Phantom Thread Movie Reivew

Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the best in the business. He has given us Boogie NightsMagnoliaThere Will Be Blood and The Master and in knowing this, you are groomed ahead of time and fixed for a compelling story shot in an extraordinary way that will lead you into a world that you can believe exists beyond the shadow of a doubt… right next door. With Anderson’s new film Phantom Thread, it’s no different.
Even above the story, he cast one of the best actors in the business in Daniel Day-Lewis. Unfortunately for us, Day-Lewis has decided to make this film his last but what a way to go. This fascinating piece and his performance in it will not be forgotten, as their work together in There Will Be Blood will never be.

The opening of this intriguing tale is orchestrated with the movement of the actors.  Right away, we are introduced to Reynolds Woodcock (Day-Lewis) and are witness to what he does for a living.  He is a renowned couturiere, or fashion designer, in London in the 1950s, which were really the last decade when women of style had their clothes custom-crafted by garment makers.  Reynolds, who lives with his sister, is deeply superstitious and very eccentric with how he handles his work, believing his dead mother is all around him, encouraging his work.  He has always been taken care of and doesn’t quite know how to speak with women other than to order them around as he does his models. He’s used to spending some time with women he beds, leading them on and then he moves away rather abruptly.  He’s an incurable bachelor and believes marriage only leads to deceit… until he meets a waitress by the name of Alma (Krieps) who doesn’t play into this.  She questions and defies him, unlike any woman ever has, and he’s immediately intrigued.  He’s both bothered and smitten by her at the same time and begins to see her as his muse.  Unlike most people he engages, Alma is unrefined and obnoxious and when she challenges him it throws him off.  Reynolds behaves like a spoiled child because he has always gotten his way.  He prefers to have the last word and with Alma, he doesn’t always get what he wants.

 

As one might expect from a Paul Thomas Anderson film, Phantom Thread is full of surprises.  What you think this movie will be by watching the trailer and what you believe is going on while you’re watching it might not be what’s actually playing out. Anderson is also the cinematographer on the film and to give you the overall feeling of how people lived in the period, he had all of his equipment inside of a small house rather than using a soundstage which set the tone beautifully and helped lend to an aura of madness and authenticity.  Reynolds expects Alma to give more than he’s willing to give and as we go deeper into his psyche, we see the vulnerable boy the man holding the thread truly is.

This is an incredibly intelligent film, rich in characters with a beautiful score.  The chemistry between Daniel Day-Lewis and Vicky Krieps is strong and Anderson takes advantage of it every chance he gets, using both their strengths and their weaknesses to bewilder his audience.  You’ll love the buildup and the dialogue to the final moments.  It is slow to start but the payoff is well worth every second.  This is legitimately a brilliant film.  You’ll want to see it more than once.

The-Commuter-movie-poster-1-sheet

The Commuter Movie Review

Though this genre is what Liam Neeson uses his particular set of skills best for, he may have wanted to take a pass on this ride for the better of the film.  That said, I like anything he’s in and did enjoy him but there were times I felt he was cast only for his name and not for what would have been more plausible.  Neeson is now sixty-five years of age and his character, Mike MacCauley, is sixty.  It was hard to watch him, even using suspension of disbelief, fight an ax-wielding younger man and believe he could stay in the fight, let alone win.  A lot of editing is used to make him look younger and capable, but we’re not fooled.  Outside of tricks used to make him look like he’s a badass, there are a lot of other visuals that are too far-fetched to accept as real, however, they come with high intensity, so you’ll forgive every one of them.

The opening credits are excellent and are used creatively to introduce you, over a span of time, to Mike and his family.  He’s working hard to pay the bills for him and his wife’s mortgage and also his son who is about to go to college and will be needing tuition soon.  The credits also take you on his commute.  Directly after the credits, Mike, an ex-cop, goes into his insurance job where he’s five years from retirement.  He’s called into his boss’s office and is let go.  The news is devastating as he already lives hand to mouth and has no nest egg to rely on.  He goes and has a drink with Alex ‘Murph’ Murphy (Wilson) and tells him what happened.  This is where the movie isn’t exactly subtle in a few hints it drops.  At the bar, we also meet Captain Hawthorne (Neill), who Mike used to work with and who has now moved up in ranks.  You won’t exactly miss some of the set-ups here. When Mike leaves the bar, he finds a seat on his train to head home and our adventure begins.

A woman by the name of Joanna (Farmiga) sits across from him and strikes up a conversation.  He tells her that he’s married and she tells him that’s not why she’s talking to him.  She explains that she studies human behavior and says she wants to know what type of person he is by asking him one questions.  That question is if she asked him to do something, anything, would he do it?  He, of course, wants to know what type of thing.  She tells him and also says that a reward would be offered but he’d never know the consequences of his actions.  What she needs is for him to find someone on the train that doesn’t belong.  His interest is piqued and yours will be, as well.  What he is to do when he finds this person is plant a tracking device on a bag that they are carrying.  He’s offered $25,000 for taking it and an extra 75,000 upon completion of the task.  He does suspect that something isn’t right but having just lost his job, a $100,000 payday sure sounds nice.  He has until the Cold Spring stop to finish the deed.

Having accepted the assignment, the film slows down a bit as he wades through the trivial, even boring characters on the train with him.  I have to mention to be on the lookout for a certain Goldman Sachs reference you might appreciate.  Anyway, with threats now coming from Joanna, he’s getting more and more crazed and desperate as he searches for the mystery man.  Eventually, Mike decides he’s not going to find who Joanna wants him to for the reason she wants him to.  Once a cop, always a cop.

There are a great many clichés in the film and you’ll recognize Collet-Serra’s ode to Hitchcock films but herein lies the fun even though a lot of the CG and hand-held camera work is quite bad at times.  As we move along the tracks our story builds and our energy is heightened.  The movie is always engaging.

You’ll have a lot of fun with The Commuter especially if you’re a Neeson fan and if you are fascinated with action movies that are way over the top.  Again, if you’re a fan of Liam Neeson, you can’t skip what’s sure to be the last of this genre for him.  He’ll give you his all, as he always has, even if this isn’t his best.

 

Official Website:      www.TheCommuter.movie

Facebook:                https://www.facebook.com/PhantomThread/

Twitter:                      @TheCommuterFilm

Instagram:                @TheCommuterFilm

#TheCommuter

Come meet PETER RABBIT who will hop into the Valley this Friday 1/12/18!

PETER RABBIT MEET AND GREET THIS FRIDAY!

PHOENIX, AZ (January 10, 2018) – PETER RABBIT will hop into the Valley this Friday to visit with families for photo opportunities. The appearance is coming in advance of the release of the upcoming family film, PETER RABBIT, in theaters February 9th.  James Corden voices the character of Peter with playful spirit and wild charm, while Margot Robbie, Elizabeth Debicki, and Daisy Ridley perform the voice roles of the triplets, Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail.

Who: Peter Rabbit

When: Friday, January 12 from 4 PM – 6 PM

Where: Pinspiration

  5410 E. High St., Suite 105

  Phoenix, AZ 85054

Synopsis: Peter Rabbit, the mischievous and adventurous hero who has captivated generations of readers, now takes on the starring role of his own irreverent, contemporary comedy with attitude. In the film, Peter’s feud with Mr. McGregor (Domhnall Gleeson) escalates to greater heights than ever before as they rival for the affections of the warm-hearted animal lover who lives next door (Rose Byrne).  James Corden voices the character of Peter with playful spirit and wild charm, with Margot Robbie, Elizabeth Debicki, and Daisy Ridley performing the voice roles of the triplets, Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail.

 Cast: Rose Byrne, Domhnall Gleeson, Sam Neill

Voices: Daisy Ridley, Elizabeth Debicki, with Margot Robbie, and James Corden as Peter Rabbit

Trailer for the the new Gothic Thriller “Winchester”

WINCHESTER

Inspired by true events. On an isolated stretch of land 50 miles outside of San Francisco sits the most haunted house in the world. Built by Sarah Winchester, (Academy Award®-winner Helen Mirren) heiress to the Winchester fortune, it is a house that knows no end. Constructed in an incessant twenty-four hour a day, seven day a week mania for decades, it stands seven stories tall and contains hundreds of rooms. To the outsider, it looks like a monstrous monument to a disturbed woman’s madness. But Sarah is not building for herself, for her niece (Sarah Snook) or for the troubled Doctor Eric Price (Jason Clarke) whom she has summoned to the house. She is building a prison, an asylum for hundreds of vengeful ghosts, and the most terrifying among them have a score to settle with the Winchesters…

Directed by: The Spierig Brothers (Jigsaw, Predestination)

Produced by: Tim McGahan (Predestination) and Brett Tomberlin

Cast: Helen Mirren (Eye In The Sky, The Queen), Jason Clarke (Mudbound, Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes), Sarah Snook (Steve Jobs, Jessabelle), Angus Sampson (Insidious, Mad Max: Fury Road), Finn Scicluna-O’Prey (True Story with Hamish & Andy, The Secret River)

Written by: Tom Vaughan, The Spierig Brothers (Jigsaw, Predestination)

#WinchesterMovie

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In Theaters February 2, 2018

http://www.fandango.com

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Hostiles Movie Review

Hostiles is an engaging western narrative about a stiff and reluctant Army Captain and his journey to tribal lands with a war chief he loathes.  Yes, I did say western, something you don’t see very often.  No matter what genre of film you might deem your favorite and which you’d usually steer clear of, I must insist you look at all of the players involved in this project and consider seeing this even if it might go against your grain.  It made my and many other film critics top movies of the year list.   Hostiles stars Christian Bale as emotionally charged Captain Joseph Blocker, who couldn’t be more indignant and hateful if he tried.  The film is set in 1892 at a time when men like Block have been hardened by years of fighting native Americans, taking their lands and destroying their lives.  Block practically regards them as subhuman.

Older now, the job he is assigned to at his post is that of the jailer.  Currently, he’s at a prison in New Mexico where he’s anything but kind to the natives he leaves them in exposed cells to bake in the sun all day.  One of those natives is Chief Yellow Hawk (Studi), who he despises from previous battles.  For the first time in his years with the Army, he gets an order that he’d rather not fulfill.  He is asked to escort chief Yellow Hawk, who has been imprisoned for seven years and is now riddled with cancer, to Montana to die and be laid to rest in his tribal burial site.  The president, in an attempt to right things with the Cheyenne Indians, is asking this of Block yet even this personal request doesn’t help get through to this soldier who is very set in his ways.  He’s against any native, let alone this once great warrior, being allowed to contrive, petition for and obtain such an honor.  With his future benefits on the line, he unenthusiastically gets a team together to be the chaperone for the chief and his family.  The moment they’re out of sight of the compound, he shows them who he really is.  He humiliates Yellow Hawk by putting him in binds and by cutting of the female’s hair.

While on their trek, they come across Rosalie Quaid (Pike), a young mother whose husband and children were recently murdered by some very hostile Comanche warriors.  Usually quite hostile himself, Blocker shows empathy for the woman when he notices she clutches to and tends to a dead infant as though it were still alive.  Bale brings one of his best performances as he shows a strong aura of altruism and expresses goodwill and humanity in slight gestures, revealing how deeply he understands what the woman is going through and how fear, anger and the loss of love got her to where she barely hangs on by a thread.  Earlier in the film, we see what she and her family go through when the Comanche happen upon them.  Though it isn’t overly gory, it is jarring when they’re killed.  Unable to leave her behind, Block has Rosalie join them and a friendship develops.  I must mention that much like the terrain they ride, Pike’s character has so many peaks and valleys that I wouldn’t be surprised to see her end up with an Oscar nomination.  The individual she portrays is challenging and with her performance, she meets every one of her challenges.

At a post they stop at for the night, Blocker picks up an Army Sergeant turned vicious criminal, Charles Wills (Foster), who needs to be transported to Montana to face trial.  Blocker does this believing Wills will be someone he could easily handle since Blocker was above him as they served in battle together.  Surely they will understand one another.  However, when Wills sees that Blocker has grown a little soft, actually speaking to the natives in his charge, he escapes, and the film gets bloody once again.

Through rhetoric that comes from Block and Wills, and as the film progresses, you’ll realize one thing above all else about why this film was made.  It’s a strong reminder that this country has been fighting in a war and for a long time… that war is Racism.  Blocker and Yellow Hawk have a moment of genuine respect and a mutual meeting of the minds and in that scene, you watch the significant message America needs to hear play out.  If westerns of the past didn’t make it clear, this film makes it crystal.  The natives have been horribly mistreated and judged unfairly but it is possible to peacefully coexist and we must if we’re going to find peace in this world.  It’s through peace and understanding that all things are possible.

The Post Movie Review

The post is a drama by Steven Spielberg about the ever-respected newspaper The Washington Post.  Spielberg has made on hell of a film that all American should see because what happened in 1976 is happening again today.  At the heart of the story is how an American president once tried to use the power of the White House to take the freedoms promised to the American people in The Constitution, away from us.  Chief among them, the freedom of the press but indirectly, the freedom of speech.  Sound familiar?

The Washington Post is trying to beat their rival paper, the New York Times on getting the full story of and be the first to publish what’s going on with many leaked documents known as the Pentagon Papers.  These documents have put the Nixon administration in some trouble and they’re on high alert.  The papers, which were secretly copied and leaked, contained evidence that the U.S. government had misled the public regarding our involvement in the Vietnam War.  Washington Post owner, Kay Graham (Streep) and her editor Ben Bradlee (Hanks) are relentless in their pursuit of the truth and their performances keep you riveted from the moment they step up to the plate.  They carry the story of these journalist’s trying to ensure the paper they run, and the public they represent, get a fair and fighting chance.  The script and score work together to do what may surprise you considering the fact that it’s a story about journalism, which is consume you and keep your interest the entire time.  The supporting cast does a great job of aiding in Spielberg’s efforts to bring you a timeless and thrilling reminder of what we almost lost and could lose at a moment’s notice.

The film takes you in several directions, being different things to different people, depending on how you’re viewing the film.  If you’re resisting what Trump stands for then The Post may help you see that there’s a chance for victory.  If you’re in the theatre because you were a fan of All the Presidents Men, you get the investigation you’re looking for in their battle to publish.  Speaking of All the President’s Men, if you’re curious, Hanks is a fitting Bradlee.  He’s no Jason Robards but he’s persuasive and ornery enough to take on the White House for his rights as an editor, the paper’s right to publish and for the right of the people to know the truth.

Graham, regardless of being the owner of the paper, faces chauvinism at every turn.  Her father left the paper to her husband when he died but now that her husband has passed away, the Post belongs to her.  She’s respected by some but now when it comes to making decisions like taking the paper public, she’s questioned.  She also sees publishing the Pentagon Papers as just the thing the Post needs to grow and no one in the boardroom wants to listen to her on either point.  Streep is marvelous as she defies what they suggest, ignores the White House no matter the threat, even going to court and does what’s best for the people.  Unbeknownst to her, she gives young women across the country someone to look up to.

See The Post this weekend, don’t wait for in-home watching.  It’s that good.  The final scene of the film is the beginning of Watergate and we know the hand the Post had there.  After watching this, you’ll reach the conclusion that it’s nice to know they’re still in the game.

THE POST Official Channels

Website: http://thepostmovie.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThePostOfficial/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepostmovie

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepostmovie/

Hashtag: #ThePost

INSIDIOUS: THE LAST KEY Movie Review

The producers of The Purge, Annabelle and Get Out, James Wan and Jason Blum, have joined to make Insidious: The Last Key, the fourth film in the Insidious franchise but definitely not the last in the series as the end is left wide open for more to come.  By the end of The Last Key, a prequel of sorts, you’ll be happy to know there’s more on the way but will notice there may be new major players to replace old critical roles.  It’ll be interesting to see this narrative blossom.  Whether you’ve seen the other three in the franchise or not, this film works and here’s why. 
They start off by giving us the backstory of, Elise (Shaye), a primary character in all three previous films.  She’s a loving, caring person who wants to help everyone who experiences paranormal activity as she has.  It’s these experiences that made her who she is today, a woman continually haunted by and battling, evil spirits.  Her, as she says in the film, ‘presence draws them out of their dark little corners.’  We see her throw caution to the wind and walk into to a horribly terrifying place; a place so chilling even she, an expert in her field, is having trouble walking into it… the very home she grew up in.

The house was next to the state penitentiary where people were put to death.  At her young age, she has the power to see souls who cross over to the other side, a skill that scares her little brother Ben, concerns her mother and angers her father.  Unfortunately, her father is so bothered by her gift that he hopes to whip it out of her, thrashing her across the backside severely if she mentions it.  No matter the swift retribution, she doesn’t lie to him so when asked directly if she saw something, she always tells the truth.  Young Elise, played remarkably well by actress Ava Kolker, who has us practically in tears watching her take her punishment of beatings and being sent to the dark and scary basement, screams and cries for her daddy to understand but he never stops his assault on her and acts just as horribly, if not more so, than any monster she’d ever come across.  This is why she grows up to be so forceful and effective later in life.

Elise works with a couple of young men from Spectral Sightings, Tucker (Sampson) and Specs (Whannell), who fancy themselves Ghost Hunters.  They record Elise as she attempts to reach the spirits.  Though these two are a bit goofy and annoying at times, they do help break the tension for the audience.  They’re the comic relief so to speak.  Tucker and Specs go with her to New Mexico when she’s summoned to face the entity within the house she grew up in for the current occupant of the residence.  Knowing what he’s facing, she feels she can’t leave him to face it alone.

Overall, I had a good time watching this installment of Insidious.  The acting was good and the scare factor was high.  I like where it left off and what you see coming.  I had a little problem with the look of the cheap cobwebs the set designer used and the fact that things, which have been sitting around for nearly sixty years, are still, largely, in fine shape.  Those things take me out of the moment sometimes but the jump scares whenever Elise is in that home are fantastic.  Little things like dust and blankets won’t detract from the terror going on in those scenes.  When she gets back in the house, she’s drawn into the dark, the further, and ends up bringing her brother’s young daughters down with her. 
The story is layered really well and there are surprises that’ll take you deeper and deeper into what she experiences, something you hope you never witness.  Director Adam Robitel keeps a grip on you by taking the innocence away from the young and making you ride with them on a frightening road to hell.  The discovery of who her father was will sneak up on you in such a way that you’ll applaud this effort and stay interested in taking the journey with this filmmaker in the future.  Any horror fan will enjoy his endeavors here.

Journey’s End – Trailer

Directed by:                            Saul Dibb

Written by:                             Simon Reade (screenplay), based on the Tony Award-winning play and novel by R.C. Sherriff

Produced by:                          Guy de Beaujeu and Simon Reade

Starring:                                  Sam Claflin, Asa Butterfield, Paul Bettany, Toby Jones, Tom Sturridge and Stephen Graham

Cinematography:                    Laurie Rose

Editor:                                     Tania Reddin

Production Design:                Kristian Milsted

Release date:                          March 2, 2018 (In NY and LA with nationwide expansion to follow) March 9 in PHX

Synopsis:                                March 1918. C-company arrives to take its turn in the front-line trenches of northern France, led by the war-weary Captain Stanhope (Claflin). With a German offensive imminently approaching, the officers (Bettany, Graham, Sturridge) and their cook (Jones) use food and the memories of their lives before the war to distract themselves, while Stanhope soaks his fear in whiskey, unable to deal with the dread of the inevitable. A young officer, Raleigh (Butterfield), arrives fresh out of training and abuzz with the excitement of his first real posting – not least because he is to serve under Stanhope, his former schoolhouse monitor and the object of his sister’s affections. Each man is trapped, the days ticking by, the tension rising and the attack drawing ever closer…

Runtime:                         107 minutes

Rating:                                     TBD
US Distributor:                        Good Deed Entertainment

In Theaters March 9, 2018

http://www.fandango.com

Top Ten Films for 2017

Coming up with a list of the best films of the year is something one usually looks forward to.  For me, this is never easy.  Especially for 2017.  There were so many important and worthy films to celebrate that as I have contemplated the list, I’ve almost considered its creation impossible.  To narrow down the top five had me literally beating my head on the desk.  There was an abundance of talented directors getting us lost in fascinating stories, stellar performances allowing us an escape into their world, highly skilled cinematographers constructing gorgeous landscapes for us to disappear into and very accomplished composers designing touching scores that invoked more feeling from us than we could have imagined.

Within these films were battles, heartbreaks, laughs and thrills all brought to us from beguiling and incredibly well-crafted screenplays and I wouldn’t trade my time having seen the words come to life for anything.  Presented for us was a great showman, a split personality, a personal shopper, a girl’s trip and another war in the stars.  Each of these stories deserved to be written and I’m glad that they were.

I was perfectly mesmerized nearly every time I sat before a screen, especially having the honor of witnessing the last performance of Carrie Fisher. 

For the reasons I’ve illustrated for you, I put this off as long as possible, simply because of it being so difficult but here, finally, is my Top Ten List.  I guess some movies were better than others, but I did enjoy so many.  I feel you will, too.  By the way, I couldn’t help myself and added some honorable mentions, as well. 

For the reasons I’ve illustrated for you, I put this off as long as possible, simply because of it being so difficult but here, finally, is my Top Ten List.  I guess some movies were better than others, but I did enjoy so many.  I feel you will, too.  By the way, I couldn’t help myself and added some honorable mentions, as well. 


10. Blade Runner 2049

9.  Killing of a Sacred Deer
8.  Detroit
7.  Hostiles
6.  Darkest Hour
5.  A Ghost Story
4.  Call Me By Your Name
3.  Dunkirk
2.  Loving Vincent
1.  
Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri

Honorable Mention:  Wind River, Split, Patti Cake$, Raw, Molly’s Game, Buster’s Mal Heart, Baby Driver, The Hero, Roman J. Israel, Esq. and I, Daniel Blake AND I, Tonya!  Can I add more?!?!  Fine!  Okay.  There they are.  It’s not without a struggle that I offer you this list.  I recommend that you see each and every one of these films and I hope you do.

All the Money in the World – Movie Review

‘All the money in the world can buy you many things, but it can’t buy you love.’  Isn’t that how the saying goes?  Perfect title for this film because this movie is that very statement come to life.  With this project, director Ridley Scott has taken on a story about oil tycoon J. Paul Getty. 
Getty has amassed a great fortune, has become the world’s first billionaire, and has become hardened to love.  Since he has so much money, more than he could ever spend, it seems everyone wants a piece of it.  People even send him letters, on a daily basis, pleading their case to see if he’d be willing to give them a few dollars to get them out of their current woes but his prosperity has one nasty side effect… greed.  In his greed lies the true heart of this story.

Early in the film, you see a little history on Getty, who’s played magnificently by Christopher Plummer, and how he gained his wealth.  He made deals for Saudi oil and then brought the oil out of the desert by creating a supertanker to carry it all out.  His intellect and understanding of how finance works then made his money grow.  Scott takes us to May of 1973 where one of Getty’s favorite grandchildren, John Paul Getty III (Charlie Plummer; no relation to Christopher), is kidnapped.  The kidnappers want seventeen million dollars for his safe return.  The kidnappers try to get the money from his mother, Gail Harris (Williams), who is divorced from Getty’s son.  She doesn’t have seventeen million dollars so she tries desperately to get the older Getty to understand what Paul’s life means to her.  She points out that she and Paul aren’t people writing a letter to him to try and get a piece of his fortune but instead that Paul, his own flesh and blood, is in real danger.

For foreshadowing on who Getty has become, we cut to nine years earlier where Getty is explaining to his young grandson that everything has a price.  To his own son, John Paul Getty II (Buchan), he explains why he was never home.  He had a business to run and he couldn’t be ‘weighed down’ with family.  Pay close attention to the wonderful dialogue in the script regarding money and who Getty considered himself to be.  Plummer is priceless.  The film originally had Kevin Spacey cast in the role of Getty but after he was accused of sexual misconduct, Spacey was replaced with Plummer who seemed so perfectly cast you can’t imagine Scott ever had someone else in mind.  Plummer’s stone face and cold heart, when it comes to what should be an easy decision to make, were almost frightening.

Getty gives a reason why he has decided not to pay to get his grandchild back.  The main reason is that he has fourteen grandchildren and if he pays for one, they may all be kidnapped.  During this period, he buys millions of dollars’ worth of collectibles that appreciate in value, but people aren’t profitable so therefore expendable.  Getty does allow Fletcher Chase (Wahlberg) his assistant, an ex-spy who specializes in negotiations, to help try and retrieve the boy from the kidnappers without it costing Getty a penny.  Wahlberg and Williams have great chemistry.  This chemistry builds with the stress of her plight and a relationship between them builds with the stress of her plight.  It continues throughout the rest of the story when Chase shows more feeling toward what she’s going through than Getty does.  Time goes by and the kidnappers get more and more anxious.  For the audience, the tension increases with every one of their unmet demands.  The price is dropped yet still Getty refuses to pay.  One of the kidnappers shows warmth for the boy but even this doesn’t save him from getting an ear removed.

Scott does a sensational job of juggling the story of desperate kidnappers, the frightened abducted youngster and almost despondent mother who, in dire straits, still hangs on to hope that she can get through to Scrooge.  She never cries for Getty, instead, illustrates for him how Paul having the Getty name is what has put him in danger and that Getty, himself, has some responsibility to help him.

All the Money in the World is definitely one of the best pictures of the year and Plummer’s performance is easily one of the best of the year, as well.  It comes out today, Christmas 2017, and I recommend you see it as a gift to yourself.