Sunday, August 10, 2014

At the Cinema - July 2014

Lucy – 8
You’ll like this movie if you like:
  • Scarlett Johansson
  • Time Lapse special effects
  • The omni-present Morgan Freeman

The orgasmic special effects in this extravaganza try hard to distract the viewer from the nonsensical nature of the story.  The plot doesn’t even approach plausibility, but what else is new at the movies?   Director Luc Beeson just runs away with his imagination.  To say that you will have to suspend disbelief would be the understatement of the year.
Scarlett Johansson plays Lucy with a surprising physical gusto.  Lucy is an involuntary drug mule who gets the goods surgically implanted in her body.  Things would have gone fine had she not been kicked in the gut several times by a thug.  The drug gets released and she gets amazing superpowers.  Morgan Freeman is on hand to explain it all.  He’s a professor who studies the brain and has done some nice speculation on what would happen if we used more of our brainpower.  Along comes Lucy to prove some of his theories.
Now how it is that Lucy can throw objects and bad guys around with her mind is never really explained, but it sure is fun to see her kick butt, drive real fast, discover her powers etc.  She becomes obsessed with getting some more of that synthetic drug to continue to expand her mind and her rather ludicrous, but handy powers.
In the end, during the coolest part of the movie, her mind unleashes some wicked time lapse time travel, and it’s pretty neat.  It’s an interesting movie about the power of the brain.  Too bad it’s best enjoyed by leaving your brain at home.

Get On Up – 7
You’ll like this movie if you like
  • James Brown
  • Chadwick Boseman
  • Soul Music.
Chadwick Boseman continues his run of top notch performances as James Brown in this Tate Taylor biopic.  Unfortunately Boseman hasn’t yet found that great movie that can match his intense talents.
Here, he inhabits the hard working James Brown right down to the sweat.  It’s an amazing performance.
The editing is the problem.  At this point we may never see a linear movie again, told step by step to a climax.  Instead the vogue is to jump around in time with the audience holding on for dear life.  Where are we?  What year is it?  Oh, there’s a label.  The effect of the time shifting is particularly hurtful here, because of all the ironies, it renders a movie about the Godfather of Soul a little soulless.  Some episodes are great, some are mild, some pointless.  The heart isn’t there.  But the music sure is, and it’s worth seeing for that reason.

So, I only caught movies at the end of the month, because the beginning of the month featured an all too rare trip to Broadway, where the talent level absolutely slays me.  One of the movies we decided not to see this month was “Jersey Boys” because we had never seen the Broadway play, which we finally kicked off the bucket list the first night in New York.

Here’s what we saw, all music of our youth, all basically following the same template of storytelling and furniture moving:
Jersey Boys – 10
As good as advertised, it will rank up there with Phantom of the Opera, Chorus Line, and Smokey Joe’s Café on my short list of favorite musicals.  This rousing story of the singing group The Four Seasons and their ups and downs doesn’t have a dead moment, and is an enlightening biography of a seminal group of musicians.  Can’t wait to see it again.  Its 2005 success undoubtedly opened the door for….
Motown – 9
This story of Berry Gordy and the music that was pioneered at his Detroit “Hitsville” is another rollicking good time.  Not quite as sharp as Jersey Boys, but filled with the same type of drama, passion, and great singing.   Its success undoubtedly opened the door for….
Beautiful – 8
“Beautiful” is a song from one of the largest selling albums of all time.  Carole King’s “Tapestry” was a backdrop to the early 70’s and marked her popularity as a performer instead of just a songwriter.  This play starts in the early days of her partnership with her erratic husband Gerry Goffin, who wrote the words to her music in the early days.   The highlight of this play is the amazing performance of Jessie Mueller, who not only impersonates Carole, but cuts loose as the curtain comes down to let you know that she is more than just an mimic.  It’s rather glossy in the beginning when the songs are sung one after another by imitation singing groups of the era, but it’s still fun.  And Jessie is worth the trip.

Scanning the Satellite:
Couldn’t go without my latest “HBO has done it again.”  I really wasn’t going to watch “The Leftovers.”  This story of the aftermath of 40 million people just disappearing one day off of the earth didn’t sound that interesting.  Wrong again Rico.  It’s riveting and it’s either a metaphor for the middle east, or maybe the future of America, or I don’t know what, but this is probably the most bizarre show since Twin Peaks and I just know there is no chance for it to end well, but I am shouting in amazement at the screen.  I can’t repeat here what I shout.  One thing for sure.  One of the lead actresses, Carrie Coon, is so good that if she’s not a star of the future, I’ll quit while I’m ahead.  Wow.  Just Wow.

But HBO didn’t stop there.  “Last Week with John Oliver” brings us John Oliver.  Who is John Oliver?  Hell if I know.  But he’s British and he’s hysterical and as incisive as a dagger as he sums up what happened in the previous week during a half hour news show/comedy show/something or other.  Watch it once, just once.  I read somewhere recently that someone famous (I can’t remember who at this moment) said you should change your mind about something important every day.  This show will help.


Finally, I’ve sung the praises of HBO’s True Detective as the best show of the year.  Then I saw “Fargo” on FX.  Now it’s pretty close.  Billy Bob Thornton is spectacular as a hired killer in this 10 episode series.  This is a performance for the ages.  Terrific television.

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