Here's a charming, smart teen age love story with a refreshing twist. Simon thinks he's the only one with a secret in his high school---he's well adjusted, comes from a close and loving family, he's popular and gets good grades, but feels alienated because he is gay, and thinks he knows no one else like him. He connects with another gay guy anonymously through this computer, but the other guy will not come out, and when another student outs Simon he is afraid that he will lose the friendship of this other mystery guy. Here's a solid comedy drama that is both entertaining and vividly acted--there may be over a dozen main characters here, but each one, whether family or friend comes across as compelling and likeable. Several high profile actors and directors have loved LOVE, SIMON so much that they have bought out theatres where it is playing, hoping to have audiences experience the film for free, trusting that word of mouth will make this a big hit. They should have an easy time---here's this year's first major crowd pleaser. GRADE-------------A-
Director Steven Soderbergh (SEX LIES AND VIDEO TAPE, ERIN BROCKOVICH, TRAFFIC, BEHIND THE CANDELABRA, etc.) teams up with Claire Foy (TV'S THE CROWN) and a surprisingly effective iPhone, to make a thrifty thriller about a young woman, disturbed by an insistent male stalker, who finds herself involuntarily committed to an asylum for observation for a week, only to find her stalker works there. The film UNSANE is a "is she or isn't she" conceit, and "is he or isn't he''mystery, and even when you think you have it sorted, there are still some twists to come. It is not a perfect film, but it builds paranoia and suspense in a Hitchcockian sort of way, and in spite of being low budget and simplistic in story line, it feels surprisingly satisfying--and Claire Foy is remarkable.
GRADE----------B+
This cold war thriller has Russian Jennifer Lawrence being recruited by her ruthless uncle to become a sparrow spy, a young person who uses sex to get spy secrets from anyone she can. The film RED SPARROW is dark and moody, and there are some very effective (and creepy) scenes, and although the film was engrossing, it is more SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD instead of JAMES BOND 007. The excellent cast includes Joel Edgerton, a US spy who tries to turn her, Jeremy Irons as her superior, Mathais Schoenaerts as her evil uncle, and a nasty Charlotte Rampling as her teacher/trainer. GRADE----------------B
This film A FANTASTIC WOMAN from Chile won the best foreign language film Oscar this year, mostly as a tribute to the vivid performance by Daniela Vega, who plays a transwoman who loses her lover to a heart attach early in the film. This issue becomes the defining event to the older man's friends and family, and the police and the medical workers who assisted him. There are many scenes of discrimination and indignities she must endure, which leave her little time to mourn her man. It is a sad film but she is buoyantly positive throughout, lifting the film to another level of feeling. GRADE----------------B
The clever animation, witty dialogue, and quirky sensibilities of this new Wes Anderson film ISLE OF DOGS make it very watchable, but the plot is convoluted and wacky and arbitrary, and although set in Japan, the Japanese speakers speak without subtitles (although mostly none are needed) and there are so many characters (over 20 speaking parts for dogs and nearly as many for humans) that all the special famous character actors that appear in the film seem wasted since you can't tell which actor is speaking most of the time. GRADE---------------B
Japanese animae continues to be more beautiful and creative than just about anything Pixar comes up with visually (COCO excluded this year) so it was fascinating to watch MARY AND THE WITCHES FLOWER, which has a young girl learning about some unknown powers she might have. The plot is a bit convoluted but it was nearly a pleasure for the eyes throughout. GRADE--------------B
From Australia come this modern film noir about a new sheriff arriving to a small out back town trying to solve the murder of a young Chinese woman who was working as a prostitute. GOLDSTONE the town has a lot of characters who don't want this newcomer to be poking his nose in their business. Of course, there is a big conspiracy to unravel, and although the film doesn't take advantage of some dynamic potential resolutions, it is satisfying nonetheless. GRADE-------B-
The clever conceit of GAME NIGHT made this comedy a pleasure through the first 40 minutes of this film about a group of friends who meet regularly to play different games, but one night the games take a deadly turn when it is announced by one player"s party crashing brother that tonight will be based in reality. As the plot turns deadly violent, I lost some of my fascination with the action, although there are some bright scenes, clever turns and wild resolutions. It's a nice try, but maybe the story needs some edgier plotting. GRADE------------C+
Another nice try, THOROUGHBREDS is a low budget film about two deadly nihilistic teen girls who don't really like each other, but become fixated on murdering a step father. This is the last film of Anton Yelchin, who steals the film as a drug dealing potential partner in crime who has a gun. Yelchin has made over a dozen of films, but his biggest impact is in the three newly updated STAR TREK reboot films as Chekov. In 2016 he was killed involving a freak car accident when he tried to stop a car on a hill that lost its breaks. GRADE--------------C+
Ten minutes into A WRINKLE IN TIME I wanted to walk out, but then the three adult "witches" turned up and I thought this would give me something to interest me. Well, the make up and costumes did interest me for a few minutes. But every scene after their arrival is a wild, bizarre and abstract location with no relationship to reality or the plot (which is basically just jetting all over the "universe" (in their minds) and although you could take a photo of each location and hang it from a museum wall and it might make for an interesting discussion, this film made no sense to me. No plot, no characters of depth or interest, the dialogue was full of simple platitudes and meaningless proclamations and I was so bored I fought napping, and I couldn't wait for this torture to be over. The pre teen sitting with her mom in front of me kept twirling her SUN GLASSES! between her thumb and forefinger, and that interested me more than this turgid turkey. If it wasn't for the bizarre settings and costumes, I'd rate this film an F! GRADE---------------D+
Viewed on DVD----------------------------------
SPY 2015--Melissa McCarthy and Jason Statham make a fine pair of spies with different styles. McCarthy has been a desk agent who provides back up to street agents, but must go undercover when all the spies in her office are compromised. Statham tries to go by the book but exaggerates so much it's hard to know what is true or not. McCarthy is in fine timing form, and Stratham is great as a physical klutz. Allison Janney does a lot with her role of chief spy and the supporting cast is also very funny, especially Rose Byrne and Miranda Hart who is a staple on PBS show CALL THE MIDWIFE. I've been seeing so many James Bond films lately that this is a nice parody of the spy thriller. GRADE--------------------B
THE INCREDIBLE HULK 2008--This was the second Marvel produced superhero movie (after IRON MAN) and actually does feature Robert Downey Jr. near the end to explain that a group (of superheros) is getting together......This Hulk is a lowkey affair, featuring mostly a lot of running away from evil government agents (headed by William Hurt and Tim Roth) by Edward Norton who is enamored of Hurt's daughter Liz Tyler. There is a climactic fight scene by Norton (who transforms into the green HULK) to fight the supersized Roth who has taken a multi dose of the serum. In 2003 director Ang Lee created a HULK film with Eric Bana that centered on the early life of the Banner/Hulk event. In recent Marvel super hero films, Mark Ruffalo becomes the Banner/Hulk creation. GRADE-----------------------------B-
THAT DARN CAT! 1965---Disney modest suspense comedy about a cat who could possibly lead the FBI to a kidnapped woman and two bank robbers that might be holed up nearby. There are two things that help rise this lame feature above others. One of course is a striking looking cat who is definitely not sweet or cosy, in fact the cat seems to be snarling and lounging out and hissing at every actor that had to deal with it. But the cat had great vivid blue eyes, and was able to follow direction well. The main goody is that Brit Haley Mills, in her teen years here, is as compellingly blunt and charming as she ever was in the dozens of Disney mush that she participated in. With Dean Jones, Dorothy Provine, Roddy McDowall, Elsa Lanchester and William Demarest who steals all his scenes by insulting his wife Lanchester. GRADE--------------------C
James Bond 007 in order (see previous month for earlier films...)
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER 1971--After passing on Bond due to other commitments and having George Lazenby step in (for ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE for what I thought was a superior episode...)Sean Connery is ready to quit Bond, but the money was "tremendous" say sources. The film is set for the first time in the USA--mostly Las Vegas, and the head of a local film teamsters recommends a small part for his friend Jill St. John. She had been a friend of Henry Kissinger, and had dated the previous Bond George Lazenby for a while. The producers argued for a while before deciding on St. John--for the lead!!! ahead of Faye Dunaway, Jane Fonda and Raquel Welsh! I've never cared for the sexual brashness of St. John, but in this role she is rather on point, as the film is populated with teamsters, crooks, card sharks, tough guys and money men. There are some memorable car chases through the streets of downtown Las Vegas, and the sets feature a lot of Mid century modern houses and buildings. A brief scene featuring a singing Sammy Davis Jr. was filmed but ended up on the cutting room floor. In an attempt to copy the GOLDFINGER sound, Shirley Bassey recorded the Diamonds Are Forever song and had a modest hit with it. In what I felt was a rather chaotic and unmemorable finale on an oil rig, this modest feature finally ended. GRADE---------------------B-
LIVE AND LET DIE--1973--Connery is resisting Bond again, so the producers suggest Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood , John Gavin and Burt Reynolds, but they finally decided they wanted to stay with a British actor. They decided on Roger Moore who they'd rejected 10 years earlier for looking too young. Moore was initially intimidated by taking over for Connery--he even felt he was delivering his lines with a (Connery) Scottish accent, but soon found his own style by not taking Bond too seriously, and he does give the role an easy touch. This plot has Bond in New York, Florida and Jamaica, tracking down a drug lord Mr. Big who seems to have dispatched three previous agent to death. While most of the characters are black, this was the first major role for British actress Jane Seymour (Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman on TV)who plays a mystic oracle card reader/fortune teller for Mr. Big, played by Yaphet Kotto, a dynamic black actor who at the time was well into Black Power/Panther and pride politics, and had some conflicts with the director over some of his direction and dialogue. There was also a lot of prejudice while filming in the South. The producers offered a white land owner well over a million dollars to film the epic boat chasing sequences--the most they'd ever offered to rent sets or land. These boats would come out of the water--fly over the land, and then back into the lakes or bayou. After settling on the amount, the land owner said that he'd noticed a lot of black men in the cast and crew and that would not be acceptable. When the producers threatened to cancel the deal, the land owner backed down. The producers then decided to have every boat involved in the massive boat chase to be driven and maintained by black crew members. Still, there was a lot of concern that Bond has an affair with a black agent near the beginning of the film (although action occurs off screen), and Seymour is portrayed as the mistress of Mr. Big. Even though Black Cinema was exploding on movie screens in the U.S. (like SHAFT, WATERMELON MAN and others) the producers were nervous that theatres in small town America would not screen their film for social or political reasons. International dancer Geoffrey Holder also has a memorable early role as a Jamaican voodoo priest, and he choreographed several dance sequences. There's also a memorable scene that has Bond trapped on a small island in a lake full of crocodiles, which he cleverly maneuvers, natch. At the end of shooting, Paul McCartney called to offer a completed song to the producers--and was nearly turned down. The producers kept thinking that they needed a woman to sing the song but the deal was that Paul and wife Linda and their group Wings were a packaged deal. The producers and directer were not sure they liked the song, but hey--it's a Beatle! Every one was astonished when the song became a world wide best seller, and was nominated for an Oscar. The film also out grossed every past Bond film, so worries about the racial tensions dissipated easily. GRADE----------------B
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN--1974--The producers didn't much like this story from this book which was published three months after Ian Fleming death, so they "winged" it. The film is memorable because it was filmed mostly in Thailand and the climax was filmed in Phuket, which at the time only had a brothel as a major business, so the producers bought out the entire place for the crew, and the prostitutes took an extended vacation. Christopher Lee was distantly related to Ian Fleming (cousins) and was offered the part to get the Dracula out of him, since at the time he'd done a lot of Hammer horror films, and Maud Adams and Britt Ekland were both separately, oddly offered parts without actually auditioning, and they both spoke Swedish, so they made the best of friends while on locations. Also cast was the short actor Herve Villechaize who later played a continuing character on TVs LOVE BOAT series, as Lee's manservant. There is another chase on the water that features a spectacular stunt as Bond must use a motor boat to cross a bridge that is collapsed halfway across the water, and it does sort of a corkscrew maneuver to get across. Other wise, this is a modest film that doesn't work as well as it should, mostly due to the haphazard plot that was pieced together, with only Lee and Villechaize truly memorable. There's also a red neck southern sheriff left over from LIVE AND LET DIE who turns up on vacation in Thailand, who recognizes Bond from his previous boat chase and lends an amusing hand. GRADE-----------------B-
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME 1977--The two main producers for Bond films, Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman had been sharing lead producer responsibility on alternate Bond films, as well as their own films, but their relationship was being fractured by casting decisions, story conflicts and other issues, and they would soon split up their working relationship forever. Saltzman was "bought" out by Broccoli--at the time it was a large amount of money, but in retrospect, because the Bond franchise was continuing to be increasingly successful, Saltzman got the raw end of the break up. To this day Broccoli and family have been the sole executive producers of the 007 adventures. Broccoil brought in his son in law Michael Wilson to co produce, and although they loved the title THE SPY WHO LOVED ME they didn't care much for the story, and there were some legal challenges, so it was rewritten. The spectacular ski chase scene-- a long long downhill escape for Bond takes up nearly five minutes of pre title action, and features the wow of having Bond skiing off the edge of a cliff and plummeting down several seconds to his possible death, only to have a parachute open at the last second featuring-------the UNION JACK. This was the only scene I had remembered from 40 years ago, that and the wonderful theme song NOBODY DOES IT BETTER sung by Carly Simon that became a big smash hit for her. The film is actually pretty rousing, with Bond teeming up with a Russian spy equivalent woman--whose fiance Bond had killed back during that first first ski chase scene. She is played by Barbara Bach, who had previously only appeared in French and Italian films, but was considered a great beauty and model(--born in the Oregon!) in those countries.. She does a lovely job, and four years later became the celebrated wife of Beattle Ringo Starr. This was also fan favorite bad guy's first major movie role for giant Richard Kiel, who appeared as JAWS--his mouth full of nasty metal teeth--a character he repeated in the next Bond film MOONRAKER. At one point during production, famed director Stanley Kubrick offered some cinematography advice to the director and photographer about submarine and underwater shots and lighting. GRADE--------------------B+
MOONRAKER 1979-- I vaguely remember this film as the most disappointing Bond ever--where the story spends a lot of time in outer space, and I felt that was not so believable--it had become too fantastical--more like a science fiction actioner than a spy film. Still on second viewing, there are many pleasures---starting with another spectacular opening scene where Bond is left without a parachute, then is pushed out of a plane to his certain death. He dives toward the closest parachute and tries to steal it from him, which he does, of course, leaving Jaws to plummet towards HIS certain death, but there is an amazing "save" that is both shocking and funny. There is also an exciting cable car sequences with Bond and Jaws fighting high above ground on swinging cars. It ends, ironically, with a big crash, where Jaws meets the woman of his dreams, and by the end changes his allegiances to Bond. I'm still not pleased with the final actions in the space station, but the film is still watchable, and future 007 adventures bring Bond back to earth since. Lois Chiles tries to give her character some back bone and seriousness, but the director shot her down, causing a crying confrontation, but it's clear that Bond women are changing--for the better. GRADE------------------------B-
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY 1981--Moore has been Bond for nearly 10 years, and MOONRAKER is the highest grossing 007 film yet, so he is wanting a lot more money, causing producers to start checking out other actors, including the next Bond Timothy Dalton and Michael Billington, who was tested to play Bond more than any other actor, without success. The new story comes from a couple of Ian Fleming's short stories that were merged together. When a couple--friends of James' boss "M" are murdered, Bond teams with their daughter to find the killers who are heroin smugglers. French actress Carole Bouquet plays the daughter, but there were some issues with her boyfriend who caused her to often be late to the set, and she thought that Moore, who had finally, coyly, agreed to one more outing as Bond, and now age 53, reminded her too much of her father. Ironically, the daughter is so determined to find the killers that she has no time to be seduced by Bond. They meet in a wild car chase--for once the car is a small clunky European sedan (a Citroen 2CV--tiny!) with no special equipment. There are some great moments as they careen down a steep slope narrowly missing their pursuers (and farmers) , who amusingly end up atop a large olive tree, being showered with olives.
Professional ice skater Lynn Holly Johnson plays a young Olympic hopeful ice skater with an unhealthy fascination with the much older Bond, and the finale takes place in a small stone monastery on top of a mountain peak, with some exciting cliff climbing moments. Unfortunately, the two monks that showed up as extras were real monks, who sabotaged the use of the interiors, so the crew was forced to build a monastery "set" in another location. Most of the sets were in Athens (too much smog for good photography,) and on Corfu, and there is another snow chase scene in the Italian Dolomite mountains but a mild spring caused the crew to ship in tons of snow from another mountain top.
The producers were impressed with the powerful voice of Sheena Easton, and wanted her to sing the driving ballad, that went on to become nominated for an Oscar and became a giant international hit. Easton became the first and so far only singer to appear in the opening titles, superimposed with the writhing naked (in back lit profile) women who have appeared in every Bond film except the "illegitimate" film NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN--see below. GRADE--------------B
OCTOPUSSY 1983--The company responsible for distribution, United Artists, is having growing pains (Michael Cimino's HEAVEN'S GATE has been a major financial disaster for the company, although I saw it about 15 years ago, and it is a decent attempt at a personal western), so they team up with MGM, so now UA/MGM help Broccoli with financial production. It is announced at the time that Sean Connery has been offered $5 million to star in an "unofficial James Bond" film that will be direct competition using a similar story as THUNDERBALL but they cannot use many of the Bond trademarks, so Roger Moore coyly balks again, causing the producers to screen test Oliver Tobias, Michael Billington, and American James Brolin, who is surprisingly good (his screen test appears in the bonus material of OCTOPUSSY). This new film went through a number of rewrites, but a concerted effort was made to keep the action grounded---more in the FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE mode. The plot involves jewelry smuggling into Russian, which it was soon discovered to be for fact than fiction as Brezhnev's son in law was involved in a similar scandal. A nuclear explosion at an army sight in Germany was also planned that would increase global tensions. For the female lead, Faye Dunaway, Barbara Parkins, Persis Khambatta and Kathleen Turner were all considered, among others, but the decision was made by Broccolli who had watched MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN on TV the night before, and thought Maud Adams was so good that she should be used again.(!)
Writing a song that included the name OCTOPUSSY (a nick name because she loved octopus and her father called her that with a "Y")--lyricist Tim Rice (JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, EVITA, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, LION KING, ETC) took the lines from dialogue, "two of a kind" and wrote TWO OF A KIND, sung by Rita Coolidge. The song had only modest success, but when I heard it again last week, I remembered it well, and liked it all the more. GRADE------------------B
NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN 1983-- After 12 years, Sean Connery, who worked with novelist Len Deighton on James Bond research, was offered $5 million and a percentage to make one more Bond film, using the character but not the other trademarks, and he insisted that he have a lot of artistic control. What the film lacks is the bombastic Bond theme and titles of naked writhing women, but otherwise the film has the same familiar fights, double crosses, near escapes, and exotic settings. Klaus Maria Brandauer, Barbara Carrera and Max Von Sydow make convincing bad guys, and Kim Bassinger plays the good girl who who gets her man by the final scene. The photography is exotic, and the fighting action is above average. Unfortunately, the title song is a dull dud. Connery looked good for an older guy, but he also looked a little tired. This was his last Bond. Released over the same summer, OCTOPUSSY grossed about S10 million more than NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, but those grosses together were tremendous. 1983 was the year of BOND. GRADE----------------B-
A VIEW TO A KILL 1985--The thing that I remembered most vividly here is the performance of bad guy Christopher Walken, who had recently won a supporting Oscar for THE DEER HUNTER who plays a psychotic killer who schemes to take over the Silicon Valley by being the sole distributor of computer ware, and he's going to cause the Valley to flood, killing millions of people, by causing a major earthquake with some dynamite in a cavern......!?! Weird. And stranger still is Grace Jones who plays his lover and assistant--she's got quirky mannerism and odd deliveries of lines. Tanya Roberts is an innocent caught up in his/her scheme, but ends up being an asset to Bond a number of times, especially as she is climbing high above San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge, where the climax takes place. Both Walken and Jones come across as psychotic without any problem. To me, this is the least likable, least memorable Bond film of the bunch, although there are still some fine special effects including an amusing sequence with Bond hanging on to a fire truck ladder as it swings and sways will being chased through the wild and busy San Francisco streets. During the filming it became clear that this would be Roger Moore's final Bond, and Broccoli also called stalwart actress Lois Maxwell who had played Miss Moneypenny from the start to personally let her down.
The song was written fast by Duran Duran and pieced together. It was apparently a big hit in the USA but I found it unmemorable and boring while watching the film on DVD last week. GRADE ----------------------C+
THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS 1987--The script was being written based on a Fleming short story, and expanded by writer Richard Mailbaum who had worked on a few previous scripts, and Michael Wilson (Broccolli's son in law, ) who is now completely involved with all aspects of each project.
The story deals with an attempted assassination--Bond stops it by shooting the arm of a cellist--scaring "the living daylights" out of her, he hoped. It turns out she is connected with a drug smuggler and arms dealer, and the story takes off from there. With Moore out, their next option was Pierce Bronsnan, who the producers had met a few years earlier while filming FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. At the time Bronsnan was an unknown up and coming actor and they all thought he would be a perfect Bond, but now he was involved with a TV show Remington Steele and they told that after 6 segments of the show he would be released, but at the last minute, NBC demanded a 22 episode contract, so Bronsnan was officially out as Bond. Ironically, shortly after the six episodes completed, NBC suddenly canceled the show entirely. Timothy Dalton had been approached several years ago, and he was available now between theater and another film, so when the final decision was made he jumped to it, having been a big fan of Fleming's novels. With minor adjustments the script was adjusted for Dalton. Although the title song was sung by The Pretenders, the song never took off. With an new more serious understated Bond on board, and a more dramatic, believable story line, this new Bond grossed slightly better than VIEW TO A KILL, and everyone involved was hopeful for the future. Grade---------------------B-
LICENCE TO KILL 1989--Director John Glen was signed for a record breaking 5th time to direct a Bond film, and with this new actor was determined to make these film with a harder edge, but film budgets were being cut, and movie audiences were dwindling due to TV, DVD, and computers. In this one, Bond is out to revenge a vicious attach on his good friend's wedding day. The film has a solid story, a moody edge and some well directed action scenes. Carey Lowell from TV's LAW and ORDER series is a good, serious match for Timothy Dalton. Because Bond is on a revenge mission, he is compromised, and the original title LICENCE REVOKED became more accurate, but it was changed midway through filming to feel more threatening. The killer is a drug lord, with a wide spread of friends, so manages to escape captures. This film became an early role for Benicio del Toro, who plays a heavy, and Wayne Newton gave up his Las Vegas gig for $1million a week to play the role of a corrupt evangelist in Mexico, and for him it felt like a vacation. GRADE----------------B
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