A MAN CALLED OVE, PEOPLE VS FRITZ BAUER, BAD MOMS, SULLY, MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN, COME WHAT MAY, LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS, OTHER PEOPLE, COMPLETE UNKNOWN, ZOOM, plus Billy Wilder's masterwork SOME LIKE IT HOT plus Bogart and Bacall classics BIG SLEEP, TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, DARK PASSAGE

From SIFF earlier this year comes the Swedish film, based on a popular novel, A MAN CALLED OVE.  He's depressed after the recent death of his wife, and spends a number of scenes trying unsuccessfully to commit suicide,  being constantly distracted.  The film reminded me of HAROLD AND MAUDE at times, but perhaps lighter and funnier, as it flashes back in time to revel much of Ove's history, using two different actors to portray Ove at different times of his life.  Rolf Lassgard plays the older cranky man, who won best actor at this year's SIFF, and Filip Berg plays his younger, handsome self, and Viktor Baagoe plays Ove as a child.  He meets some new neighbors who manage to pull him out of his depression temporarily, and  give the film some moving moments, but  the film avoids becoming too sentimental.  It's a lovely character study, full of humor, sadness and irony.
               GRADE-----------B+

Based on a true story, this thriller, THE PEOPLE VS FRITZ BAUER which premiered at SIFF in May, tells the story of German Fritz Bauer who hunts down Nazi Adolf Eichmann with the help of the Israeli secret service Mossad, but by doing so may cause him to be committing treason.  Actor Burghart Klaussner is so effective as Bauer that I thought he would have a heart attach while portraying this hard driving, smoking, drinking, man with his own secrets.  He is riveting, as is the entire supporting cast.            GRADE--------B+

Actor Tom Hanks and director Clint Eastwood combine to give us a smooth, engrossing version of the "miracle on the Hudson," the true story of the pilot who landed a disabled plane on the Hudson river without a single loss of life.  SULLY may not be a masterpiece, but it compels your attention by careful reconstruction of the before and after moments of what could have been a major tragedy in a quick and matter of fact approach that can only occur with all quality work by all film makers involved.                GRADE----------B

Most comedies of late have resorted to becoming as gross and vulgar as possible when it comes to (getting sexual) laughs,  and the new film BAD MOMS is no exception.  Fortunately, this film also has a very clever and witty script that balances out the outrageous gags with some very profound, witty plotting, and mix with that an all out frontal comic assault by Kathryn Huhn as the more outrageous of the moms, and you have a film that despite some crude sexual humor, is actually quite amusing much of the time.  Mila Kunis is a mom at the end of her rope--over worked, under appreciated, and her husband has just been kick out of the house.  She feels that she cannot become the perfect mom expected of her (kid's extra curricular activities, lunches, PTA meetings, homework, plus housekeeping, full time work,  etc.) and she shares her frustration with Kristen Bell and Huhn, and they all agree to step back from being so overwhelmed, but they butt heads with the domineering head of the PTA (an amusing Christina Applegate) who knows how to get what she wants.  There are a few predictable moments, but mostly I laughed throughout much of the film, and have to give it high marks for that reason.           GRADE----------B

Based on a popular novel, and directed with his usual flair for weirdness by Tim Burton, MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN is a visually fascinating  telling of a young teen who loses his grandfather to a mysterious death, only to discover that he has special powers, and must find this "home" despite the misgivings of his parents.  I have not read the novel, but I found the plot to be fascinating as it unfolds, and discovering the "talents" of each child was a surprise to me.  By the last third, the action takes over the buildup, and the special effects take over.  Still, a unique and engrossing film for those who have not read the novel.          GRADE------B

A beautifully photographed film (mostly in New Zealand) enhances the story of THE  LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS as it tells of a childless light house keeper and his wife on a lonely island who
 find a baby in a rowboat, and adopt the child as their own, without reporting this to the nearby village.  Several years go by, but one day they realize that the child belongs to a rich woman in the village who had lost her husband and child in a storm on the ocean.  The film is a love story and a tragedy, and the two actors involved (recent Oscar winner Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbinder) are extremely effective and affecting (as is the child's biological mother played by Rachael Weisz).
It is easy to see how Vikander and Fassbinder ended up becoming a real life couple during the filming of this story.  In spite of my best efforts otherwise, copious  tears were flowing from my eyes by the end of this film.................         GRADE-------------B

Also premiering at SIFF last May with solid visuals and technically superior in all categories, this French film COME WHAT MAY tells of a small village forced to flee due to advancing Nazi troops.  The film balances several story lines, including a father who is imprisoned and must leave his young son behind with strangers.  While the set up may be familiar, the film satisfies on many levels, especially what may become one of his last beautifully memorable musical scores by the aging Ennio Morricone.             GRADE--------B

From SIFF comes a modest but successful comedy drama of a struggling young gay man who returns to his small town from New York City to help care for his mother (played subtly by comedian Molly Shannon) who is dying of cancer.  The title is generic--OTHER PEOPLE--but the film creates some affecting characters and is quite moving at times, and very funny at other times.           GRADE------------B-

This SIFF film, COMPLETE UNKNOWN, left me frustrated and bored--it's an intriguing  idea that seems to go nowhere.  Married man Michael Shannon attends a dinner party where a friend shows up with a woman he seems to recognize, but she denies knowing him.  He follows her home and eventually gets her to confess that she is his ex-girl friend, played by Rachael Weisz.  There is a lot of talking, and an interesting couple played by Kathy Bates and Danny Glover pop up-- they have just one scene---I'm not sure why, as they could easily be cut from the film.  The film ends in an uninteresting, unresolved manner, and I was very impatient with it.            GRADE---------D+

From SIFF, this boring juvenile film called ZOOM mixes live action with animation.  In fact, top billing is Gael Garcia Bernal who only appears as an animated character suffering from a shrinking penis (no kidding).  Smart move to not appear physically, Bernal.  The other top billing is Allison Pill who works in a sex doll factory, and is determined to have a gigantic breast implant (which she does!) because she feels inferior to all the sex dolls she makes with her sexist boy friend (no kidding).  Other ho hum subplots involve a doll stuffed with heroin and mailed across the border to Canada which must be retrieved.  Ugh.  Maybe 13 year old boys might find this film amusing, but most of it is smarmy.               GRADE-----------D


==========VIEWED on DVD/TV ===================================

SOME LIKE IF HOT (1959)----Certainly one of the best films Billy Wilder ever directed, the best sexiest performance by Marilyn Monroe, the cleverest performance by Tony Curtis, the funniest acting by Jack Lemmon, and the funniest, wittiest comedy every made, this film is a pleasure to watch again and again.  "Well.......Nobody's perfect!"--the final line of a perfect comedy.          GRADE------A

THE BIG SLEEP(1946)----I've seen this film at least half a dozen times, and each time I swear I'm going to figure out the mystery part, but at the hour mark I give up and just let it happen, as it becomes incredibly convoluted towards the end, and there are actually some plot devices (including a murder) that are never explained.  Mostly I enjoy the smart, witty dialogue that engulfs every scene.  Here are three of my favorites lines:

Number 1--
Vivian:  I don't like your manners.

Marlowe: And I'm not crazy about yours.  I didn't ask to see you.  I don't mind if you don't like my manners, I don't like them myself.  They are pretty bad.  I grieve over them on long winter evenings.

Number 2--
Marlowe:  She tried to sit on my lap while I was standing up.

Number 3--
Marlowe:   My my my---such a lot of guns around town and so few brains. You know you're the second guy I've met today that seems to think a gat in the hand means the world by the tail.
GRADE-------A-

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944)--This was the first pairing of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, where they fall in love on screen and in real life too.  I never seem to remember the plot, something about a boat and moving around freedom fighters, but within 10 minutes I realize that Bogart and Bacall have a very steamy chemistry, and that this is the film that includes the famous line from Bacall---"You know how to whistle, don't you Steve?  You just put your lips together and blow."
Their chemistry is at it's strongest here, I think.                   GRADE-----------------B

DARK PASSAGE (1947)  This is my first viewing of this odd film.  Bogart has just escaped from prison for killing his wife, for which he is innocent.  You don't see his face for nearly half the film as he is getting a different face so he won't be caught while he tries to find out who the real killer is.  Bacall plays sort of a stalker--a woman who likes him and tries to help him.  The plot is weird, with a lot of coincidences with the characters.  Bruce Bennett and Agnes Moorehead give nice performances, but I just kept shaking my head at the plot but I wasn't bored...........              GRADE---------B

THE WIDOWER (2015)--A PBS mini series in three hours,  but I watched it as a single film.  This tells the true story of a male nurse who tries to murder all three women he marries to get their insurance.  Nothing great stylistically, but the actors are good, especially the lead Reece Shearsmith, and the story is rather fantastic and engrossing.                  GRADE------B

THE IMMIGRANT (2014)---Two young sisters immigrate to New York in 1921, but one must remain in a hospital due to a lung infection. The other gets involved with a slick nightclub owner who forces her into prostitution.  She tries to leave with the help of the nightclub owner's brother, who loves her.  The story is rather melodramatic but the film is redeemed by a luminous performance by Marion Cotillard (an Oscar nominee for this film).          GRADE-------B-

MISSING PERSON (2009)--This low budget film noir features Michael Shannon who goes in search of a man missing since 9/11 and is being sought by his wife.  It's a curious story (the husband is involved, unknowingly  to himself) with the abduction of kids into the drug trade, and he doesn't want to go back to his marriage.  The film isn't bad, just leisurely and without much energy.        GRADE-----------C+

MOMMY (2015)---French bad boy director Xavier Nolan has made some very interesting films, including one of my favorites from 2013 called TOM AT THE FARM and ELEPHANT SONG (2015).  This film is is one of his more recent films, about a single mom with a very difficult ADHD son who is loud, vulgar, violent, and very unpleasant .  The actors are game, and a neighbor who is a teacher tries to inject some calm and discipline into their life style.  Unfortunately, there is a little too much hand held camera work for my taste, and the teenager, while effective, is so unlikeable for much of the film that it becomes difficult to watch.             GRADE-------C+ 


Private screening of 

FINAL CUT (2015?)  This documentary/fictional film is a hybrid--a film made up of thousands of film clips from hundreds of different films, edited together to tell a cliched story of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back again after a misunderstanding.   I saw this film two years ago, but this time I loved it even more.  It is so much fun seeing dozens of actors playing the same role, and the film is a witty love story to epic films.  I think the title might be LADIES AND GENTLEMAN FINAL CUT.  It was made in eastern Europe, and has never been released commercially.  I think the film is made for education purposes only and the name of the director is Gyorgy Palfi.  It doesn't show up in IMBd or Rotten Tomatoes and has only been shown by SIFF a few times.  If you get a chance to see it, do so.          GRADE-----------B