KPK on the CINEMA (37): The Films of JANUARY 2015

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I saw 29 films the first month of 2015, including several forays into actual theaters to see celebrated Oscar contenders. January saw some classics lots of near-classics, a corny- yet illuminating musical, a few disappointing misses including the best 1-star film ever made! Enjoy!

(Ratings are on a 5 star scale. Note that a classic only becomes a classic after a decade or more.)

(Titles in purple have been expanded for Flix Pix columns.)

> Ready? Set? …Go!

LIFE ITSELF (2015)+
VISITORS (2014)+
BOYHOOD (2014)+
CALVARY (2014)*
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (2013)*
INHERENT VICE (2015)+
THE GREAT LOCOMOTIVE CHASE (1956)*****
LOVE IS STRANGE (2014)*+
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 (2014)**
THE IMITATION GAME (2014)
CHEF (2014)*+
A TALE OF SPRINGTIME (1990)
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (2014)
MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND (1996)+
SELMA (2014)**
BROKEN ARROW (1950)*
SOAPDISH (1991)***
DIVERGENT (2014)*+
THE ZERO THEOREM (2013)+
MALA NOCHE (1985)+
12 O’CLOCK BOYS (2013)**
FRANK (2014)
THE MONUMENTS MEN (2014)*
PENELOPE (2006)***
DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (1939)*
QUICK CHANGE (1990)+
INK (2009)+
1776 (1972)
MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT (2014)**

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

LIFE ITSELF (2015) ****+

> What a great beginning to my new year- to start off with such a dynamite film!

. This biopic of the late Pulitzer Prize winning movie critic Roger Ebert delivers beautifully on many different levels: as a portrait of a man’s life and work, a love story, a story of professional rivalry and a medical drama about facing death with dignity. Roger was such a public man, that we may think we know all there is to know about the infectiously enthusiastic cinephile. We would be wrong. Knowing he was dying soon of jaw cancer, the public man invited celebrated filmmaker Steve James (HOOP DREAMS, STEVIE, THE INTERRUPTERS) to make a documentary from his memoir of the same name- bringing the story, unflinchingly, right up to the limits of his life.

. Seeing Roger unable to speak, with a gaping hole where his jaw had been, is horrifying indeed. We can literally see through his lower face to his neck and collarbone, and it is a painful, painful sight- that is only mitigated when he smiles- mostly with his sparkling eyes. What hell he must have endured at the end! But Roger stayed remarkably positive throughout, continuing to find joy in his life through the love of his wife Chaz, and a single-minded devotion to his life’s work: sharing his deep and abiding love for movies. As a fellow film-nut and (amateur) reviewer, this sometimes-crusty man held a special place in my heart. I agreed with him more often than not. In any case, I always saw and understood his point- even if I disagreed.

– But none of that matters here. Here is a love story about a man, and his devotion. Sometimes uplifting, sometimes heart-wrenching, it’s just a beautiful document- a film well-made about a life well-lived.

VISITORS (2014) ****+

> I had not the slightest doubt that I would love this strikingly visual tone poem- and I was not in the least disappointed.

. Amazing one-of-a-kind director Godfrey Reggio had made a new film after KOYAANISQATSI, POWAQQATSI and NAQOYQATSI? That’s all I needed to know!

. This singular visionary only makes breathtaking films. The man spent fourteen years in silence, contemplating taking his vows as a monk! All those years of thoughtfulness show in every frame of every film he has ever made. Sure his films are not for everyone: so far, they all have no dramatic structure, but just meander spectacularly through the natural and man-made worlds, exploring the conflict between the two in abstract montages that are as beautiful (and occasionally terrible!) as anything you have ever seen. (I am excited to read that his next project will be his first narrative film.) VISITORS is serious filmmaking: thoughtful, deep, resonant, gorgeous, profound.

. This one is shot entirely in crisp, stark black-and-white, and it is a stunner! The first image is absolutely unforgettable. We sit, face to face with an amazingly calm and focused lowland gorilla named Triska, who just stares into the lens for the longest time- the slightest change in her facial expressions communicating a wealth of intelligence and sensitivity. We feel privileged- treated to something very few people would ever experience in real life. Her face is contrasted with faces of humans, also sitting and staring straight into the camera, and the effect is dazzling! If you are a people-watcher, you will love this film.

. We also see nearly static shots of big, impersonal structures that occasionally go on far too long for my liking. Fortunately, this is only a minor tangent. We soon return to images of living creatures and the dazzling natural world- including a slow cruise through a mangrove swamp that is among the most beautiful sights I have ever beheld…

– Why are you reading this review when you could be WATCHING THIS FILM?!

BOYHOOD (2014) ****+

> Movies are magic. They have the unique ability to define our lives, expand and enrich our world, shed light on the mysteries of living, educate and elucidate, articulate crucial questions about what gives life meaning, help us see ourselves with a clear eye that is otherwise muddied by proximity. It is an art form that helps us step outside of ourselves, and see ourselves as others see us. Films focus the beauty, the horror, the angst, the almost unbearable transience of living, and reduce the essentially infinite complexities, to the most fundamental and rudimentary of essence, and to make them comprehensible, digestible, lucid and visceral. Roger Ebert knew this. I wish he had lived to see this transcendent film.

. I honestly don’t know that I have ever been more excited about seeing a movie. I am a big fan of experimenter Richard Linklater from his diverse achievements in DAZED AND CONFUSED, WAKING LIFE, FAST FOOD NATION, A SCANNER DARKLY, ME AND ORSON WELLES, the remarkable “MIDNIGHT” trilogy- and the buzz on this absolutely unique project could not have been more enthusiastic. Simply: Mr. Linklater has attempted something no other filmmaker in the history of cinema has ever attempted! He shot a narrative film whose story-arch covers twelve years… over twelve years! It’s obvious why this had never before been attempted: it was a huge risk to investors! So much can happen in twelve years to derail such an ambitious project- not the least of which, the death of an irreplaceable contributor- perhaps even in year eleven! But the gamble paid off in a big, big way- as we get to watch these family members age in quasi-real time, experiencing the challenges and milestones, the glories and heartrending banalities of family life in America.

. The boy in question is Mason- a normal lad living with his mother and sister in suburban Texas, played excellently by young actor Ellar Coltrane, who ages from six to eighteen over the course of this extraordinary film’s (brisk!) three-hour running time. All the central actors age twelve years from compelling stars Patricia Arquette (in a very grounded performance as Mason’s mom) and Ethan Hawke (always charismatic, but perhaps trying a bit too hard here), playing the absent father, to the filmmaker’s daughter Lorelei Linklater playing Mason’s sister Samantha.

. Seldom has a more ambitious film reached so high and succeed so consistently. In the early scenes, I began to doubt what so many before me had seen in this film, because the performances from the child actors- while not at all bad- looked more like ‘kids pretending’, than ‘people being’. I quickly realized that in casting the central roles, Linklater and his casting director were focusing more on potential, than immediately evident talent. They had to choose on faith that over the twelve year shoot, these child actors would grow into their roles- and you bet they did! Ellar is so damn good by the ending, one has little doubt he has a career ahead.

. One of my only criticisms: because no warning is given when we suddenly jump years forward in these character’s lives, BOYHOOD sometimes feels kind of choppy and disjointed. Marriages form and dissolve in the blink of an eye. Characters are introduced, only to disappear. There is not time to explore each growth stage very deeply. But that’s life, isn’t it? We never know who, in our cast of characters, is playing a walk-on role and who will stick around for the entire narrative, and there is never enough time in life for… anything!

. There were two transcendent moments in BOYHOOD that I will never forget, because they were so true, so real, so accurate. I know. I lived them! The first, is the very first shot in the film: a young Mason lying on the grass in front of his school, staring up in wonder at the sky and contemplating the wondrous questions a six year old boy wonders. I only wished the shot had lingered- just a little. The second happened much later in the film. Mason is a young man now, facing all the trials and rites of passage young people face in modern American society, on his first day of college. He is on a drug trip, hiking in a canyon with newly met acquaintances and sharing a surprisingly intimate moment, with a girl with whom he shares an obvious attraction. Their dialogue and the subtle, impeccably timed interplay between them is absolutely wonderful. I was so delighted, I could not help but spontaneously outburst an enthusiastic: “Perfect!” And in a heartbeat- the film was over.

. I had been wondering all along how one ends a film about boyhood. Where is that dividing line, where one’s childhood is definitively past? Aside from death, life does not usually provide definitive endings. (I am facing this question in my memoirs right now.) Apparently, visionary director Richard Linklater ends such a film with one of the most perfect moments I have ever experienced in the cinema.

– Richard Linklater! You are a God among filmmakers. Thank-you for following your Muse! I can hardly wait to see what else you have up your sleeve…

CALVARY (2014) *

> This Irish drama was easily one of the best films I’ve ever seen and, simultaneously, one of the biggest disappointments I have ever experienced at the movies.

. For me, this film is the anti-BOYHOOD. At the close of BOYHOOD I could not help but cry aloud (to nobody) “Perfect”! At the end of CALVARY I had a similar uncontrolled outburst- but this time the word I chose was “Shit!” The ending to CALVARY was shit. I quite enjoyed the other film by John Michael McDonough (THE GUARD), which was also set in his home country of Ireland and also starred the fantastic Brendon Gleeson. In fact, I am predisposed to enjoy Irish films because I am anything but impartial on the subject: I’ve been to Ireland 14 times. It is the home of my heart. And right up until the penultimate scene, I thought I was watching my fourth 4½ star film in a row! John (brother of Ireland’s greatest living playwright and filmmaker Martin McDonough), has crafted a perfect- and perfectly useless film.

. The set-up, established in the first few minutes of the film- before the opening credits even roll, is a potent one: Father James is a parish priest in rural Sligo. He sits in the confessional waiting to hear the next parishioner’s confession, when a man enters and informs the stunned priest that, as revenge for the childhood sexual abuse he received at the hands of bad priests, he planned to kill this good priest, to get the attention of a jaded world. This good priest is given just over one week to put his affairs in order and make his peace with God, at which point he is instructed to walk down to the beach to be assassinated. Father James is pretty sure he recognizes the voice as one of the local characters, but the sanctity of the confession hamstrings him from doing much about it. The rest of the film is a countdown to Sunday and the priest’s date with his own private Calgary. This portion of the film is as good as films get. Its unflinching depiction of modern Irish country life is almost shockingly spot-on. It is in every sense, a wise and knowing film.

. These are morally troubled times, and even though Gleeson’s priest is well liked, the Catholic church is barely able to hold on to its faithful. It seems everybody in the village is having a crisis of faith, and as the man stalking Father James is never named, we begin to imagine a number of possible suspects. All these characters are excellently played by skilled, compelling actors, from Chris O’Dowd to M. Emmet Walsh. But CALVARY is Brendon Gleeson’s movie. He’s an actor who has never given a bad performance- not one, and I have seen every feature film he ever made. Brendon Gleeson is not merely good here- he is spectacular! Every moment he is onscreen is rich and alive and cackling with electricity. It is a killer performance! Everyone is dynamite here, and most of them seem to have good reasons to hate the domineering church. So many people harbor bitter resentments to the institution that we never really know who the would-be murderer is, until that final Sunday when he comes walking up the beach to carry out his terrible plans. Yes, Father James did not inform the authorities, and no- he does not skip town as an act of simple self-preservation. This good priest is not that kind of a man. He knows his assailant is in spiritual agony, and knows it is his job to minister to such lost souls, so he walks calmly down to meet his fate.

. Throughout the film, I became convinced I was watching a Martin McDonough film, as it bore so much resemblance to IN BRUGES, SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS and his Academy Award winning short SIX SHOOTER, also starring Brendon Gleeson. The two brother’s formulas are so similar as to be almost indistinguishable. And this was a major part of the problem. Martin’s stock in trade is humorous carnage. All his films involve funny, compelling, deeply flawed characters who ultimately settle their conflicts with horrific violence. Yuck! (Frankly, I often feel guilty enjoying the mayhem in Martin McDonough’s bloody, bloody films as much as I do.) And right up until the final choice, this film was the best movie either of them had ever made! I absolutely LOVED 99% of this film. The problem was: I absolutely HATED the remaining 1%. If that 1% didn’t come at the end, I would have said I was watching a near-masterpiece. Conceptually, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the existential choice made to resolve the conflict. It made perfect sense in so many ways that I cannot elucidate without revealing the outcome. But it’s not hidden- it’s right there in the title! The outcome of that confrontation on the beach is an integral part of the central metaphor, so there was no coy gameplaying here on screenwriter McDonough’s part. But the pivotal moment came down to two choices: one very powerful and satisfying, the other unimaginative, just rotely following the formula of the film- and though McDonough may have made the choice with the most integrity- it was also the worst possible choice to deliver a satisfying film.

. CALVARY is an amazing, wonderful, sparkling, resonant film- so why just ONE stinkin’ star? Simple: if someone had warned me about the ending- as I am warning you, I would not have wasted my time on what was ultimately a deeply disappointing film. Endings matter. It doesn’t matter if most of the film is spectacular if the ending leaves you angry, upset, and dissatisfied. Unfortunately, that is the bitter taste you are left with here.

– Hey John McDonough: You are an amazing artist! And oh yes: FUCK YOU dude!

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (2013) *******

> Tracy Letts adapted the screenplay from his own stage play, a story about family dysfunction on the plains of Oklahoma.

. Patriarch Sam Shepard goes missing one day, and the family comes to comfort drug-addled cancer victim Meryl Streep in a big, showy performance as the intense, overbearing matriarch. There is some very good writing here, and it is a pleasure to watch all these actors at work, but (THE ROYAL TENNENBAUMS aside), I am not a big fan of the genre of “dysfunctional family drama”. People yelling at each other gets tiresome for me fast. Everybody here is damaged goods with major baggage, from a bitter, raging Julia Roberts battling estranged husband Ewen McGregor (wasted here), to a tormented Benedict Cumberbatch (excellent), embroiled in a tragic, illicit affair with (highly underrated actress) Julianne Nicholson, to a very good, very nasty Margo Martindale being read the riot act by fed-up husband Chris Cooper, (very good, as always- especially when, as a man of few words, he is called upon to say grace at a solemn occasion).

. A promising formula, yet there didn’t seem to be anything new here, and when it ended… it just ended.

– I guess August was over.

INHERENT VICE (2015) **+

> I am a big fan of this director. Paul Thomas Anderson and I grew up practically in the same neighborhood, both worshipping movies and dreaming of directing them.

. In the manner of Wes Anderson, P.T. Anderson’s is a truly original American voice. I was hooked from his first feature HARD EIGHT, and absolutely floored by the amazing MAGNOLIA. But I have found the same flaw in all his other films, even films I liked very much like BOOGIE NIGHTS: they often tend to just go on too long. Wonderful scenes outlive their welcome. They have persistent pacing problems and would benefit from a deft and dispassionate editor. The trailers for this latest P.T. Anderson flick looked very promising, but as with David O. Russell’s AMERICAN HUSTLE, the film did not live up to the promise of the preview. Many wonderful scenes, anchored by the ever-perfect Joaquin Phoenix, are followed by scenes that I can only describe by using that most egregious of cinema adjectives: “boring”. This film had so much potential, as the first Thomas Pynchon novel ever translated to film, but it was frequently just tedious, listless, flat.

. The public may not agree. The rest of the audience clearly liked it better than I. Many people laughed out loud at things I found merely endearing or diverting. Part of the problem, no doubt, is me. I just don’t care much for the mystery genre, unless it’s done as effectively as GOSFORD PARK or the original SLUETH. The plot here was so thick and the delivery of the lines so muddled that I just couldn’t keep up. There was a lot of talk about various characters and events, but we didn’t get to see much of them.

. Benicio del Toro was utterly wasted in a role a thousand other actors could have done. Reese Witherspoon and Owen Wilson weren’t given much to do. Mr. Anderson’s life partner Maya Rudolph had all of two lines to speak. Like Mr. Phoenix, Josh Brolin worked hard at delivering a memorable character- but ultimately: yack, yack, yack- he didn’t have much to do either- and his character had no real resolution. It sure was fun to see Sam Waterston’s daughter Katherine’s fascinatingly beautiful face (and perfect breasts!), but her scenes went on too long also. I began to worry if she was getting cold, doing such a long scene in the buff. Hope those bright lights warmed her up.

– This film has its pleasures, but they are buried in a lot of cardboard.

THE GREAT LOCOMOTIVE CHASE (1956) *******

Taken from the same story that inspired Buster Keaton’s silent classic THE GENERAL, this Walt Disney live action historical drama is the true story of Union spies stealing a Southern locomotive in a bid to burn the trestles behind them, and help bring about the close of the Civil War. Disney leading man Fess Parker (a childhood idol as Davy Crockett), is well respected in southern society, so he is able to bluff his way through tense situations in this stiff but frequently exciting movie. Things do not turn out ideally- history does not always provide the outcomes a storyteller would prefer, but even with its shortcomings this film still works all these decades later. And it’s quite a bit more sophisticated than I would have imagined mid-fifties live action Disney to be.

LOVE IS STRANGE (2014) ***+

> Ah, such sweetness! Of all the gay-themed films I’ve ever seen, this is one of the most gentle and tenderhearted.

. Partners of 39 years, painter John Lithgow and choirmaster Alfred Molina are getting married. It is clearly love, and these two great screen actors never let us doubt it for a second. Their friends and family adore them and all is bliss… until the word gets out to the hierarchy of the church Alfred works for, at which point he is summarily sacked. Hard times befall this committed couple, when they are forced to sell their comfortable New York apartment and stay with various friends and family, including the always-appealing Marisa Tomei. The catch? No one has room for both, so during these hard times, the loving pair is forced to live apart.

. Hey! This is an Americanization of the classic 1937 tearjerker MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW, and the same plot as the Japanese film TOYKO STORY, from 1953! I was too in the moment of the film to connect the dots. No wonder it all works so well.

. These two wonderful thespians are able to make us really feel deeply for these people and their predicament. When Molina and Lithgow are onscreen together, the illusion of love they radiate simply dazzles. They work together in the way Sam Waterston and Martin Sheen don’t in, TV’s Grace and Frankie. These two make the relationship feel real and authentic. Consequently, we care very much about their eventual happiness.

You never doubt their deep bond for an instant.

. LOVE IS STRANGE is a warm, moving, life-affirming hug of a movie, and if you love either life or films, I urge you to see it.

– Just: sweetness itself!

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 (2014) ********

> Most of the way through this one, I was thinking: yeah- okay. But it’s not the original.

. The voice of Hiccup’s long-lost mother did not seem to match the smooth face that did not seem to match the character’s age. The amazingness of the backgrounds was not nearly matched by the relative blandness of character design. But when this film kicked into high gear it was surprisingly pretty damn intense! The design and “editing” of the action sequences was pretty awesome to behold. (That Alpha Dragon: HOLY SHIT!) I loved the score (if I hated the featured song!), and appreciated the complexity of the moral conundrum presented: what does the peacemaker do when he finds he cannot impose peace on a violent world?

– Pretty damn good for a number 2.

THE IMITATION GAME (2014) ********

> This popular film is solid oldschool filmmaking from promising Norwegian director Morten Tyldum the creative mind behind the riveting thriller HEADHUNTERS in 2011. It’s a biopic about the troubled life of Alan Turing, the man who cracked the “uncrackable” German codes produced by their ingenious Enigma machine during World War II. Alan figured the only way to reverse the cryptography of the machine was with another machine- a “thinking machine” that would become the predecessor of the modern computer.

. Current sensation Benedict Cumberbatch (familIar to many as unlikely TV heartthrob Sherlock Holmes), is very good in the central role, as is Keira Knightly as his only female counterpart in this otherwise male-centric story. (Back then, the stiff upper lip Brits did not believe war or academia were a woman’s domain.) The whole group labors feverishly against the clock, as all the work of the day is undone come each midnight, when the enemy re-calibrates Enigma to defeat decoding efforts. They also fight shortsighted bureaucrats who threaten to shut down their expensive codebreaking project at any point. Alan is the unequalled resident genius, but he is also a cold oddball, coming off as clueless and arrogant and socially awkward. It becomes clear that Alan was, to some degree, what we would today call autistic, when he tells a friend that people are like cyphers because they don’t say what they mean, and he can’t read what anyone is really thinking by the expressions on their faces.

. In telling this gripping narrative, Mr. Tyldum presents us with a film with impeccable credentials: a compelling true-life thriller with the highest of stakes: millions of human lives! The production design is first-rate, providing a palpable sense of time and place that resonates believably throughout. The fact that I found the plotline completely predictable until the film was nearly over did not impact my enjoyment one bit, because the content was always so compelling- particularly in the literate script, the fine score and the dynamite acting.

– Ultimately, it’s a pretty heartbreaking trip, as the socially outcast Mr. Turing lived a difficult life, but THE IMITATION GAME is a very worthy companion-piece to the other film on the same subject: Michael Apted’s 2001 film ENIGMA, articulately penned by the brilliant wordsmith Tom Stoppard. See them both.

CHEF (2014) ***+

> Aw! Thank you Jon Favreau for dreaming up this warm human comedy and bringing it to life. You done good, pal.

. This formerly B-tier actor has long since proven himself in the director’s chair. The man knows how to make dazzling blockbusters like the IRON MAN films, but here, he proves he can also dazzle with a much lighter touch, making a very big “small” movie. No real surprises here. I knew pretty much everything before it happened. But the considerable pleasure was in the execution. Jon plays an established chef with a still rising star. He works for a rather unpleasant Dustin Hoffman, and with a very pleasant Scarlett Johansson, and runs a well-oiled kitchen of people who respect and adore him. Things aren’t doing quite as well in his personal life. He’s a weekend dad to a great kid who lives with his beautiful Cuban-American ex, but his kitchen takes priority, and he seems too preoccupied to notice that his boy suffers from it.

. It’s a big moment in his career: the critic who discovered him a decade before was returning to review this current restaurant. The chef is an artist, eager to impress his visitor, but shortsighted Hoffman insists he play it safe and serve the comfort menu that has played well to the masses through the years- in effect: his “greatest hits”. Against his best judgment, the feted Chef capitulates, with predictable results. Critic Oliver Platt rips him a new one, in a gleefully nasty online review that starts a very public war-of-words that changes everything.

. When CHEF becomes a road trip to New Orleans in a food truck with father, son, and jocular sidekick John Leguizamo (a pleasure to watch, as always), it becomes quite the feel-good film. There are a good number of laugh-out-loud moments, making this a sweet delight. (For added laughs, check out the deleted scenes from Amy Sedaris. Hilarious!)

– Hey, thanks Mr. F. for showing us you can play a sympathetic and believable good guy, you can write sympathetic characters we can root for, and direct very sweet films it is impossible not to love.

A TALE OF SPRINGTIME (1990) **+

This installment of French New Waver Éric Rohmer’s “four seasons” series was considerably less enchanting than A SUMMER’S TALE six year later. Again, it’s a relationship story about newly-met characters interacting on holiday. Again, it’s top-heavy with talk. This time, I just didn’t care for the people much. They seemed petty, foolish and self-absorbed without being terribly interesting. I found it impossible to believe the two women at the center of the story had become such fast friends. Maybe the French just do human relations differently, I don’t know. But to me- none of it really rang true to the American me.

THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (2014) ********

> This story about the great pop cosmologist Stephen Hawking is more romance than biopic, and because the relationship it chronicles was a complex one, this is a deftly nuanced romance. Taken from a book written by Hawking’s first wife Jane, chronicling their time together, director James Marsh has fashioned a very fine film that resonated beautifully on a human scale.

. As Jane, Felicity Jones (THE INVISIBLE WOMAN), was just excellent in every scene, and her Oscar nom was well deserved. But it’s clearly Eddie Redmayne’s film, and in it, he gives the performance of the year, playing the celebrated visionary from 1963 and his early college days, where he falls in love and marries Jane, through his devastating diagnosis and beyond, to the birth of three children, as he gradually succumbs to the unspeakably debilitating effects of Lou Gehrig’s Disease, the dissolution of the first of three marriages, the publication of the groundbreaking “A Brief History of Time”- and right up to May of 2014, when the two reunite for an audience with the Queen of England. This brilliant young actor (so great in LES MISERABLES!), delivers an absolutely riveting performance that just worked on every level: the brilliant genius, the lovestruck youth, the suffering patient, the private man. What Mr. Redmayne does here goes far beyond impersonation- he inhabits the well known figure to such a degree that we almost forget we’re watching an actor playing Stephen Hawking, and not just watching the man himself.

. Stellar production values abound, the settings and costuming are pitch-perfect, the score lush and delicious. The early courtship scenes are giddily dazzling. Yes, it’s a sad story on the surface, and yet, at the same time, an uplifting, inspirational film about overcoming daunting odds with grace and a considerable dose of humor- an homage to the indomitable nature of the human spirit. The ending was weak, but this is often an issue with biographies that are forced to wrestle chaotic events into a story arch, compartmentalizing a human life into discrete chapters that real life does not usually provide. Every ingredient is here to make a great human drama, which is exactly what we get: confident, assured filmmaking with superb acting all around.

. Yes, THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING is easily one of the finest English-language films of the year and Eddie Redmayne is a rising star, likely to dazzle us again in the future. His is a career I am looking forward to.

MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND (1996) **+

Good family fun, but hardly the best Muppet movie. It does have some clever songs though, and it’s always fun to watch Tim Curry strut his stuff- here, in the iconic role of Long John Silver. Kermit and Miss Piggy have a great moment professing their love while dangling precariously over a cliff. It is peppered with some clever wordplay and a few laugh out loud moments, but Brian Henson directed in lieu of his recently departed father, and Brian is no Jim! I just wanted this to be better.

SELMA (2014) ********

> Producers Oprah Winfrey and Brad Pitt, along with director Ava DuVernay have done this country a great service to tell this important story at this exact moment in American history, when the streets are live with racially charged dissent and white cops seem to have declared open season any anyone with a complexion darker than sand.

. I hear leaders in the black community decry the fact that today’s black youth don’t really know and understand the epic struggles of their predecessors. If you think black youth is ignorant of the facts, imagine what it’s like for white kids in America! We got nada. Schoolbooks glossed over the terrible price that was paid to get to the imperfect state of injustice that still prevails today. Certainly blind, ignorant racism persists and is still a national shame. I can’t say I felt “white guilt” while watching SELMA, as I don’t identify with anyone just because they’re white, and can’t take responsibility for the hates of haters everywhere. But I sure felt a tornado of rage- a highly appropriate response, I think. Plenty of black folks are understandably angry. It would be appropriate for more white folks to share the depth and breadth of their understandable outrage.

. Ms. DuVernay has really done a fine job of finding a cogent starting point for discussion of this underreported struggle. While this may not be the definitive M.L.K. biopic, it is a powerful testament to the vision and persistence of this great leader and a crystal clear clarion call to examine our recent history, take responsibility for it and begin to change the way we think and live. His imperfections (the marital infidelities in particular), are barely touched upon, but they are presented as part of a government effort to undermine his family. I would imagine the thing the LBJ apologists would object to the most, is the clear inference here that LBJ himself ordered vindictive weasel J. Edgar Hoover to mess with the great man’s family life. I don’t know the truth of this, but L.B.J. is ultimately shown in quite a favorable light, in the scene where he decides to confront a shiveringly oily Tim Roth as that human trash George Wallace. Tom Wilkerson as the earthy Texan seems to try placating and pandering (going so far as to refer to King’s crowd as “those niggers”), but when this fails, he flatly declares that history will not find him on the same side with a man like Wallace, going forward with the Voting Rights Act that King had been demanding all along. (It reminded me how even as an ignorant child, I knew enough to hate this racist southern governor’s guts.)

. I’d have to agree with the critics who wondered how SELMA could be nominated for best picture, and yet omit recognizing the fine work of this (black female) director and the great performance at the center of it all: David Oyelowo as a fierce, loving, tormented but hopeful spiritual and political leader. It seems clear that this is the “soft racism” of a voting body that is disproportionately white and privileged by definition.

. This fine director chose to downplay the graphic extent of the violence of the story- perhaps to give it a more friendly rating to attract more youthful viewers- who most need to see this film. But the soundtrack doesn’t flinch, and even if we don’t see close-ups of the horrific violence inherent in the story, we feel every baton blow, every punch and kick to the head, every gunshot in a horribly visceral way- which is just as it should be. There are moments that absolutely shock the conscience with sudden, senseless violence. Good. We need to be shocked into a suitable outrage.

– Many sacrificed and died to make the progress we have made- but it’s not enough. Not close to enough. America has got to do better.

BROKEN ARROW (1950) *****

> How very wrong I was as a young cinema dilettante to pooh-pooh the entire western genre as mostly macho silliness and commerce. Perhaps I just saw too many bad westerns at an influential age.

. In any case, over the last ten years I have discovered how very, pleasantly mistaken I was about the genre, by seeing more classic westerns than I could shake a sage bush at. And there is little doubt, that whenever Jimmy Stewart put on that dusty hat, he was one of the very best cowboy stars the movies have ever known. It’s nice to see his great work in westerns goes beyond his five films with the great Michael Mann. This film is as good as any of those.

. From the very beginning we know we are not in for the usual Hollywood take on American Injuns. Narrating his story, the inimitable Mr. Stewart tells us that he is the protagonist, all of this really happened to him and he lived to tell about it, explaining that all the Indians will be heard speaking English in his story, when in real life, the Comanche Nation had its own language that they had actually spoken. Sick to death of the bloodshed between these fierce warriors and the growing throngs of settlers, Jimmy decides to ride alone into their encampment, to ask to their great chief Cochise to allow the mail to get through and plead the case for peace, despite the very real possibility that he may be immediately killed or slowly tortured to death!

. Impressed by the white man’s courage, the ‘wise savage’ Cochise agrees to hear him out, and the two men gradually form an unlikely bond of trust, that gets severely tried and tested in both societies. The Comanches agree to a three-month armistice to test the good faith of their traditional adversaries, but there are hateful settlers, (led by my old friend Will Geer playing very much against type here), and renegade Indians led by Geronimo, who threaten to derail the agreement and resume the war.

. BROKEN ARROW has got everything from great action scenes to great dialogue, from unlikely partnerships, to doomed mixed-race romance. It’s just wonderful stuff!

– Yep. Many westerns are among the very best films ever made.

SOAPDISH (1991) *******

This pulpy fun on the set of a live daytime soap opera, featuring impossibly young versions of Whoopi Goldberg, Elizabeth Shue, Sally Field, Kevin Kline and Robert Downey Jr. does feel oddly dated, (Is it the hairstyles?), but the longer it goes on the more fun it becomes. Kevin and Sally give it their all, as reunited soap star lovers with a bitter past, and they are really fun to watch. Look for Craig Ferguson and Ben Stein in brief walk-ons.

DIVERGENT (2014) ***+

The first film in a franchise taken from Veronica Roth’s popular young adult lit series, this dystopian vision of a future where people are rigidly segregated by function to society played a lot better than the first HUNGER GAMES movie. It seemed to have both brains and balls, as both high-concept sci-fi and a pulse-pounding action flick. The production design is good, if not spectacular, and the Catniss-like heroine is played by the compelling Shailene Woodley, who was easy to fall in love with in THE SPECTACULAR NOW. (Interestingly, her love interest in that film, Miles Teller appears to be a nemesis here.) DIVERGENT was entertaining enough, with a central theme compelling enough to make me took forward to the upcoming second chapter INSURGENT far more than I’ve anticipated the Hunger Games sequels.

THE ZERO THEOREM (2013) ****+

> Terry Gilliam is a visionary dreamer. With his offbeat brand of whimsy, heavily peppered with biting social satire, he makes films that no one else could make. Wonderful films, mostly.

. It’s a damn shame, that now that he is an experienced filmmaker on the far side of 70, he is having an increasingly difficult time finding investors to make these obvious acts of love. This venture had a very troubled history. Terry had a terrible time raising the capital to make it, and was forced to look to Britain, France and Romania to find investors. Then, when the film was in the can, it took almost 2 years for him to find a distributor. After a cursory run in theaters, the property was unceremoniously dumped onto DVD and released without fanfare. Perhaps his shockingly dismal TIDELAND sealed his fate with investors. That film was so abysmal, the DVD actually begins with the ex-Monty Python funnyman addressing the audience directly and, in effect, apologizing for the film viewers are about to see! (I am stoked to hear skittish investors have stepped up to the plate and funded his next madcap opus: THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE- a legend that has always held a special fascination for the inspired director.) In any case, this reticence showed a singular lack of vision on the part of bean-counting investors. Thank goodness that lack of vision is not evident anywhere in this pretty damn wonderful movie.

. In fact, this crazy genius has delivered another film that seems destined for cult classic status, as with TIME BANDITS, 12 MONKEYS and MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL. I was under the (thankfully) mistaken notion that this was a small, claustrophobic film about a strange loner holed up in his flat stewing over his computer and obsessing about esoteric matters- kind of a KRAPP’S LAST TAPE for modern times- and there was a bit of this. But there was so very much more to this pleasant weirdo of a film.

. Again (as in BRAZIL), we are treated to the cognitive dissonance of an incongruous retro-futurism. Again we get a vision so grand and rich with detail that it’s a hugely entertaining journey into the fantastic. Again, Christoph Waltz shows us that Quentin Tarantino did the world a huge favor by bringing this very fine character actor to the world’s attention. Though the second half gets pretty intimate, this is actually rather big filmmaking with a couple of really amazing setpieces including a massive sci-fi super computer that looks as though it was designed by Dr. Seuss, and a depiction of the streetlife of the future that is stunning and tragically believable. (Including kooky costuming that takes today’s casual wear and extrapolates the way it morphs into business attire, and a hyper-commercialism that flashes and buzzes with a craven chaos of bright color and attention-seeking images bombarding passersby with banal advertising.) But smack in the middle of all this silliness is a very serious film about the alienation of modern man and the thirst for meaning inherent in a human life.

. Christoph’s “Qohen” is a quivering mass of phobias and insecurities. He has no friends, doesn’t care much for people, hates to be touched, and lives in a joyless world of crushed hopes and disillusionment, while waiting for a mysterious phone call that will make everything okay- explain his existence and unveil the meaning of life. Ironically, he is an elite computer programmer, put to work finding evidence for a theorem that would prove the universe came from nothing and is heading back to nothing- that all life, is essentially meaningless.

– But this “Zero Theorem” most certainly does not apply to this film, which is redolent with meaning, deep, acidly funny and profound.

12 O’CLOCK BOYS (2013) ********

An excellent slice-of life cinema vérité documentary, this is a street-level look at a young boy called Pug, who is mesmerized by the roving outlaw cruisers who take to the streets of Baltimore every Sunday night on their bikes, performing crowd-pleasing stunts then scattering, in a cat-and-mouse “fuck you” to the police. Pug is too young to join the weekly ride, but dreams ardently of the day he will make all the older boys jealous with his killer moves. When his shockingly foulmouthed mother springs for a small but sleek dirtbike, Pug and his younger peers form their own stunt riding group, dubbed the “12 O’clock Boys”. But when Pug’s bike is stolen by a neighborhood thug, all his dreams seem shattered. This was a real eye-opener of a look at inner city life in Black America. It’s a spotlight on a really unique subculture that pries away the stereotypes to show real people’s lives.

MALA NOCHE (1985) **+

Gus Van Sant’s first successful feature film, this slapdash low budget grainy black-and-white gay drama (taken from an autobiographical book by poet Walt Curtis), shows glimpses of the good stuff ahead for this fine director, but falls flat with wooden acting, inconsistent production values and a story about romantic obsession that gets boring before it’s over. I had hopes for this, considering the many fine films that came later in his considerable career, but it was a disappointment.

FRANK (2014) ********

> Wise, warm, kooky, heartfelt- this is one fun ride. File this oddball under: “life is stranger than fiction”.

. FRANK is the true story of a sadly damaged man living his life inside a giant cartoon bobblehead that obscures his face entirely. To call this indie gem “offbeat” is an understatement. The inscrutable Frank is a mystery: volatile, capable of great warmth and sudden hostility, he can conjure his creative muse at the drop of a hat and often seems the wise sage. This Irish film doesn’t touch on Ireland, but takes the story from London to Texas, following Frank and his offbeat industrial art band on their quest to make great music and gain world recognition.

. A suggestion: refrain from checking out the cast list- just pop the DVD in and hit play, and see if you can figure out who the actor (and singer) behind the mask is. Bet you can’t… It was sure a surprise to me when the great reveal happened and the mask was removed. Really?! This great mystery actor can apparently do anything!

– Just great fun to watch. Watch it! And see if you can figure out who that masked man is…

THE MONUMENTS MEN (2014) *******

George Clooney directed this stellar cast in an ensemble piece about an elite squadron of allies on a mission to rescue the great art stolen by the Nazis in WWII. Understandably criticized for its light touch, oldschool by-the-numbers, formula approach, the film contains no real surprises and the narrative never seems to build to anything. But I got just what I hoped for: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin and Bob Balaban having a great time bouncing off each other’s considerable talents. Nobody has much to do here, but it’s always fun to watch these delightful character actors, even when their talents are squandered, as they are here.

PENELOPE (2006) *******

This one is a sweet, colorful parable about accepting yourself for who you are and not judging by appearances. No big surprises in the storytelling, but Christina Ricci, James MacAvoy and Catherine O’Hara are all fun to watch in this modern fairy tale about a girl “cursed” with a pig’s snout in place of a nose.

DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (1939) *****

> James Stewart is paired memorably with Marlene Dietrich in this remake of the 1932 Tom Mix horse opera, about the son of a legendary lawman who takes a markedly different approach than his trigger-happy father.

. Tom Destry Jr. refuses to use guns to enforce the law. This black-and-white classic is packed with humor and tension and great character details. (The town drunk turned sheriff continually pulls his shirttails out in a nervous habit, while Destry, as deputy, is always tucking it back in, reassuringly.) The film is populated by vivid supporting performances and peppered with sparkling dialogue. The son of the revered lawman is always telling stories about “a friend of mine”, to deliver thorny messages more gingerly- stories like: “He reminds me of a little kid I used to know. He done in both his pa and ma with a crowbar… Now the judge said to him: ‘Do you got anything to say for yourself?’ and the kid said: ‘Well I just hope that your honor has some regard for the feelings of a poor orphan!” Trying to convince corrupt saloon chanteuse ‘Frenchy’ (Dietrich) that there is still some good in her, he says: “I’ll bet you’ve got kind of a lovely face under all that paint, huh? Why don’t you wipe it off someday and have a good look- and figure out how you can live up to it?”

. The trio of screenwriters who adapted this story really delivered on this one. Jimmy Stewart is fantastic, as always, and we are treated to Marlene Dietrich’s renditions of sultry musical numbers like “The Boys in the Back Room”.

– In this great entertainment, George Marshall has given the world a classic!

QUICK CHANGE (1990) ***+

Bill Murray stars in and co-directs this caper romp, paired with a very lovely and energetic Geena Davis and a typically goofy Randy Quaid, as hapless bankrobbers trying to stay one step ahead of crusty police captain Jason Robards. Their escape is fun to watch, and everything is looking good for our lovable criminals, but making good their escape- that’s another question. At every turn, the lunacy of New York City runs comic interference. And the stakes keep ratcheting up, when they literally stumble into a life-threatening scam against the mob. This was not a great comedy- it was good, but I gave it an extra half-star for simply being so damn entertaining. (Look for Tony Shalub in a fun role, and Stanley Tucci in particular, who gives a small but broadly characterized performance that shows why he was a rising star in the early nineties.

INK (2009) ***+

Having misjudged the graphics, I thought I was about to watch an animated feature, so it was a bit of a surprise that INK was a live action supernatural thriller. It’s definitely a lower-budget indie flick, populated by actors we have never seen giving uneven performances, but the story involving the battle over the soul of a child was potent and the imagination that went into the production design was prodigious and impressive. The malevolent cadre of incubuses were fascinatingly lurid, their twisted smiles seething with Satanic malevolence. And INK had a good (if somewhat predictable), ending that made it very entertaining indeed.

1776 (1972) ********

> Part brilliance, part doggerel, this musical about the founding of the United States is certainly not for everyone.

. As someone who has always enjoyed musicals, ever since my mother exposed me to Broadway soundtrack albums as a child, and then developed a great love of American history in later years, there was plenty here for me to enjoy, despite patches that were so spectacularly lame I could only describe as painful.

. The original Broadway cast was drafted for this film version, and while this provided actors who were clearly comfortable with the material, it also assured a few grandiloquent, over-the-top performances, more suited to stage than the intimacy of film. It did not help that the filmmaker chose to use flourishes of stage lighting. Designed to manipulate specific shifts of mood, the technique only served to make the viewer feel they are watching a staged play- not a movie. At these points, it doesn’t even aspire to be a movie.

. The three actors in the central roles as Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson (Howard Da Silva, William Daniels, and Ken Howard), all deliver strong performances, and when the story focuses on politics instead of romance, it works surprisingly well.

. It seems clear where writer Peter Stone’s sympathies lie, when it came to the big philosophical divide this country has never been able to bridge over centuries: “property owners” (AKA the wealthy class), versus the average man- a conflict we now frame as a class war between Wall Street and Main Street. The representatives from the deep South seem reprehensible in the extreme, as epitomized by John Callum’s fiery pro-slavery song that attempts to glorify slave-trading scum, but ends up making this potent humanitarian injustice look bestial. (Too bad the lip-syncing was so terrible, it called in to question whether we were hearing Callum’s singing voice at all.)

. As a Socialist myself, I have no doubt that our brand of capitalism has failed the people miserably. This is not by any stretch of the imagination the “democracy” our forefathers thought they were creating. What we have now is a “kleptocracy”- a system where all profits accumulate within the primarily male, primarily white, moneyed class- leaving the majority of Americans to scramble for the crumbs dropped by the overfed rich. I am absolutely convinced what we call “the American Dream” is actually “the American Lie”. WE DO NOT HAVE UPWARD MOBILITY IN AMERICA. If you are born into poverty, the overwhelming odds say you will live in poverty and die a relative pauper. (Even rigidly class-based England has a better record of upward mobility than this basket-case of a country.) Stone seems to share my perspective on this, when he has one despicable southerner defend this harmful illusion with the line: “Most men with nothing would rather protect the possibility of becoming rich than face the reality of being poor.”

. Methinks Franklin, Adams and Jefferson would be absolutely furious to see what has come of the American experiment. History has clearly shown that the Federalists were correct in their power struggles with the backward “states rights” buffoons, who use this philosophy as a shield behind which they can oppress undesirable minorities, the poor, the under-educated, and anyone who does not blindly serve their interests. The essence of their absurd argument: we are a superior class of human, who believe we are entitled to everything, (including human property!) and everyone else should shut up and be thankful for what they are allowed to have…

– Safe to say, this uneven musical history of my morally-compromised country gave me plenty to think about!

MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT (2014) ********

> Generally viewed as middling Woody Allen, I quite enjoyed this one, mostly due to the wonderful performances by the always-captivating Emma Stone and by Colin Firth at the top of his game.

. In fact, this is my favorite Colin Firth performance yet: playing the self-declared “genius” with no sense of romance or the mystery of life. All this is tested when, as an expert debunker of spiritualist charlatans, Colin, as renowned magician “Stanley”, is called in undercover to observe a new “psychic” sensation Sophie from Kalamazoo, who is reputed to be that mythical creature “the real thing”. She awakens in him some very alien sensations for an emotionally detached, misanthrope and avowed pessimist, something like… feelings?

. The production design is Woody Allen wonderful. The score is perfect, as Woody’s soundtracks always are, and the time and place of England in the 1920’s is impeccably, if nostalgically rendered. The photography sparkles and some of the bright sunlight shots are dazzlingly gorgeous to behold. The script is one of Woody’s more nakedly philosophical, and you can really hear his innermost voice developing themes from very early in his career, ideas about life, love, religion, death, and man’s eternal quest to find meaning. All the dialogue is a delight to listen to and occasionally, it’s laugh-out-loud witty.

. My only quibble was with the ending, which was more than a bit too predictable, even if the groundwork for the outcome had been sufficiently laid- which it hadn’t. (Not enough to make it believable.) Still, I am really grooving on these latter-day Allen flicks. Despite all the controversy he engenders in this #MeToo age, I want him to live forever so he can keep giving us these annual cinematic love letters to life and movies. Who knows how many more of these delights this American original has in him?

– Every new Woody Allen offering is a gift to moviegoers around the world, and I hope there are many more!

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… I also tried to watch the lauded documentary AT BERKELEY (from 2013) but after an hour of trying to keep my interest up, I had mercy on myself and gave up on it, when I discovered that this very, very dry look at finances in higher education was over FOUR hours long. I just had to cry “uncle!” because it was all just talk, talk, talk from bloviating eggheads of academia, and I felt like I was sitting in a classroom listening to a lecture. This is not what I turn to movies for. If I wanted this esoteric blather, I would go to college!

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That’s it for now. Love to hear any suggestions you have for films you’d like to see me review! ‘Til next we share some time:

VIVA Cine, scurvy dogs!

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© Kevin Paul Keelan and lastcre8iveiconoclast, 2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kevin Paul Keelan and lastcre8iveiconoclast with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.