Sully
Flix!
Everybody has something that to them is comfort food. Chips, or nachos, or in my case spaghetti. We just saw the film Sully, and this was not a cinematic masterpiece, but is was a good film and great comfort cinema.
As in Captain Phillips, Tom Hanks once again takes on the portrayal of an American hero. And he does a great job helping to tell a great story. Directorial choices did not do the story in chronological order, but this was better because we got to see the incident three times. Not great film making but who cares? This was good.
We get to see the aftermath of the the forced water landing. Not a crash. A forced water landing. Sully is crucified by the powers that be. Because a zillionaire airline and a zillionaire insurance company might have to cough up a few bucks. It's sickening and ridiculous. But it happened. He saved the lives of 155 people.
What a fascinating story. A story that demonstrates humans are still smarter than computers, and that 42 years experience is better than a computer simulation. Especially a simulation that was rehearsed 17 times first.
But that's what holds this movie together; the great and fascinating actual event. The movie here however tries too hard to put together a movie storyline that it ends up showing us the event three times and therefore loses much of the tension of the actual event.
We are subjected to some convoluted problem with the wife, and the exploration of his relationship with his first officer.
This film did a wonderful job of documenting this actual event and Sully for sure should be admired by us all. But as for the film maker, he's done better. And I mean Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, Mystic River, and Million Dollar Baby. He mis-stepped here. He was close but no cigar.
Grade: B
Monday, January 30, 2017
Patriot Day
Flix!
This film is based on the real life Boston Marathon bombings. The film stars John Goodman, Mark Wallberg, Kevin Bacon, and JK Simmons and a host of many great people who played a host of actual real life people. This is pretty much just a factual recount of exactly what happened and how it happened, and that was simply dramatic enough.
My son had seen it before and he said it would tear my heart out. It did. But on the upside were the depiction of all the wonderful people and technology and staff that were able to find and apprehend the perpetrators so quickly.
And even in all of the horror there were scenes of citizens stepping up, people assisting each other and generally being inspiring. We meet some people who were runners and each lost legs in the blast. and yet remain optimistic. One even eventually runs the marathon on an artificial limb.
In the end we get to meet the actual people portrayed. I am not a rah-rah flag waver by nature. Never have been, never will be. I don't want my patriotism to be judged by anyone, let alone anything obnoxious. But a flag flies in front of my house statement-less all summer, and all I can say about these folks are God bless them.
And all us will be remorseful about our fellow great citizens we lost. So sad.
This is a film everyone should strive to see. It doesn't just recall what happened that day, it recalls what being an American means. We are all one family. Christian, Jew, Fat, Short, Muslim, Ethnic, Buddhist, Gay, Democrat, Immigrant, Black, White, Republican, Brown, Trans, Yellow, and Native. We might have our problems, but we are all one family. And don't mess with our family.
Grade: A
This film is based on the real life Boston Marathon bombings. The film stars John Goodman, Mark Wallberg, Kevin Bacon, and JK Simmons and a host of many great people who played a host of actual real life people. This is pretty much just a factual recount of exactly what happened and how it happened, and that was simply dramatic enough.
My son had seen it before and he said it would tear my heart out. It did. But on the upside were the depiction of all the wonderful people and technology and staff that were able to find and apprehend the perpetrators so quickly.
And even in all of the horror there were scenes of citizens stepping up, people assisting each other and generally being inspiring. We meet some people who were runners and each lost legs in the blast. and yet remain optimistic. One even eventually runs the marathon on an artificial limb.
In the end we get to meet the actual people portrayed. I am not a rah-rah flag waver by nature. Never have been, never will be. I don't want my patriotism to be judged by anyone, let alone anything obnoxious. But a flag flies in front of my house statement-less all summer, and all I can say about these folks are God bless them.
And all us will be remorseful about our fellow great citizens we lost. So sad.
This is a film everyone should strive to see. It doesn't just recall what happened that day, it recalls what being an American means. We are all one family. Christian, Jew, Fat, Short, Muslim, Ethnic, Buddhist, Gay, Democrat, Immigrant, Black, White, Republican, Brown, Trans, Yellow, and Native. We might have our problems, but we are all one family. And don't mess with our family.
Grade: A
Monday, January 23, 2017
The Newsroom
The Newsroom
Tube! HBO
The Newsroom is the latest brainchild of Aaron Sorkin who brought us A Few Good Men, An American President, and the giant The West Wing. He uses real life news stories and the backdrop of an network news show to create fascinating situations and interesting characters all with their own baggage and situations.
The cast is headed up by Jeff Daniels as Will MacAvoy, a news anchor who can sometimes be a maverick. But he is somewhat encouraged to be by the head of the News Division. That person, Charlie, is played perfectly by Sam Waterson. But ultimately they all answer to the owner of the network, Leona Lansing, played ironically by Jane Fonda, ironic since she was once married to CNN owner Ted Turner. But she brings real life to Leona. And her son is the President of ACN, her network. The pain in the butt Reese Lansing is played deftly by Chris Messina.
The pilot kicks off with a doozy. Most of these characters are introduced behind the backdrop of the Gulf Oil explosion and spill. That's just the pilot. Later we get to touch on the Gabby Gifford shooting, the Boston marathon bombing and more. Including Osama Bin Laden.
These all become real people and we grow to love them all even with their own personal quirks and issues and unrequited loves.
Will is a bit of a jerk, calling out to "Punjab" when wanting the Indian guy. This is by the way the one who runs his blog, played amusingly by Dev Patel who is now becoming a big Hollywood deal. He also calls his assistant Maggie, Ellen, because he has not kept up with the fact Ellen left and Maggie replaced. But soon Maggie is promoted to associate producer by the major thorn in Will's side, Executive Producer McKenzie, played by Emily Mortimer. She and Will once had a relationship and it ended bitterly. And on and on it goes.
I have always touted Breaking Bad as the greatest thing I've ever seen on TV. Sticking with that, this is a very, very, very thinly sliced number two. This is fantastic stuff.
We also get a brief look at reporters following candidates on the campaign trail, and reporters in harm's way in remote places.
I streamed this all the way through. A few weeks later I missed these characters and watched it all again. And now I am actually thinking about doing it again. On top of all that, I own it all on DVD. I'm gonna watch this as long as I like. It's only two and a half seasons after all.
Grade: A
Tube! HBO
The Newsroom is the latest brainchild of Aaron Sorkin who brought us A Few Good Men, An American President, and the giant The West Wing. He uses real life news stories and the backdrop of an network news show to create fascinating situations and interesting characters all with their own baggage and situations.
The cast is headed up by Jeff Daniels as Will MacAvoy, a news anchor who can sometimes be a maverick. But he is somewhat encouraged to be by the head of the News Division. That person, Charlie, is played perfectly by Sam Waterson. But ultimately they all answer to the owner of the network, Leona Lansing, played ironically by Jane Fonda, ironic since she was once married to CNN owner Ted Turner. But she brings real life to Leona. And her son is the President of ACN, her network. The pain in the butt Reese Lansing is played deftly by Chris Messina.
The pilot kicks off with a doozy. Most of these characters are introduced behind the backdrop of the Gulf Oil explosion and spill. That's just the pilot. Later we get to touch on the Gabby Gifford shooting, the Boston marathon bombing and more. Including Osama Bin Laden.
These all become real people and we grow to love them all even with their own personal quirks and issues and unrequited loves.
Will is a bit of a jerk, calling out to "Punjab" when wanting the Indian guy. This is by the way the one who runs his blog, played amusingly by Dev Patel who is now becoming a big Hollywood deal. He also calls his assistant Maggie, Ellen, because he has not kept up with the fact Ellen left and Maggie replaced. But soon Maggie is promoted to associate producer by the major thorn in Will's side, Executive Producer McKenzie, played by Emily Mortimer. She and Will once had a relationship and it ended bitterly. And on and on it goes.
I have always touted Breaking Bad as the greatest thing I've ever seen on TV. Sticking with that, this is a very, very, very thinly sliced number two. This is fantastic stuff.
We also get a brief look at reporters following candidates on the campaign trail, and reporters in harm's way in remote places.
I streamed this all the way through. A few weeks later I missed these characters and watched it all again. And now I am actually thinking about doing it again. On top of all that, I own it all on DVD. I'm gonna watch this as long as I like. It's only two and a half seasons after all.
Grade: A
Sunday, October 16, 2016
The Accountant
Flix!
Gavin O'Connor takes an interesting screenplay from Bill Dubuque and tells it with some great actors, and voila! We have The Accountant.
I wanted to see this because the trailer showed promise. My wife went only because she just wanted to go to the movies. But it turns out we both really liked this film.
Ben Affleck plays a math savant that becomes an accountant. He is incredibly skilled at what he does, and will stay with a project until it is solved. That's part of being a savant. And he also agrees to "uncook" the books for many extremely dangerous clients. Drug cartels, mafia bosses, criminals of every ilk. He is cool and efficient and always gets the job done. But he has to move around a lot and stay off the radar.
The Treasury Department is looking for him, because he has a deep sense of justice and once when a mafia boss betrayed him, he went on a rampage killing 9 of them in 10 minutes. And oh yeah, he is incredibly capable.
As a autistic savant child, his mother couldn't take it and left. His father, a military man, took a strong approach and had his two boys train intensely with several different masters of different subjects. Karate, weapons, endurance, and math. He was highly skilled in electronics and computers as well.
Not a guy to mess with.
Along the storyline, he encounters a young naive accountant (Anna Kendrick) for a big firm who accidentally saw some books she shouldn't have and raises red flags. The President of the company (John Lithgow) calls in The Accountant, to figure out what's going on.
Our antihero finds the problem right away as only a savant could, and immediately he and the naive accountant's lives are in danger. This sense of justice of his kicks in and he is determined to save her.
There are many other elements of the story that were structured to surprise, but I figured them out very early on, and shared them with my wife for proof. And I was correct.
The bottom line is that this was an interesting, nicely paced, storyline, told very well by Director Gavin O'Connor. I will think about this film tomorrow and maybe the next day. And whenever that happens, we usually end up owning it.
I recommend it. An interesting way to spend a couple hours. What's not to love about a good movie?
GRADE: A-
Gavin O'Connor takes an interesting screenplay from Bill Dubuque and tells it with some great actors, and voila! We have The Accountant.
I wanted to see this because the trailer showed promise. My wife went only because she just wanted to go to the movies. But it turns out we both really liked this film.
Ben Affleck plays a math savant that becomes an accountant. He is incredibly skilled at what he does, and will stay with a project until it is solved. That's part of being a savant. And he also agrees to "uncook" the books for many extremely dangerous clients. Drug cartels, mafia bosses, criminals of every ilk. He is cool and efficient and always gets the job done. But he has to move around a lot and stay off the radar.
The Treasury Department is looking for him, because he has a deep sense of justice and once when a mafia boss betrayed him, he went on a rampage killing 9 of them in 10 minutes. And oh yeah, he is incredibly capable.
As a autistic savant child, his mother couldn't take it and left. His father, a military man, took a strong approach and had his two boys train intensely with several different masters of different subjects. Karate, weapons, endurance, and math. He was highly skilled in electronics and computers as well.
Not a guy to mess with.
Along the storyline, he encounters a young naive accountant (Anna Kendrick) for a big firm who accidentally saw some books she shouldn't have and raises red flags. The President of the company (John Lithgow) calls in The Accountant, to figure out what's going on.
Our antihero finds the problem right away as only a savant could, and immediately he and the naive accountant's lives are in danger. This sense of justice of his kicks in and he is determined to save her.
There are many other elements of the story that were structured to surprise, but I figured them out very early on, and shared them with my wife for proof. And I was correct.
The bottom line is that this was an interesting, nicely paced, storyline, told very well by Director Gavin O'Connor. I will think about this film tomorrow and maybe the next day. And whenever that happens, we usually end up owning it.
I recommend it. An interesting way to spend a couple hours. What's not to love about a good movie?
GRADE: A-
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Eight Days a Week
Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years.
FLIX/TUBE!
Yes this has been simultaneously been released to selected theaters (the crazy art house types) and on HULU. I saw it on HULU.
Director Ron Howard, as most of you would imagine, would get a free pass from me because he was Opie in the Andy Griffith Show which most of you know is one of my passions. But it just isn’t so. Half of Ron’s film gratify, and the other half leave me flat.
But here he weaves together the no brainer, footage from the early touring years of the The Beatles. He just has to weave it's can’t miss footage into a compelling story. Not a tough assignment because these lads are compelling. In fact so compelling that he has a tough time putting on the brakes. Howard takes us into Sgt. Peppers and the roof top concert, which have nothing to do with the touring years.
During A Hard Day's Night, one associate producer mentioned they may need a title song for the film. The next day they presented the song "A Hard Day's Night" (even though the producer thought it would take 6 months, but they looked up and said, "don't ever do that again."
This is a great film because Ron gets to ride on the coattails of those who are greater. But he should have realized his original premise and been true to it.
The Beatles will forever be the ultimate band, no matter how some solos might have been weak, or whatever. These guys were inspired. They never again achieved as individuals what they achieved as a collective. They spit out masterpiece after masterpiece as if it were child's play.
So I have to now grade the film, not the band.
Grade: A.
FLIX/TUBE!
Yes this has been simultaneously been released to selected theaters (the crazy art house types) and on HULU. I saw it on HULU.
Director Ron Howard, as most of you would imagine, would get a free pass from me because he was Opie in the Andy Griffith Show which most of you know is one of my passions. But it just isn’t so. Half of Ron’s film gratify, and the other half leave me flat.
But here he weaves together the no brainer, footage from the early touring years of the The Beatles. He just has to weave it's can’t miss footage into a compelling story. Not a tough assignment because these lads are compelling. In fact so compelling that he has a tough time putting on the brakes. Howard takes us into Sgt. Peppers and the roof top concert, which have nothing to do with the touring years.
During A Hard Day's Night, one associate producer mentioned they may need a title song for the film. The next day they presented the song "A Hard Day's Night" (even though the producer thought it would take 6 months, but they looked up and said, "don't ever do that again."
This is a great film because Ron gets to ride on the coattails of those who are greater. But he should have realized his original premise and been true to it.
The Beatles will forever be the ultimate band, no matter how some solos might have been weak, or whatever. These guys were inspired. They never again achieved as individuals what they achieved as a collective. They spit out masterpiece after masterpiece as if it were child's play.
So I have to now grade the film, not the band.
Grade: A.
Saturday, September 3, 2016
Florence Foster Jenkins
FLIX!
Florence Foster Jenkins was a real person. I'd heard about her years ago. And I'd heard her recording then. This movie is the real story of a real person. And it has the heart of a real person.
Meryl Streep plays Madam Florence, and Hugh Grant plays her husband, St. Clair, and who since she supports him, he gets everything from her, including rent on his own apartment that he lives in with his mistress, supports her in every way except intimately and financially.
The problem is that even though Madam Florence fancies herself a singer she couldn't carry a tune in a dump truck. She sings her heart out, and we come to admire that, but she is sharp and flat more than she ever accidentally hits the note.
Enter the pianist to accompany her. Cosme McMoon is played by Simon Helberg. He is outstanding. He portrays this character in the most interesting way, determined not to resemble his character Howard on The Big Bang Theory ever. He did wonderfully. And he was an anchor to a most interesting story line.
Cosme is a serious pianist and composer and when he hears Madam Florence sing is appalled. But after encouragement, (and the money's good) he goes along. One thing leads to another and eventually Madam Florence Foster Jenkins ends up deciding to make a record. Of course it's laughable. But she has influence and she gets it played on the radio. And as a gag, service men (it's WWII) are calling in claiming to love the record. So Florence decided to rent Carnegie Hall and invite a thousand service men. High Society pretended to go along, but these guys.....
One of the things I truly admired was the story line that involved the relationship of St. Clair with Madam Florence. On some deep level he did truly love her. In her death bed scene, he expresses from his heart how much he loves her.
What a story. What a cast telling this story. If this film isn't on the roster for Best Picture, something is seriously wrong in Tinseltown.
Ironically, the label she made the record on, has to sheepishly admit, that her recording is their biggest seller ever.
This film is about heart and love way before it's about that lady that didn't know she couldn't sing.
Grade: A
Florence Foster Jenkins was a real person. I'd heard about her years ago. And I'd heard her recording then. This movie is the real story of a real person. And it has the heart of a real person.
Meryl Streep plays Madam Florence, and Hugh Grant plays her husband, St. Clair, and who since she supports him, he gets everything from her, including rent on his own apartment that he lives in with his mistress, supports her in every way except intimately and financially.
The problem is that even though Madam Florence fancies herself a singer she couldn't carry a tune in a dump truck. She sings her heart out, and we come to admire that, but she is sharp and flat more than she ever accidentally hits the note.
Enter the pianist to accompany her. Cosme McMoon is played by Simon Helberg. He is outstanding. He portrays this character in the most interesting way, determined not to resemble his character Howard on The Big Bang Theory ever. He did wonderfully. And he was an anchor to a most interesting story line.
Cosme is a serious pianist and composer and when he hears Madam Florence sing is appalled. But after encouragement, (and the money's good) he goes along. One thing leads to another and eventually Madam Florence Foster Jenkins ends up deciding to make a record. Of course it's laughable. But she has influence and she gets it played on the radio. And as a gag, service men (it's WWII) are calling in claiming to love the record. So Florence decided to rent Carnegie Hall and invite a thousand service men. High Society pretended to go along, but these guys.....
One of the things I truly admired was the story line that involved the relationship of St. Clair with Madam Florence. On some deep level he did truly love her. In her death bed scene, he expresses from his heart how much he loves her.
What a story. What a cast telling this story. If this film isn't on the roster for Best Picture, something is seriously wrong in Tinseltown.
Ironically, the label she made the record on, has to sheepishly admit, that her recording is their biggest seller ever.
This film is about heart and love way before it's about that lady that didn't know she couldn't sing.
Grade: A
Sunday, July 17, 2016
The Legend of Tarzan
The Legend of Tarzan
Flix!
The movies have goofed with this character a lot in the early days of cinema. Never very successfully. Somewhere in the early 30's, somebody hired the recent Olympics swimming star to be the new Tarzan and this led to a multi-picture franchise that wasn't horrible. But they were B pictures. And as time went on Disney did a horrible, disgraceful, dreadlocks terrible version cartoon style, and Bo Derek tried some ridiculous thing, and it all flopped. Some tell me there was a version in the 80's called Greystoke that wasn't bad, but I haven't seen it.
And now this. Director David Yates, thinks he can tackle this with success. And oh buddy, for my money, as a kid that grew up reading all the Edgar Rice Burroughs stuff, he nailed it. This hit a great note for me. A Home Run.
Going in, I thought this was going to be another schlocky attempt at this incredible story, that would be done poorly. But it starts after Tarzan, that is John, Lord of Greystoke, has been rescued and is home. I love the way it kept switching back and forth to tell us the whole story.
The writers did a great job of plugging in much of this incredible story into one movie. For example, having read all the books, there is a book called Tarzan and the Leopard People.
And the Leopard people show up in this film. And there is a lot of great, not over the top action, and the Tarzan call done twice very tastefully, and great performances. Also there is a reference to the Jewels of Opar. That was yet another Tarzan novel being referenced, so these writers did their homework.
Christoph Waltz (Leon Rom) is the bad guy, an agent of the King of Belgium, who lures Tarzan back to Africa to face the chief of the Leopard People to settle a grudge. And then the aid to Tarzan is George Washington Williams, played by Samuel L. Jackson. Seeing both Waltz and Jackson, I asked the wife, is this a Tarrentino film? She didn't know.
It's not.
I felt it early on in this film. The costumes were eye catching. The performances by Margaret Robbie as Jane and the wonderful performance of Tarzan, John, Earl of Greystoke, was amazing. Alexander Skarsgård, was the the star of this picture. And a star he was indeed. This whole film dripped with great casting.
So we came away from this really liking this movie. And we recommend it highly. This is not another fumbling attempt to cover this great material. This is a pretty great movie. See it.
Grade: A-
Flix!
The movies have goofed with this character a lot in the early days of cinema. Never very successfully. Somewhere in the early 30's, somebody hired the recent Olympics swimming star to be the new Tarzan and this led to a multi-picture franchise that wasn't horrible. But they were B pictures. And as time went on Disney did a horrible, disgraceful, dreadlocks terrible version cartoon style, and Bo Derek tried some ridiculous thing, and it all flopped. Some tell me there was a version in the 80's called Greystoke that wasn't bad, but I haven't seen it.
And now this. Director David Yates, thinks he can tackle this with success. And oh buddy, for my money, as a kid that grew up reading all the Edgar Rice Burroughs stuff, he nailed it. This hit a great note for me. A Home Run.
Going in, I thought this was going to be another schlocky attempt at this incredible story, that would be done poorly. But it starts after Tarzan, that is John, Lord of Greystoke, has been rescued and is home. I love the way it kept switching back and forth to tell us the whole story.
The writers did a great job of plugging in much of this incredible story into one movie. For example, having read all the books, there is a book called Tarzan and the Leopard People.
And the Leopard people show up in this film. And there is a lot of great, not over the top action, and the Tarzan call done twice very tastefully, and great performances. Also there is a reference to the Jewels of Opar. That was yet another Tarzan novel being referenced, so these writers did their homework.
Christoph Waltz (Leon Rom) is the bad guy, an agent of the King of Belgium, who lures Tarzan back to Africa to face the chief of the Leopard People to settle a grudge. And then the aid to Tarzan is George Washington Williams, played by Samuel L. Jackson. Seeing both Waltz and Jackson, I asked the wife, is this a Tarrentino film? She didn't know.
It's not.
I felt it early on in this film. The costumes were eye catching. The performances by Margaret Robbie as Jane and the wonderful performance of Tarzan, John, Earl of Greystoke, was amazing. Alexander Skarsgård, was the the star of this picture. And a star he was indeed. This whole film dripped with great casting.
So we came away from this really liking this movie. And we recommend it highly. This is not another fumbling attempt to cover this great material. This is a pretty great movie. See it.
Grade: A-
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