Behind the Scenes clip of PROFESSOR MARSTON & THE WONDER WOMEN

September 29, 2017
Watch as the cast of PROFESSOR MARSTON & THE WONDER WOMEN marvel at the origin story of the most famous female superhero in comic book history in this NEW piece!
The film stars Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall, and Bella Heathcote and is written and directed by Angela Robinson
In a superhero origin tale unlike any other, the film is the incredible true story of what inspired Harvard psychologist Dr. William Moulton Marston to create the iconic Wonder Woman character in the 1940’s. While Marston’s feminist superhero was criticized by censors for her ‘sexual perversity’, he was keeping a secret that could have destroyed him. Marston’s muses for the Wonder Woman character were his wife Elizabeth Marston and their lover Olive Byrne, two empowered women who defied convention: working with Marston on human behavior research — while building a hidden life with him that rivaled the greatest of superhero disguises.
PROFESSOR MARSTON & THE WONDER WOMEN Official Channels
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In Theaters October 13th

http://www.fandango.com

New Trailer for “Darkest Hour” with Gary Oldman!

September 29, 2017

During the early days of World War II, with the fall of France imminent, Britain faces its darkest hour as the threat of invasion looms.  As the seemingly unstoppable Nazi forces advance, and with the Allied army cornered on the beaches of Dunkirk, the fate of Western Europe hangs on the leadership of the newly-appointed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Academy Award nominee Gary Oldman).  While maneuvering his political rivals, he must confront the ultimate choice: negotiate with Hitler and save the British people at a terrible cost or rally the nation and fight on against incredible odds.  Directed by Joe Wright, DARKEST HOUR is the dramatic and inspiring story of four weeks in 1940 during which Churchill’s courage to lead changed the course of world history. 

Director: Joe Wright (“Atonement,” “Hanna,” “Pride & Prejudice,” “Anna Karenina”)

Writer: Anthony McCarten (“The Theory of Everything”)

Cast: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James, Stephen Dillane, Ronald Pickup, and Ben Mendelsohn

For more info, please follow the film on social:

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#DarkestHour

In Theaters November 22nd

http://www.fandango.com

American Made – Movie Review

September 29, 2017

In this action, comedy based on the true story of Barry Seal, a pilot for TWA who starts taking pictures of drug smugglers for the CIA then become a drug smuggler himself, then become a… I’m getting ahead of myself.  In American Made, Tom Cruise reunites with his Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Linman, who also directed the films, Swingers, Go, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Identity.  He definitely knows how to put the comedy in action, not to mention the action in action, and him and Cruise pairing up to make this film is a truly winning combination.  You’ll barely have a chance to take a breath watching the escapades Barry Seal gets into.  The film is also very nostalgic in its presentation.  As if to steal its cue from Tarantino, American Made is edited to look older on purpose to lend to the truth-telling it’s doing but also to keep up the fun.  It certainly wasn’t wasted on the audience I watched it with.  They couldn’t get enough.

While in a bar, Seal, unhappy and bored with his job as a commercial pilot, is approached by a member of the CIA, Monty ‘Schafer’ (Gleeson) who seems to know everything about Seal, especially about a little extra money-making scam he has going on.  He could reveal it to the authorities or… Seal could work for them.  Slimy Schafer wants Seal to fly above certain areas of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador and capture photos of Commies in the middle of doing illegal acts.  Seal is worried if it’s something safe. Schafer isn’t worried.  Seal wonders if it’s legal.  Schafer assures him it is.  Americans are the good guys!  This does little to make Seal feel better about the job but takes the offer.  What he never really realizes, and this is important, is that he is not a member of the CIA much like an informant isn’t a police officer.  Had he stopped to think about this, he, as he tells us several times in the film in a documentary style that will be explained later, would have passed.

Seal lands at an airstrip and finds himself a not so happy reception from Pablo Escobar (Mejía) and Jorge Ochoa (Edda).  They, like everyone else he has run into of late, know everything about who he is and what he has been doing.  So, they make him an offer he can’t refuse… not that he could.  He doesn’t know how to turn down money, even when he can no longer find a place to put it.  Escobar starts having him taking flights full of cocaine to the states for them.  The scenes with Escobar are some of the most comical in the movie.  This was just before Nancy Reagan hit the country with her ‘Just Say No’ campaign so when you find out who is working for who, it makes that slogan look like a contrived scam to appeal to the little people and she a useful tool to frighten U.S. citizens.

Barry also becomes a gunrunner for Panamanian dictator, Noriega.  It’s quite interesting seeing how he’s wrapped up in this, too.  Seal’s life gets complicated and he’s often nervous, so is the audience as they’re trying to keep up with the players, but that’s what makes this film so likable.  There is a lot going on and you’re just there for the ride.  Maps are made available to make it easier to understand.  Seal and his wife are moved from Louisiana to Arkansas, in the middle of nowhere, where he is given his own hanger, home and hideaway.  On his land, the military begins training members of the rebellion.  The not so bright rebellion.

The entire cast of American Made is glorious.  They make the film work and help you with the flip-flopping back and forth of the tale itself… of what Barry Seal really went through.  With what’s going on today in politics, seeing what the American government had a hand in doing while jailing Americans for smoking a joint will have you wondering just exactly what happens behind the scenes.  It may have you questioning things and could make you a bit uneasy but this is well told and entertaining.  I highly recommend you don’t skip it.  It’s good that this serious issue was presented to the public in the manner of an action/comedy.  It needs to be seen and understood and though it is only based on the true story, the Iran-Contra affair is a good reminder that there is always a reason to question.

Woodshock – Movie Review

September 29, 2017 (updated September 29, 2017)

WOODSHOCK

 

Kirstin Dunst has been working a lot lately, most recently in the remake of the film The Beguiled and her presence is very comforting.  She’s showing range with the characters she’s picking… she’s not a little girl anymore.  With this role, she’s a wee bit of a killer.  She plays Theresa, and also plays Executive Producer to the film itself.  Theresa is married to Nick (Cole), who works as a day laborer cutting down trees not far from home.  They live in an area surrounded by trees, live and dead ones, in a tiny home where they’ve also housed her very sick mother.  She talks to her mother about the pain she endures, which is making them both miserable.  Knowing a lot about extracts, Theresa decides to roll her a joint.  The joint has been laced with a few drops of something that will help the pain go away… forever.  She promises her mother a painless release.  Her mother smokes the joint and drifts away.  Having been incredibly close to her, Theresa finds it difficult to move on.  She does things anyone might do after the death of their mother.  She wears her clothes, looks in the mirror to find her mother inside of her and lays on the bed where she took her last breath.

She starts to smoke some of the special herb herself and here is where the movie turns into a nightmare for her.  Up until now, it has been a beautiful yet heartbreaking story of loss with fascinating cinematography by Peter Flinckenberg.  If you don’t like movies that are too alive and filled with motion, this could bother you some but the old-fashioned look they were going for, using filters and interesting fades, makes the film much more appealing during the trips Theresa takes in her mind.  She ends up there often and we see less and less of a truly clear picture.  The score was equally as engaging if not more so.  It was done by veteran Jake Jackson who has worked on such films as Love Actually, Lord of the Rings: Two Towers, The Road and Hell or High Water to name but a few.  These two artists enhance the splendor of watching Theresa’s struggle as she moves between being lucid and delusional.

She doesn’t spend much time with her husband anymore which isn’t helping her with her loneliness.  She starts working again at a friend, Keith’s (Asbaek), marijuana dispensary to feel a part of this world and to re-connect with life in general.  Store regular, Johnny (Kilmer) comes into the store and they hang out at a party.  This doesn’t lift her grief as she’d like so she retreats back into her habit of smoking her magic elixir.  When she does this, she isn’t sure of what it’s doing to her or what she’s doing to herself while under its influence.  She begins to rely on it and smokes so often that she’s starting to blend in with her surroundings and is barely able to recognize herself anymore.  She doesn’t smile and walks around almost completely lifeless.  Ed, an older gentleman who’s suffering from an unknown illness, comes into the store.  Per Keith’s instruction, she gives him what was given to her mother.  Somehow, the batches are mixed and it’s not Ed that gets the special mix.  Johnny does.  What has she done?  Not only is she torturing herself over this question, but Keith loses his mind and unleashes a ferocity on her she’s unable to handle.

The film gets rather twisted, as much as she is internally.  It’s very delicate in the way it treats her mother and Theresa’s clarity of mind to help her kill herself, but she is unable to handle her decision later and the filmmakers seem to somewhat lose the audience.  Again, Theresa walks amongst live trees but is surrounded by dead ones.  She doesn’t like trees being chopped down as they are alive and have the right to live.  She killed her mother.  She has a relationship with nature, loves it but is almost incapable of loving anything else. 

The movie draws from her pain and her desire to love and be loved; to be like her mother but the way it gets you to the end credits is slow moving and sometimes tiring.  A thrilling moment in the end when Theresa balances nature and rights things.  How we get to this point is by seemingly taking a long path through a thick brush and though you may enjoy the harmony of the music, editing and cinematography working together to create this dream state… you might not be able to get to the clearing.  If you’re a fan of the more ornamental, dramatic and eerily mysterious pictures, this is for you.  If a movie that decreases in its pacing and uses little dialogue that often acts more like a 3D piece of art than a film distracts you from your enjoyment of the said film, it isn’t.  Dunst and the rest of the cast are wonderful in their roles but will do little to help when the pacing gets you yawning.

*Playing exclusively at Harkins Camelview @ Fashion Square and Harkins Shea

Victoria and Abdul Movie Review

September 29, 2017 (updated September 28, 2017)

England was once a great Empire, and a great Empire needs a great ruler. Queen Victoria was that type of ruler. Even near the end of her reign, she was still the one in charge, and she let people know it. The movie “Victoria and Abdul” gets into detail about the Queen’s final years, and how a humble clerk from India played a large role in the royal household. Based on true events, it shows how a lonely and despondent lady (who happened to be Empress of India) made a close friend with a common man from that continent.

Queen Victoria (Judi Dench) is a tired and somewhat bored royal Head of State for England and all the colonies. For her Golden Jubilee, there will be two tall and rugged Indian men from the country there in the castle to present with a special gold coin, a mohur. The men are found, and they are brought to England for the ceremony. But one of them named Mohammed (Adeel Ahktar) is not tall or rugged. However, the other man is Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal), who is a clerk in his hometown of Agra, near the Taj Mahal. Abdul is optimistic and quite forward. He captures the eye of the Queen, and he and Mohammed are asked to stay in England for more than just the one ceremony.

Abdul presents more items to Victoria, and she decides to keep Mohammed and Abdul as special servants in the royal household. Mohammed is really mad, because he was told it would be a quick one-time thing and then they could go home. The Queen has other ideas, and the more she learns about Abdul, then more she wants him around. She declares that Abdul will be her “Munshi”, a wise teacher. He explains the history of India, and how food from there is flavorful and delicious. He teaches the Queen how to speak and write in Urdu, and he says it is native language of kings. He is bright and very eager to be helpful to Victoria.

Of course, the royal household is not equally enthralled with Abdul. Victoria’s son is Bertie, Prince Edward of Wales (Eddie Izzard) is not a fan and he would like to get Abdul to leave. The head of the castle is Sir Henry Ponsonby (Tim Pigott-Smith) is flummoxed by Abdul, and he is not able to convince the Queen that this situation is improper. The Prime Minister (Michael Gambon) is puzzled why the lowly clerk from India has made a place for himself next to the Empress of India. Also, Jane Spencer (Olivia Williams) is furious that the Queen is spending more time with Abdul and less time with staff. All of they want Abdul out of there, but none of them can convince the Queen.

Of course, the Queen did not rule forever, and upon her death – the situation did change drastically. But the overall enjoyment of this movie is seeing how Queen Victoria moved from being a side character in her own life to a full-fledged master of her own castle. The interactions between Abdul and the Queen are very interesting. She learns more about the area that she rules, yet has never seen. The house staff is constantly scheming to find a way to get the Queen out of Abdul’s Rasputin-like spell. Yet they never succeed and they are admonished again and again.

Dame Judi Dench is perfectly wonderful in the role of Queen Victoria. But then she ought to be. She played the monarch once before in the movie ‘Mrs. Brown’ (in 1997). Now as an older and more melancholy Queen, she is a joy to watch. Her mood picks up as she brings Abdul closer to the royal throne. When the rest of the staff get upset, she feels more in control and becomes confident.

Ali Fazal plays Abdul as a bit of a mystery man. He was picked at random to travel to England, but he plays it up to the hilt. He is pleased with anything that comes along that would make his life easier. He takes pleasure with his time with the Queen. But he passes over some facts, at first. Such as how he is Muslim, not a Hindu. And how he is married with a wife back home. And how he is from the common class, and not an educated teacher…

“Victoria and Abdul” plays out at times like a ‘Very Special Edition of Masterpiece Theater’.  Still, the performances are above par, and the locations shots are excellent. The music is moving and delightful. The script is filled with subtle humor and the costumes are period-piece perfect. It is a pleasant way to learn about the history of Queen Victoria. It is also the perfect way to see how Judi Dench makes magic happen…

 

Trophy Movie Review

September 22, 2017 (updated September 21, 2017)

“Trophy” is a study of balance. It is the balance of nature vs. man. Is it the balance of conversation vs. natural resource usage. It is the balance of animal rights vs. the ability to hunt big game. It is a question asked, and the answer is elusive. Many endangered species may be lost forever, but large funds are collected by groups to allow hunters the permits they want. These funds are used to protect the animals in their habitat, while only allowing a few to be hunted.

The documentary focuses on several groups of people. There is a big game hunter from Texas who wants the ability to hunt in Africa. And he is willing to pay top dollar for that privilege. There is a South African rhino breeder who has many hundreds of the animals. His groups will go out and regularly saw off the horns of the rhino, to prevent the animal from being poached and killed only for the horn. There is a wildlife officer in Africa who wants to prevent illegal trade in rhino horn and ivory. But many people in his back country can only exist of what they take from the land, including some endangered animals.

The film-makers travel to various parts of the world to explore themes in different places. There is the rhino farm in South Africa. There is a guided hunting safari in Namibia. There is a crocodile farm in Africa, and a Las Vegas convention that brings in all the major players in the big-game hunting industry. There is a lot of details to catch during the documentary. Sometimes a brief rundown is put up on the screen, a contrast of the number of animals in this year to another year. It is quick, but it is a fascinating way to see how the process of the endangered species came about.

The photography was very beautiful, since much of it was in the outbacks of Africa. There were a few very well-composed shots taken from overhead (from an airborne drone?). These shots are like viewing the landscape from God’s perspective, and they quite amazing. There are the normal ‘day in a life’ segments and the ‘sit down for an interview’ segments, and these are good. There is a couple of times where it looks like two opposite sides are going to have a loud confrontation, but these never do pan out to anything. One of the Wildlife officer guys starts talking with some animal right activists, and it gets a little heated.

Occasionally, the ‘pay for play’ hunters are shown to be a little too goofball. A little too much of a ‘hold my beer while I shoot this elephant’ type of thing. There probably are some who do behave that way, but it seems that all of them have spent quite a bunch of money to do just that. Also, that money then provides conservation methods and helps the local impoverished economy. The hunters are the not the bad guys in this picture, or at least, they shouldn’t be only bad.

This situation is a matter of life or death, to the animals that might become extinct. But man does have a role to play. By keeping the poachers at bay, and by bringing as much cash into the conservation of the animals – the right balance might be reached. “Trophy” does not say exactly where that balance lies. It lets the viewer think about what is best for the planet.

The Lego Ninjago Movie Review

September 22, 2017 (updated September 19, 2017)

Never before has there been a movie franchise where the audience didn’t mind at all about the Product Placement! Starting with “The Lego Movie”, and then on to “The Lego Batman Movie”, it has been a very enjoyable series. The fresh approach to an animated kid’s movie, based on the kid’s toy, makes a movie that is much more than just for kids. Can lightning strike a third time with “The Lego Ninjago Movie”, and can it produce another remarkable movie experience?

 

Starting with a brief live-action sequence, there is a young boy to meets the owner (Jackie Chan) of a Chinese curio shop. The owner begins to tell the boy about a far away (Lego) city called Ninjago, protected by a mighty (Lego) ninja warrior named … Lloyd (Dave Franco). Lloyd works with a group of friends and fellow ninjas; Kai (Michael PeĂąa), Jay (Kumail Nanjiani), Nya (Abbi Jacobson), Cole (Fred Armisen) and Zane (Zach Woods). Respectively, they are Green Ninja, Fire Ninja, Lightning Ninja, Water Ninja, Earth Ninja and Ice Ninja. This team of young fighters is guided by Master Wu  (also Jackie Chan).

 

The city of Ninjago is always attacked by an evil warlord named Lord Garmadon (Justin Theroux). Garmadon happens to be Lloyd’s absentee father, and Master Wu is Garmadon’s older brother. Garmadon took the path of darkness and evil, while Wu took the path of light and goodness. That can be tough on the family reunions… But after the recent attack by Garamdon, Lloyd stole the ‘Ultimate Weapon’ from Master Wu’s stockpile. And that unleashed an even greater terror, Meowthra. Meowthra is a cute kitten that comes around and knocks over half of Ninjago.

 

Master Wu says that there is an ‘Ultimate, Ultimate Weapon’ hidden in a secret place far away. But only a Master Ninja can use the weapon, and Lloyd is not yet a Master Ninja. So the entire team sets out to journey far away on a quest to become powerful Ninjas who can fight off and defeat Meowthra. Master Wu and the gang are attacked by Lord Garmadon. Garmadon is captured, but Master Wu seems to fall to his death. So they proceed to the final destination with Garmadon as prisoner.

 

There are many obstructions on the way to find the hidden weapon. When they arrive at “Temple of Fragile Foundations”, Lord Garmadon has become more of a father figure to Lloyd (whom he always calls “La-Lloyd”). He explains that Lloyd’s mother Koko (Olivia Munn) was once a Ninja Master called Iron Dragon. The other Ninjas find their inner powers and the group becomes more powerful. Lloyd has become a true Ninja Master, and he is ready to take on the terror of Meowthra. But oops! Lord Garmadon is still up to his evil ways, and it willing to destroy the Ninjas and let the city of Ninjago fall to the clutches of the cute kitty Meowthra.

 

So, will there be a final climax with Ninja fighting and Master Wu returning and Meowthra purring? Also, as Lloyd learns to be a true Master and Leader, and as he reconciles with his father Lord Garmadon, will find inner peace? Also, will the movie find its inner power at the box office? All signs point to yes…

 

This movie has an unusually large group involved with creation of what made it to the screen, seven people working on the overall story, six people with credit for the screenplay, and even three directors. It also has quite a few name actors performing in the main voice roles, but they are well suited and the casting works out fine. The animation is clean and bright, and the made-up city of Ninjago is a wondrous thing. The pace is quick and it keeps the characters moving and interacting.

 

Lego made a good choice to allow qualified people to take up the burden of making a simple toy block set and turning it into a major motion picture franchise. Each new movie is taking Lego higher and higher, building the brand and expanding the audience. I just hope that doesn’t give somebody the idea to maybe make something called “The iPhone Movie”…

Kingsman The Golden Circle Movie Review

September 22, 2017 (updated September 20, 2017)

“Kingsman: The Golden Circle” is a follow-up to “Kingsman: The Secret Service”. That movie was a fresh take on spy movies in general, and James Bond type movies in specific. The English upper crust non-government spy group called ‘Kingsman’ was a fun but violent wild ride. The characters and the organization were displayed in detail. ‘Manners Maketh Man’ was the catch phrase that meant the bad guys would be brought down hard, but with wit and in debonair style. Oxfords only, please…

Now in the new sequel movie, the “Golden Circle” can only bring home the Bronze. In the first one, Eggsy (Taron Egerton) was brought in to the group by long-time agent Harry Hart (Colin Firth). Unfortunately, Harry was shot in the head in the first movie and is assumed dead. The special tech support agent named Merlin (Mark Strong) still helps Eggsy on his missions. But a new bad guy is afoot. A washed-out recruit (from the first movie) named Charlie (Edward Holcroft) is working for a drug cartel leader. Charlie attacks Eggsy and nearly kills him. Charlie has a mechanical arm that makes him super strong.

 

The new evil drug lord in named Poppy Adams (Julianne Moore) and she is taking over all drug distribution world wide. But her evil plan is to taint the drugs with a potion that will eventually kill all the users. She will blackmail all world leaders to pay her a ransom for the antidote. But first she eliminated all the Kingsman facilities. Only Eggsy and Merlin are left alive. They only have one option – they must contact the fraternal organization in the United States – the Statesman.

 

The Statesmen finally figure out that Eggsy and Merlin are OK, so they decide to help them out. But they also find the Statesman have been holding Harry Hart, who is alive but without any memories. The agents in Statesmen, led by Champ (Jeff Bridges), are Agent Tequila (Channing Tatum), Agent Whiskey (Pedro Pascal) and the technical support agent Ginger (Halle Berry). They reconnect Eggsy with Harry, but Harry does not know anything about Kingsman. But when Poppy has threatened the entire world into paying ransom, the remaining Kingsman and Statesman must band together for a united attack against her.

 

The action moves fast and in (golden) circles all over the globe. Firs, Eggsy goes to a music concert in England, to chase down Charlie’s ex-girlfriend. Then to the French Alps, to a secret location to find where the antidote is being made. And back and forth to England and to the U.S. to check up on things. And then to Cambodia to locate Poppy Adams in her secluded jungle hideout. Did I mention that she is also keeping Elton John hostage for some reason? Yes, the action set pieces are very much on target, but the ping-pong, crisscross of back and forth in the world gets in the way.

 

“Kingsman: The Golden Circle” is still a fair spy movie, but it does not have any of the fresh ideas of the first movie. It works around getting the main character (Harry Hart) killed in the first one by some oddball mumbo-medical-jumbo. The movie has the same weird demeaning attitude to women as the first one does. There are very limited motivations for why Poppy is so bad and evil, and why she still thinks she is stuck in the ’50s. There is more screen time for Elton John than there is for Jeff Bridges. Now who thought that would be a good idea?

The things that the movies get right are the action sequences. They are shot in a way that the camera shows in a very way fluid manner what is going on and where everybody is. That is much better than most shaky-cam shots in other movies, where the editing shows nothing about what is happening. The idea to have the U.S Statesman use the cover of a distillery is clever. The Kingsman cover was an upscale tailor shop in London, but you can’t take a drinking tour of a tailor shop…

 

All of the acting is at a pretty high quality level. The standout would be Pedro Pascal who is fantastic. He would be the perfect pick to star in a biographical movie about Burt Reynolds! Julianne Moore plays a bit over-the-top as Poppy, but that is her character. The ones who get so little screen time are Halle Berry, Channing Tatum, Jeff Bridges. They might have been played by just about anyone. Colin Firth and Taron Egerton also bring their ‘A’ game.

 

So, it is not as good as the first, it runs a little too long, and the locations are too scattered. But the acting is solid, and action parts are off-the-wall quality stuff. The result is that the “Golden Circle” can only bring home the Bronze, it does not deserve the Gold, or even the Silver.

 

Brad’s Status Movie Review

September 18, 2017 (updated September 18, 2017)

Meet Brad.  He’s smart, he’s a good husband and father, he’s a philanthropist but, largely, he’s average.   Well, to himself, he’s average and at this point in his life that’s the worst thing he could be.  Brad (Stiller) is a guy who has found middle age an impossibly uncomfortable place to be.  With his son Troy (Abrams) about to go to college, he recalls what he was like at that age and thinks about all the things he wanted, the opportunities he had and what he did with those opportunities.  He has spent most of his adult life comparing himself to the friends he went to college with.  This hasn’t helped his self-esteem because most of them are successful, even famous in some circles.

Throughout the film, Brad tells us, through voice-overs, that he doesn’t like himself.  His inner thoughts, when he has a conversation with someone, is generally how awful a person he believes himself to be.  Since college, all his best friends have done well for themselves so, ‘what’s to like about me?’  Watching his son advance in life to the point of starting his college days, he worries Troy could turn out like him.  Another fear is, how will he feel if Troy turns out better?  What if he has all the success Brad only dreamed of?

Brad owns and operates a non-profit and though he lives in a nice home and all his needs are met, he believes his life’s work to be, in his words, ‘Absurd.’  He can’t see through all of his jealousy and his need to have more, be more. 

He continually focuses on his station or status in life, judging whether being wealthy or not speaks to what quality of a person you are.  He wonders how life would be if he were rich like his old friends, who live life as if it was a giant playground while he walks the earth with bills to worry about, finding his ground more in the battle variety. 

Where did it go wrong, he asks himself?  The voice-over is there to stay but don’t fret, it works correctly to advance the story.  He and Troy take a trip to Boston to visit some universities.  Troy misses the interview with Harvard and Brad calls on a powerful and influential friend, Craig, played by Michael Sheen. Craig comes through for him, beautifully and gets Troy in to speak with the dean.  This moment is big for this young musical prodigy and he’s proud of his father. 

There are several touching moments in the film between father and son.  Regarding the actual music in the film, it’s completely theatric and necessary.  During Brad’s inner dialogue, generally, the scene is accompanied by a single hopping bow across the bridge of a violin.  The sound emanating from the instruments F-Holes directed the mood Brad was in and highlighted the black cloud hanging over his head.  Every note heard fits into the scene perfectly; the film wouldn’t have been as good without it. 

Troy and Brad have dinner with a friend of Troy’s who already attends Harvard and within her, Brad sees the drive and the idealistic intentions he once had.  This was the turning point of the film where he tries to explain to her that wanting to help will not be appreciated and that instead, her efforts will go unnoticed and she’ll be forgotten about.  This conversation with her awakens him because through her judging eyes and her voice he hears and sees his own, or at least who he once was and would rather be again instead of this bitter man he has become.  He has a nice life, doesn’t struggle, but always wants more.  When will enough be enough? 

He hears of the passing of a favorite professor which hits him hard.  It’s this loss where Brad puts things more into perspective.  Family.  Love.  Time.  Those things are important.  His son, who doesn’t see him as a failure is who matters, not old friends that don’t call and who, as it turns out, aren’t exactly who he thought they were, after all.  Brad is alive.  Time to be alive and live for himself, not for any of them.

Again, the music throughout every scene is spectacular.  Though the character of Brad is depressing you a fair amount of the time, Ben does well with him, carrying the heavy load, so to speak.  Brad will frustrate at times and will move you to tears the next.  The best part is that at no time during this movie will you see a character like Derek Zoolander come through Stiller’s performance.  This is some of the best work I recall seeing from him.  Abrams’ portrayal of Troy is competent.  He has a real grasp of the character and is the perfect complement to Stiller’s Brad.  When Brad was at his most erratic, Abram watched his co-star and went completely in the opposite direction which thoroughly balanced the movie.

Photo Credit : Jonathan Wenk / Amazon Studios

*For more information, visit the website and check out the social pages:

WEBSITE: https://bradsstatus.movie/

FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/bradsstatus

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/bradsstatus

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/bradsstatus/

HASHTAG: #BradsStatus

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