“Early Man” is the latest entry from the makers of the Wallace and Gromit team. They’re sort of claymation for the New Age. This time it’s about a bunch of cavemen vs. people from the Bronze Age. The cavemen are English, primitive and happy while the Bronze Age citizens are advanced and preoccupied with material things. And the whole premise is about soccer. The humor is very British and cute. The animation, which is stop motion, is unique and I find it interesting. Not a great film, but enjoyable and fine for children.
Forever My Girl
January and February are known as the time when movie studios dump their lesser projects on the public. There are usually some enjoyable action films like “The Commuter” and “12 Strong”, a bunch of horror , comedies (usually not good ones), and romantic movies. “Forever My Girl” falls into the latter category. There are no stars in it and it is the director’s first full length film. Even so, it wasn’t bad. The story concerns a couple about to get married and the groom gets cold feet. He becomes a major country western star. She stays behind and has his child, that he doesn’t know about. When he comes back to town eight years later, well you can guess what happens. Predictable, but enjoyable. The two leads are attractive and do a good job. This film will not win any awards nor change the course of cinema, but it’s a likable date movie.
12 Strong
One of the first movies to come out in 2018 is “12 Strong” the story of the first group of soldiers to go to Afghanistan after 9/11. These dozen men teamed up with a warlord’s troops on horseback. The film stars Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon and Michael Pena. Hemsworth proves that he can play more than Thor. This is an excellent war movie with a lot of action; planes dropping bombs and lots of gun battles. This group of a dozen soldiers, along with the Afghans, were the first to route out the Taliban and make way for other troops. The whole mission seems implausible and if I didn’t know it was true, I wouldn’t believe it. This is a good action film. Lots of blood and guts so be forewarned.
Oscar 2018 Thoughts #1
Does it surprise anyone that I have seen all of the nominees for Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Director? It’s too bad I’m not a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences so I could actually vote. Oh well. So here are some of my thoughts on the nominations for 2017 that were announced on Tuesday. First, let’s talk about the omissions. The most glaring omission was Martin McDonagh, who wrote and directed “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and was not nominated for Best Director. Usually when a director is not nominated, it dooms the chances for the film winning Best Picture. In this case, that is a shame. Paul Thomas Anderson probably took his place for “Phantom Thread”, which was good but not great. Also omitted was Holly Hunter as Supporting Actress for “The Big Sick”. The film was wonderful and she was a stand out. Jessica Chastain, in “Molly’s Game”, was left out of the Best Actress category. Her spot was taken by Meryl Streep for “The Post’, in which she was very good, but I believe Chastain was more deserving. I cannot argue with the five Supporting Actor nominees, but it is a shame that Armie Hammer and Michael Stahlbarg in “Call Me By Your Name” weren’t recognized. Both gave great performances. And in the Best Picture category I am disappointed that “Wonder Woman” wasn’t nominated. It was one of the best films of the year.
Hostiles
“Hostiles” was one of the best reviewed films of 2017. There has been no awards coverage for the film though. It’s a western that deals with a calvary officer whose final assignment is to transport a family of Native Americans from New Mexico to Montana, their burial grounds. The officer hates them. Joining the troop is a woman whose entire family is murdered by a band of renegade Cheyenne. Stoically acted by Christian Bale and Rosamund Pike, the film starts off slow, but as the story progresses, becomes very compelling. Like any good western there is a lot of shooting and violence, but not the gratuitous kind. This is not a mainstream film, but if you like well constructed stories with good acting, it is worth seeing.
Proud Mary
Who knew that Taraji P. Henson could play a bad ass? In “Proud Mary” she plays an assassin who works for the Black mob in Boston. The head of the organization, played by Danny Glover, raised her as a daughter. She ends up taking in a boy whose father was one of her hits. To help the boy she ends up killing the guy who “owns” him and sets off a war. She wants out, but Glover won’t let her go. There is a lot of action and a huge body count. The film is entertaining and full of action. Not the greatest, but it kept my interest.
I, Tonya
I wasn’t sure what to expect from “I, Tonya”, the story of Tonya Harding’s rise to fame and then her fall. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. First, the story was told in documentary style with the characters being interviewed. Second, it was told with a lot of humor because the people involved were so horrible to each other that if it was done any other way the story would be totally depressing. I knew that Harding came from a lower class background, but I did not know how abusive most of her relationships were. Her mother is a monster, but she recognized Tonya’s talent. Her way of encouraging her was to put her down in terrible ways, even physically abusing her. From her mother’s house she went to her husband’s, Jeff Gillooly, another abusive loser whose best friend gives new definition to stupid. According to the movie Tonya was a victim of all this stupidity and being surrounded by idiots. Margot Robbie does an incredible job as Harding and Allison Janney is brilliant as her mother. Very entertaining and well done.
Phantom Thread
Despite the title, this is not another installment of the Star Wars saga. It is the story of 1950’s high fashion dress maker Reynolds Woodcock in London, played by Daniel Day-Lewis. The film was written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, who is somewhat of a cinema auteur. His recent works include “There Will Be Blood” and “The Master”. The role of the dress designer is one of Day-Lewis’s most normal acting jobs. While playing an eccentric, he isn’t invisible within the character like he was in “Lincoln” or “Gangs of New York”. Don’t get me wrong, he is still very intense. Woodcock is eccentric and obsessed by his work. As with all Paul Thomas Anderson films, it is beautifully shot, technically proficient and has a wonderful score. Also like his other movies, it is way too long. He is one of those writer-directors who needs someone else to edit his films. When sitting through an Anderson film, I hear myself saying, “Enough already! We get the point.” Supporting Day-Lewis are Vicky Krieps as his love interest/muse and Lesley Manville as his sister/business partner. Both actresses hold their own with him, which is not an easy thing to do. Day-Lewis has said he plans to retire from film making after this one. It’s too bad he couldn’t wait to do that until he made another great one.
Call Me By Your Name
“Call Me By Your Name” is one of the best reviewed movies of 2017. It’s the story of a seventeen year old boy living in northern Italy with his parents who invite a graduate student to live with them for the summer. Romance ensues. Did I mention that the grad student is male? The whole thing is tastefully done, beautifully filmed, well acted, and very, very slow. In my opinion it would have worked with twenty minutes cut out of it. Timothee Chalamet plays the young boy and he is amazing. He shows the emotions of a boy that age realistically, both good and bad. Armie Hammer as the graduate student is the best he has been since “The Social Network” and Michael Stuhlbarg, who plays Chalamet’s father, doesn’t have much to do until the end, but then he has a scene that is beautifully written and incredibly acted. Chalamet, Hammer and Stuhlbarg are all being talked about for Oscar nominations. I wasn’t overly impressed.
The Post
How ironic is it that two of the best newspaper movies ever made dealt with the Washington Post during the Nixon administration? I have always thought that “All the President’s Men” was one of the best films made about news reporting. Now comes “The Post” which tells the story of what it took to get the Pentagon Papers published. When the government put a halt to the New York Times revealing what was in them, Katherine Graham and Ben Bradlee risked a lot to publish them in the Post. Along the way I learned that the Washington Post was not considered a major paper before the Pentagon Papers and that most of the men on her board walked all over Mrs. Graham. Meryl Streep once again inhabits a character, becoming someone different than she has played before. Tom Hanks, as Bradlee, does what he does best; he plays honest, tough and forthright. The supporting cast is excellent and this being a Steven Spielberg movie, it is filmed beautifully with a score, by John Williams, that enhances the whole film. “The Post” is a great film that tells an important story about freedom of speech and why we need journalists to do their job.
Mark's Movie Reviews 