Marvel cartoon characters including Iron Man, Black Widow, Falcon, Hawkeye, Vision and others, and adding some newer characters, including Ant Man, and Scarlet Witch both have just recently been added in films from last year. (Robert Downey Jr. Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Jeremy Renner, Paul Bettany, Paul Rudd and Elizabeth Olsen, respectively.) But two new characters are introduced in this film: Chadwich Boseman plays Black Panther and Tom Holland plays a newly rebooted Spider Man, and both are quite impressive, both as characters and actors. The death and destruction caused by these superheros has caused world outrage, and a majority of countries want to reign in their activities, which divides the Avengers somewhat equally for and against the world resolution. When a nefarious evil plot is discovered by Captain America, but not believed by Iron Man, there is a wild, violent and funny fight between the two factions. At least this fighting was logical (and somewhat amusing.) In the earlier film this spring BATMAN VS SUPERMAN, there is little believability in their hostility and the film becomes a boring slug fest. Even though Capt. America is nearly 2 1/2 hours, the time seems to fly by, with much humor, action, and some diverting thought provoking dilemmas. GRADE----------B+
VIEWED ON DVD-----------------------
ELMER GANTRY--1960--Burt Lancaster is such a powerhouse in ELMER GANTRY that it is hard to get that character out of your mind. I hadn't seen this for 30 years or more, and thought I remembered it well, but the drama plays out in ways I'd forgotten. What I hadn't forgotten was the grinning hustling forceful character that Lancaster plays, and he won his only Oscar for that role, although he was nominated three more times (FROM HERE TO ETERNITY 1953, BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ 1962 and ATLANTIC CITY 1980) Also effective is the cheery, sexy, sympathetic prostitute portrayed by Shirley Jones, who won the supporting Oscar that year, beating out Janet Leigh in PSYCHO! The story of a fast talking con man who tries to convince Jean Simmons that he can effectively preach her religion to warm up the revival-tent crowds, is a stinging portrayal of religious fervor, and has many remarkable scenes. The film also won for best screenplay based on another medium. GRADE-----------A-
BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ--1962--I remembered watching this on TV with my grandfather in the late 1960's, and being fascinated by the story of a man imprisoned for life who finds friendship and purpose with caring for birds that come into his solitary cell. What I forgot is that all his bird activities were in the prison in Leavenworth Kansas, and by the time he is transferred to Alcatraz, birds (and indeed other pets) were no longer allowed for prisoners. That fact in NO WAY diminishes the engaging story or the stunningly low key portrayal of the murderer Burt Lancaster plays. Of course, after watching the film I did some research on the real Robert Stroud, and realized that the script was softened somewhat--since the real Stroud was a pimp who murders a man for interfering with one of his girls, and one of the main reasons for continual solitary confinement was that he was "a violent, aggressive homosexual" who was always in trouble with other inmates. Still Burt Lancaster was/is an amazing actor who has a long series of fine films to his credit, including LOCAL HERO 1983, AIRPORT 1970, SWIMMER 1968, THE PROFESSIONALS 1966, JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG 1961, SEPARATE TABLES 1958, CRIMSON PIRATE 1952, ETC........ Incredibly, some of the films that he TURNED DOWN were RED RIVER 1948, BEN HUR 1959, THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD 1965, PATTON 1970, the DIRTY HARRY series 1971, and most incredibly, STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE 1951!!!!!!!! He lobbied for THE GODFATHER (1974) with no luck, and held rights to KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN 1985 but a heart attack prevented him from playing the role William Hurt won his Oscar for. GRADE-------B+
SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Screenings May 9th--12th
SOUTHSIDE WITH YOU--USA--Surprisingly charming story of what might have happened on the first date that Barack Obama had with his future wife Michelle, 17 years before they became President and First Lady. Crowd pleaser, and not politically partisan in the slightest. GRADE----A-
MIDSUMMER IN NEWTOWN--USA--Documentary about group of theatre professionals who come to Sandy Hook town of Newtown one year after the "event" where two dozen children and teachers were killed, to put on a musical version of Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMERS NIGHT DREAM. Interviews with parents, kids, teachers are interspersed with scenes of the play, where most of the roles are preformed by actual students. Expect happy tears through most of this moving, hopeful. exhilarating film........ GRADE-------A-
SONITA--Iran-- A young teen is being forced to marry (for money so her brother can afford to marry his girl) by her mother. The Afghan teen is living in Iran, and the film maker is trying to film her attempt to become a rapper, and she asks the director to pay off her mother so she doesn't have to be married! When she makes a popular protest rap song condemning forced marriages, she gets an opportunity of a scholarship, but can she get back to Afghanistan to get her legal birth certificate, a passport and a visa, without her mother "kidnapping her" into marriage!!!!!! This documentary has a lot of built in tension, and it also raises a lot of questions, but it is always engrossing. GRADE-----B+
THE IF PROJECT--USA-- A compassionate police woman becomes involved in a writing program for female inmates, specifically, what IF things had been different in their lives before being arrested. Locally filmed in Northwest Washington, the film profiles several offenders and follows their efforts to change their lives. (Think ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK without the bitchiness, violence and sex.) GRADE--------B
SUNSET SONG--U.K.--Set in rural Scotland before WWI, film follows young woman trying to escape the dreary farming life and her abusive father. Filled with beautiful, sparse photography, and lovely acting, the leisurely film gets a bit long in the tooth, but thankfully has subtitles so that we can hear all the dialogue. GRADE--------B
TANNA--Australia-- Beautifully photographed film, set on the island nation of Vanuatu, this is a simple story--a remake of ROMEO AND JULIET set amongst two tribes in the jungle.
MICROBE AND GASOLINE--France--New Michel Gondry film (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF SPOTLESS MIND 2004 and SCIENCE OF SLEEP 2006) is charming if inconsequential story of friendship between two young teen boys who set out on a road trip through France. GRADE------B-
CLOSET MONSTER--Canada--Young teen into monster make up and photography has teen girl best friend, and questions his sexuality. Film suffers in comparison to SLASH (see last week) which is much much more effective and funny. This film is a nice try, but busy camera and editing distract from the emotional involvement, and a steel rod is a gruesome, bloody symbol of sodomy in several scenes. GRADE----------B-
THE VIOLIN TEACHER--Brazil--Brilliant violinist loses his nerve when he tries out for national symphony, and takes a job teaching poor kids in the ghetto of Sao Paulo, changing his life and that of his students. The film is technically well made and full of music, but we have seen this scenario dozens of times before--the exotic setting of Brazil helps but the story is predictable. GRADE-----B-
THE LURE--Poland--Horror, fantasy, musical film about deadly mermaids who come ashore looking for love and feasting on humans. The first 30 minutes works best as the set up becomes bizarrely creepy and sexy, but soon the plot becomes chaotic and dull, and you are left with a giant empty feeling of W.T.F did I just watch. GRADE-------C+
THE OLIVE TREE---Spain/Germany--Spoiled, selfish young woman in major self-denial, lies to her uncle and (ex?) boyfriend to "borrow" a truck to travel from Italy to German to pick up a giant olive tree that the family sold years before because she thinks it will help her ailing grandfather's health. This film starts with a lie, and she builds on the lies through most of the film. I hate movies where the whole plot is based on a lie. She needs to be horsewhipped, but film takes a sentimental, idiotic, maddening (for me) approach. Many seemed to like this, so I was in the minority on this one. GRADE----------C
ZOOM--Canada/Brazil--Fantasy film, partly animated, but totally stupid, has human model maker obsessed with the smallness of her breasts, getting stupidly involved in drug smuggling, while cartoon actor/director discovers his penis has shrunk (no, really) causing him to lose his artistic edge, plus other illogical and dull story tangents, all intertwined only to discover that........it's all only a (nightmare) dream. Who ever wrote this P.O.S probably was on an alcoholic bender for the week. Last time that happened to me was in college, and the next morning I read what I wrote and burned it. Perhaps the film can be recommended to 13 year old boys, but surely there are better films for them. (Those that liked this film agreed with me on the last three sentences!) GRADE-----D
I'd recommend any of the above films rated B- or better. Please see SIFF.NET or paper booklets for schedule information.
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