â20th Century Womenâ is a movie about a middle-aged woman with a teenage son, and the trials and tribulations of living in 1979. They live in Santa Barbara during a time of social change and upheaval. With some close friends, they all try to come to accept the changes in life.
âA Monster Callsâ is a heart-wrenching yet artistic view into a 12-year boy and his troubled life. With a slowly dying Mom, a divorced dad who lives far away, and a grandmother with a gruff and unemotional manner, he is dealing with quite a lot. Also, his time in school is marred by a group of bullies who confront him every day. If only he had the size and strength and courage of a MonsterâŚ
Conor O’Malley (Lewis MacDougall) lives in a small rural town in the English countryside. His life is in turmoil because his Mom, Lizzie (Felicity Jones) is getting worse with a terminal illness. It is difficult at school, because there are boys that bully Conor, mostly because he has a sick mom and he is a good artist. Mom and Dad (Toby Kebbell ) are divorced, and he lives in California. Dad comes to visit, but he again shows that he is not part of Conorâs life.
When Lizzie gets so bad that she needs to be in the hospital, Conor must stay with his grandmother (Sigourney Weaver). She is strict with Conor, and she cares more about cleanliness and keeping order in her house than she does about Conor. Conor has dreams of being big and strong and getting his way. He wants to set things right, and to get his Mom back. Then one night, something strange happens.
Out on the distant hill, there is an old church and a still older yew tree. The anxiety and pain in Conorâs life is felt by the yew tree. It comes to life, and it comes to visit Conor. The immense humanoid tree seems very scary, yet he speaks with a gentle but authoritative voice. The Monster (voiced by Liam Neeson) has three stories to tell Conor, and when he is done, Conor must tell him one story.
The stories that the Monster tells are illustrated with a beautiful watercolor animation sequence. The first story is about a magical kingdom that has kings and queens. The second story is about a pastor who shames an old man who sells roots and herbs that can cure people. The third is about an invisible man and a monster that helped him. Conor hears the stories, but they do not work out the way that he thought they would.
Conor hears the stories, but he overreacts. He drives away his father and becomes more distant to his grandmother. He goes overboard and destroys everything precious in his grandmotherâs living room. He is overcome with rage and fights back against the bully, but sends him to the hospital. In each of these cases, even when he has done something outrageous and destructive, he does not receive any punishment. Conor is simply dealing with too much stress, they all say.
But nobody knows about the Monster, and nobody knows about the stories. They surely donât know that Conor now has to tell his story, and Conor is very afraid. The Monster said that he was sent for healing, but Conorâs mom is still in bed at the hospital. Conor is sad, angry and confused. Exactly why did the Monster come to visit with Conor?
The story of âA Monster Callsâ is very simple and direct. It focuses on Conor and what he is going through. He feels alone and powerless until the Monster calls upon Conor. But the final story reveals the full sadness in Conorâs life and what he truly wants. He is ashamed to have the Monster know what he feels inside. The dread and sadness of the story are then lifted up by the artistic beauty of the story sequences and the emotional release at the end.
Lewis MacDougall is a major young actor who can handle the tricky role of Conor. He is well cast and performs in a very believable way. Felicity Jones does ok with the Lizzie role. However, not a great deal is asked of her in the role, and she fades out near the end. Sigourney Weaver does a sturdy job as the grandmother, who at first seems very mean and harsh, but she learns that Conor is more important than just things in the house.
The Monster is voiced by Liam Neeson, who has a very distinct quality of overwhelming scariness in his tone, but has a soft and comforting aspect as well. The Monster design is very well-done CGI. It has the unfortunate tendency of bringing to mind a similar character from the movie âGuardians of the Galaxyâ. So the Monster is a huge giant, and he is a big tree. This movie might be called âThe BFG 2: The Big Friendly Grootâ.
In the early days of the Space Race, when the USA and the USSR both worked to be the first in space, there was limited technology. The only âcomputerâ available was a person who excelled in math and could handle very complex calculations. The math experts and engineers who ran NASA in the early 1960âs were brilliant people. Almost all of then were men, and even more were White. Thatâs why this true story of three Black women is so outstanding.
When a Black person (âNegroâ was the phrase used back then) was the best âcomputerâ, and that person was also a woman â well that could lead to whole lot of trouble. Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) was a complete master of math, and could calculate complex re-entry points down a few hundred yards. She was needed for her skills in doing the computations, but the NASA engineers all looked down on her. She was not like them, so they did not think she was quite as goodâŚ
Katherine also had two good friends at the NASA facility, Mary Jackson (Janelle MonĂĄe) and Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer). Mary had the skills and the desire to become an engineer, but the schooling was not available to âcolored folksâ. That is, until she challenged the local rulings and was permitted to take night classes at the all-White school. Dorothy was the leader of several talented Black women who were on staff at NASA. Yet she was not permitted to have the title of Supervisor. The White office manager Vivian (Kirsten Dunst) would not help Dorothy to advance, because she was Black, and therefore, unqualified.
Katherine had to face countless times when bigotry and low expectations hindered her progress. The chief of the lab was Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons). He would give Katherine work to review that was incomplete because sections had been removed, since she did not have the security clearance. But when the Manager of the NASA facility Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) found out how smart Katherine was, he made sure she got all the information that she would need. He even removed the limitations of âColoredâ bathrooms, so that Katherine would not need to run across the campus.
Also, the lab obtained its first IBM mainframe computer system, and Dorothy Vaughan had been teaching herself how to code programs on the new device. She became an expert and she was in charge of several other women and became a real Supervisor. Mary Jackson earned her degree in engineering and also continued to work at NASA on the space program.
Seeing that this is a true story of real people involved at the early stages of NASA, this movie shows the struggles that many of these women had to overcome. Before any Equal Rights laws were passed, these smart and powerful women showed that they were equal to the White men. They did that just by being able to perform at their highest levels. They did not allow the racism and sexism to fester and make them bitter. The fought back in the best way they knew how â they excelled at what they did.
The three main characters are played by three fantastic actresses: Janelle MonĂĄe, Octavia Spencer and Taraji P. Henson. They all handle the character with grace and with dignity, even when the White world around them is harsh and cruel. They all show a deep courage and persistence to achieve great things. Also, Kevin Costner is a great addition, because he shows an understanding that success shows no âColor Lineâ. His character would not allow bigotry to stand in the way of getting the best results.
âHidden Figuresâ does a terrific job in bringing to light a little-known aspect of the early days of NASA. The social norms of that era were broken so that some very talented Black women could have a chance to make a big difference in the success of the program. It is great story to tell, and it does it in a quiet, dignified manner.
Sometimes, movies need to be more deeply emotional and have the epic grandeur of a sweeping historical look at Western and Eastern cultures as they clash over religion and basic tenets of faith. Or you could just see âRogue Oneâ again. Your choiceâŚ
But in âSilenceâ, the passionate work of Martin Scorsese, the story of ancient Japan is brought to life. It is viewed through the eyes of two Portuguese Jesuit priests; Padre Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Padre Garrpe (Adam Driver). In the late 1600âs, the missionary work to Japan had been met with fierce resistance by Japanâs rulers.
Rodrigues and Garrpe plead with the head of the order (CiarĂĄn Hinds) to make a journey to Japan. They have learned that a close mentor and fellow priest named Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson) had been tortured to the point of rejecting the One True Faith. They want to travel to Japan and find Ferreira, so they can learn the truth.
They make it to China, and they are paired up with a Japanese fisherman named Kichijiro (YĹsuke Kubozuka). He agrees to lead them back to his homeland to find the âHidden Christiansâ. These are converts created by the prior missionaries. But all the priests and Jesuit brothers have been expelled or killed. Father Ferreira also faced torture and perhaps wound up instead becoming a Buddhist.
Rodrigues and Garrpe get separated and both eventually are captured. Rodrigues has an interpreter (Tadanobu Asano) who can speak both Japanese and very good English. He explains that any foreign religion can never take root in Japan, because the outsider cannot see the island kingdom has a culture that will never believe as the Westerners.
So it is a clash of Western ideas, thought and religion against the history of Japanese culture and upbringing. Rodrigues will face losing the very one thing that he took vows to honor and protect, or he will see many of the village Christians tortured and killed because of his stubbornness.
The movie that Scorsese has made is a long, slow exposure to the wearing down of the human soul. The Japanese officials do not hate Rodrigues, Garrpe or Ferreira. They do not hate Christians or those who deliver the Gospel, the Jesuits and the missionaries. But they demand conformity and order. So they root out Christians and put them to death. So it sure seems like they hate them…
Andrew Garfield does a heart-wrenching job as Padre Rodrigues. He thinks himself as a humble and holy man, yet he borders on arrogance because he thinks only he can know the Truth. Adam Driver and Liam Neeson have much smaller roles, but they seem to be sincere in their own beliefs.
The visual imagery is fantastic, with the wide sweeping vistas of a shoreline, or mountainside or a steamed-up area of hot springs. Clouds and fog and haze are in many scenes. This brings to mind some the animated movies of Hayao Miyazaki, or the epic films from Akira Kurosawa. Scorsese can borrow the beautiful look of the movie from the best Japanese directors.
However the storyline is so morbid and predestined that the extended run time hurts the picture. Rodrigues is put into a no-win situation, and there are only two possible outcomes. He will either renounce his Faith, or he will die. But to get to that end, the movie seems to drag on and on. More tortures, more denials, more angry outbursts, more slow panoramic shots that lead to the next oneâŚ
So be forewarned. If you do not want to see some nasty things done to people in captivity, you might not like the movie. If you do not want to know in great detail about the difficult spread and quick demise of Christianity in Japan, you might not like the movie. If you do not think that Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver and Liam Neeson are fine capable dramatic actors, you might not like the movie.
In other words, if you would rather go and see âRogue Oneâ again, but you see this movie instead, you might suffer in âSilenceâ.
In todayâs world, and R-rated comedy means more vulgar words and juvenile ideas, and not much of any highly sophisticated adult-related concepts. Todayâs âdumbed downâ culture demands more formula driven comedies, not the better ones from the old days (âCaddyshackâ, Animal Houseâ, âBlues Brothersâ, âStripesâ). Sometimes even the formula style comedy can hit a few high notes and be something fun to watch. That is especially true when the leads are Bryan Cranston and James Franco.
âWhy Him?â is the story of Ned Fleming (Bryan Cranston) the owner of a family-run printing business in Grand Rapids. Ned and his wife Barb (Megan Mullally) have a daughter Stephanie (Zoey Deutch) who is in California attending college. They also have a younger son named Scotty (Griffin Gluck). Ned and Barb learn that Stephanie has a boyfriend and he wants the whole family to come out and meet him.
The boyfriend is Laird Mayhew (James Franco) who is a multi-millionaire slacker dude who made a mint creating an online video gaming company. He is friendly and totally outgoing, but is lacking in many social graces. He is loud, rude, vulgar, and is heavily tattooed. Laird is an online gaming genius and a business wiz, but he lacks any type of social filter and he blurts out everything he thinks about at every second. When Ned and Laird meet â well — it does not go over well.
Laird is planning on asking Stephanie to marry him, and his idea is to make sure Ned is OK with that. Ned is not OK with that, and he wants to find anything that he can to use against Laird. Laird has Stephanie in his corner, and slowly he gets more help from Scotty and Barb. Laird has a full-time assistant/estate director named Gustav (Keegan-Michael Key) and with his help, Laird is able to win over everyone, except for Ned.
So it is a back-and-forth between Ned and Laird, all concerning Stephanie and a marriage proposal. There are quite a few funny moments, but there are even more periods of slack so-called comedy. When a major plot point takes place on a toilet, well, things could turn out crappy. And an artificial intelligence device called âJustineâ that Laird invents has the voice of Kaley Cuoco (of âThe Big Bang Theoryâ) and makes jokes about how her voice sounds just like the girl from âThe Big Bang Theoryâ.
Bryan Cranston is a joy to watch, but he gets stuck in the grouchy curmudgeon role. He gets to play off the slacker goofball that is James Franco, and Franco gets his role just right. There is not a whole lot of growth or development in either character, because the main function for each is be annoyed with the other one.
Megan Mullally does OK with the mom role, and Zoey Deutch as Stephanie proves that she has a mind of her own. Griffin Gluck is kind of stuck to the side. Keegan-Michael Key has a bizarre Slavic accent and a character that does not really do that much of anything. There are a lot of loose ends and odd things in this movie. Such as a âwork of artâ that is a stuffed moose in a glass enclosure full of moose urineâŚ
And as Chekov once famously said âIf you show a glass box of moose urine in Act One, you must later see that used in Act Threeâ. Wait, did he say a âglass box of moose urineâ or did he say a âgunâ? Either way, you can see that âWhy Him?â is loud and occasionally funny vulgar comedy. It is much more enjoyable if you have a thing for toilets and moose urine, so that might narrow the audience a little bit.
Is there an issue with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? Of course there is, and it needs to be addressed. Is there a potential for family issues when a solider comes back to his family from the war front? Yes, and it can be quite severe. Is the best way to present these problems wrapped up in a movie that cannot decide if it is a serious look at the situation, or an overly dramatized version of the warriorâs mental disconnect?
That is âMan Downâ, which follows the solider named Gabriel Drummer (Shia LaBeouf) who is married to Natalie (Kate Mara) and has a young son named Jonathan (Charlie Shotwell). He joins the Marines with his best friend Devin (Jai Courtney). Gabe gets sent to Afghanistan, while Devin recovers from an injury back in the States. Devin soon joins him over there in the thick of the nasty action.
Later, Gabe has a sit-down session with Captain Peyton (Gary Oldman) about âthe incidentâ. It is finally revealed that a mistake by Gabe led to an ambush attack that had killed Devin. But then, later on when Gabe is back with his family, Gabe shuns his wife and his son to hang around with Devin. Eventually Gabe and Devin prowl about the bleak apocalyptic landscape for his son. But Devin did not make it backâŚ
The late Devin is Gabeâs closest friend and Gabeâs metal state is in question. Captain Peyton talked with Gabe about his reaction to âthe incidentâ, and Gabe is still in denial. So now Gabe and Devin are searching a destroyed cityscape searching for his son. They meet a guy named Charlie (Clifton Collins Jr.) who says he knows nothing. But there are many clues that he knows Gabeâs son, and where he might be hiding.
But how much of Gabeâs post-war travels with Devin are real? Exactly what happened in âthe incidentâ? And what happened back on the home front between Devin and Kate, when Gabe was deployed overseas? Does Captain Peyton know how broken Gabe is on the inside?
Any of these questions could be enough to construct a deep and meaningful movie. But the way that the various incidents and episodes are put together on the screen make a little too jumbled. The connection between the bleak deserted place and the happy home front does get revealed, and it is done in a very subtle way. But the various sequences do not seem to tie up as neatly as they should.
Shia LaBeouf does a workable job as Gabe. He is mostly very understated, but then at some points he is a little bit overemotional and melodramatic. Kate Mara and Jai Courtney have very cookie-cutter roles, and they do the best that they can. Gary Oldman puts some empathy into his character and makes a very good impression. Clifton Collins Jr. has a brief role, but is creepy and odd-ball as that character.
A movie a few years back about the mental tribulations of John Nash was called âA Beautiful Mindâ. This movie might be called âA FUBAR Mindâ. That would describe the nightmare of delusions that Gabe finds himself in during the movie. It is truly scary place to be. But is might not be the best way to bring attention to the real problems of soldiers.
“Bad Santa”, back in 2003, unleashed quite a few “Bad” types of movies (“Bad Teacher”, “Bad Moms”, etc.) It brought a very hard edge to idea of a ‘Christmas movie’. Well, 13 years later, the raunchy comeback kid returns with “Bad Santa 2”. This is the movie that will put the “X” in X-Mas.
Willie Soke (Billy Bob Thornton) is living in Phoenix, still as bad-tempered and mean-spirited as ever. He drinks all day holding crummy jobs until he again meets up with Marcus (Tony Cox). Marcus is his diminutive friend in the thievery business who tried to kill Willie during the last heist. Marcus is out of jail and knows about a big score they can pull off up in Chicago.
Willie is a small-time safe-cracker, but the drinking and hard living has made problems for him. One of his problems is Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly) who got to know ‘Santa’ in the first movie. Willie cannot get rid of the lovable little cherub with the angelic face. Marcus is a creepy little dwarf, but he promises a big money payoff in Chicago.
Once there, Willie and Marcus get hooked into a large charity organization that raises lots of dollars. There will be many Santas collecting the loot, and if they get into the company safe, the cash will be theirs. But then Willie meets the person who organized this heist, Sunny Soke (Kathy Bates) his long estranged mother.
Sparks fly and insults hurl and put-downs become the order of the day. Thurman follows Willie to Chicago to be with him. The charity owner’s wife Diane (Christina Hendricks) finds a new ‘friend’ in Willie, because her husband in cheating on her and stealing from the charity.
The final day of the robbery is planned out, and the three main participants are planning to double-triple-cross each other. The safe is full of cash and the characters are all ready to get rich. Or perhaps dead…
The movie producers waited for this many years to make a sequel, and this sort of takes a lot of wind out the sails. The whole thing is a retread of the original, and they think that it will be âbetterâ with many of the same actors and with many more curse words and insults. Well, most of the lines are maxed out on the crudeness credit card, and there are a few that are pretty funny.
But mostly it is a failed trip down the memory chute of better forgotten characters and dialog. Billy Bob Thornton can slum down his acting ability, and Kathy Bates also leaves the award-winning ways in the dirt. The addition of Tony Cox and Brett Kelly make it resemble the original, but without the same motivations as the first one.
This is another entry in the curmudgeon Christmas movie, a small group of movies that take the light, peacefulness, and hope out of the holiday. When the title even reminds you that it is âBadâ, there is not that much to expect. If you are looking for disgusting behavior, crudity and vulgarity, all wrapped up in a dull brown paper, then this is the one for you.
Merry Effân Christmas, as Willie would sayâŚ
This true story is a good one that few people know about. It is worthwhile to see the lengths that someone can go when they have the internal willpower to get back into the life that they love
War is Hell, as it is said, but a movie about War can go many different ways. âHacksaw Ridgeâ plays up the unusual angle of a World War II conscientious objector who was the first one to win the Congressional Medal of Honor. He refused to carry a weapon on the battlefield, and instead carried 75 wounded men to safety on Okinawa.
Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) grows up in a backwoods area in Virginia. He was raised by his strict alcoholic father (Hugo Weaving) and loving mother (Rachel Griffiths). When his brother goes off to WWII, Desmond also decides to enlist. His new girlfriend Dorothy (Teresa Palmer) is surprised, because Doss is such a gentle soul.
Doss proclaims status as conscientious objector is valid in the Army. But it does not sit well with his superiors, Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughn) and Captain Glover (Sam Worthington). They try every way possible to make Doss uncomfortable so he will leave on his own. The base commander orders Doss to pick up a rifle. When he refuses, Doss is threatened with court marshal.
Doss misses the leave from the base when he was to be married to Dorothy. Desmondâs father pulls some old favors from a World War I buddy. Desmond Doss is set free again to become a medic for the unit.
As the war winds down in Europe, the savage battle rages on in Japanese waters. On Okinawa, the unit is sent to perform an impossible mission: take Hacksaw Ridge. The long climb up rope ladders deposits the troops in a barren field of death. Other units have tried to take the Ridge, and many have died fighting the Japanese.
The fierce battle starts death coming from every direction. There are tunnels and bunkers and heavy weapons that the Japs are bringing down on the troops. Doss and his unit are slogging and fighting on, at the cost of many dead and wounded. The Japanese retreat into hiding, getting ready to come in full force again.
Doss remains in the field, up on top of the Ridge. He hears a weak cry and goes to help a soldier. And then there is another, and another. He devises a way to lower the wounded down the side of the cliff, so he can stay and care for more wounded. Doss becomes the only one able save some of the solders. He helps Sergeant Howell among others.
Captain Glover is shocked to see so many of his men in the field hospital the next day. He finds out that Desmond Doss treated and carried out each of the 75 men. Doss and the rest of the troops are ordered to take the Ridge again. But this time, all the men are ready to reach the goal, knowing that Doss had the courage to stay up on the Ridge all night and save so many.
Andrew Garfield does a marvelous job with the difficult role of Doss. He plays a man of principles who is put down for his beliefs, but who is so strong in his conviction that he makes up for the fact that he will not fight. In a bloody and gruesome situation, Doss continued to find a way to save his fellow solders.
Every other actor does a really good job with the roles that they portray. But a special nod must go to Vince Vaughn, because in this role he is stretching his acting ability to new level. He plays a drill sergeant with a slight sarcastic streak. He is nowhere as good as R Lee Ermey in âFull Metal Jacketâ, who was the real deal.
Mel Gibson is the director, and he is making his way back to place of respectability in Hollywood. Gibson might be criticized for the level of violence and gore in this movie. But it is a War movie, of course, so there will have to be something that will be bloody. The first part of the movie is almost a fantasy of small town and rural life, so the next part with the blood and guts does come as a shock.
The true life story of Desmond Doss is worth telling, and this movie tells the story well. It dips into a section of extreme war time violence that is disturbing. But Doss made the choice not to fight, he made the choice to help save. He was recognized and rewarded for his efforts.
Dan Brown as authored three books with a protagonist named Robert Langdon; âThe Da Vinci Codeâ, âAngels & Demonsâ and âInfernoâ. All have now been made into a movie with Tom Hanks playing Langdon. The most recent âInfernoâ uses imagery from Danteâs description of Hell. So now the audience knows what they are in forâŚ
Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is a famous professor at Harvard. Yet he wakes up in a hospital room in Florence, Italy. He has no memory of the last few days. Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) has been helping take care of him, but there is an assassin who comes in and attempts to kill Langdon. Brooks helps Langdon escape.
After much lengthy exposition, they find clues to a super virus designed by a mad biologist-billionaire named Bertrand Zobrist (Ben Foster). He planted a virus to wipe out 90% of humanity. Zobrist was being chased by international agents of the World Health Organization (WHO), and when cornered, he killed himself rather than reveal the location of the deadly virus.
Zorbist hired a super-secret security firm run by Harry Sims (Irrfan Khan). They were supposed to carry out his final wishes, but Sims finds out that the virus will be fatal to most of the worldâs population. So he joins forces with the head of WHO, named Elizabeth Sinskey (Sidse Babett Knudsen). She does not trust him, but she has no choice.
Christoph Bouchard (Omar Sy) finds Langdon and Brooks, and he wants to know the location of the virus. He lied about working for WHO, because he wants the virus to sell it on the black market. Langdon and Brooks go from Florence to Venice, and then to Istanbul. Langdon uses his special knowledge of ancient history and symbols to find the location of the virus.
If this all sounds fascinating and exciting, then you would be mistaken. The characters exist only to spout off overheated rhetoric and exposition. Every conceivable situation feels contrived and over-the-top. People know way too much about ancient languages and historical artifacts. Main characters seem to change in a blink of an eye from a reasonable person to money-hungry would-be arms dealer or even a Zobrist inspired bio-terrorist.
Every person in this movie has difficulty being believable, but mostly that is because the story line makes them say and do things that are absurd. Irrfan Khan comes off the best, because his character is somewhat mysterious and morally ambiguous. Tom Hanks has a lot of dialog, but he appears to âsleep talkâ his way through it all. Felicity Jones is weighed down with an improbable switch of her character arc midway in the movie.
There is a lot of talking and running, and going from one museum or city to another. There is much movement, but very little in plot development. The major bad guy has committed suicide at the beginning of the movie, and he is not around to fight against Langdon. There is a supposed prior love interest of Langdonâs that is brought up, and that never is resolved. Many doors are opened, but nothing comes from any of it.
Danteâs Inferno was his representation of Hell, put down in words. The movie âInfernoâ is just a reimagining of the same Hell, but as a movie experience.
