Money Monster – 8
Glossy, glitzy, glamourous, slick and fast moving, this modern
hostage drama hits the standard buttons with some up-to-date zip. George Clooney and Julia Roberts star, and although
they are rarely in the frame together, their chemistry still shines through.
Clooney’s character is a fast talking Jim Cramer knockoff
who is taken hostage on live TV by a fan who has gone broke following his
advice on a certain company. That
company is passing it off as a computer glitch, and Clooney and Roberts must
keep their bomber at bay long enough to unravel their rather simple mystery in
ridiculously quick fashion – the length of a movie. But that’s kind of the best news. Director Jodie Foster keeps the movie tight
and efficient, and it works as a thriller, and a little bit of a commentary on
our money obsession.
Scanning the Satellite
All The Way – 10
I know I must sound like a shill for HBO at times, but this
may be the best movie I’ll see all year.
I’ve already watched it twice. Bryan
Cranston is destined to win an Emmy for his portrayal of President Lyndon
Johnson. He’s already played him on
Broadway, and this is adaptation of that Tony-winning play. It is the story of Johnson’s early days in
office as he tries to pilot Civil Rights legislation through Congress after the
assassination of President Kennedy.
We are brought behind the scenes as the tug of war begins
and progresses. My home state of Mississippi
is strongly relevant throughout as the arguments rage, much as they still do
today. The manipulations are riveting,
and the strategies are fascinating as the lines are drawn
LBJ was vulgar, shrewd, and persistent. Cranston inhabits him so totally that you
believe you are there.
But he’s not the only one.
In recent movies I have been amazed at some of the casting choices, and
this is no exception as there are a great variety of Congressmen and historical
figures in the civil rights fight that are portrayed beautifully. This is like a pumped up history channel
lesson. It also reminded my how much fun political conventions used to be when there was some suspense going in. I've got a feeling it won't be the last time I get reminded this year.
It left me with one other thought.
HBO has done a terrific miniseries on John Adams, and now a great movie
on LBJ. It would be OK with me if they
did a movie on each and every President.
We already have some pretty good movies on Lincoln, George Bush, and
Richard Nixon, but the rest could easily be just as important. We have forgotten so much about the causes
each of them championed.
Confirmation – 8
Red-hot Kerry Washington stars as Anita Hill and Wendell
Pierce plays Clarence Thomas in another HBO historical dramatization, this one about Thomas’s confirmation hearings that held a nation in its grip. This is a paint by the numbers account
of the events. Educational and
interesting, here’s another look at race in America. It’s like a companion piece to the OJ Simpson
drama, in that it kept America glued to the TV, just in a more compact time
frame.
Ricki & the Flash (2015) - 7
Finally caught this movie which I missed in the
theaters. No big loss, other than one
fantastic 5 minute stretch which is the only reason that I’m even mentioning
it. Directed by Jonathan Demme, who I’m
guessing peaked with Philadelphia and Silence of the Lambs, this is a run of
the mill rock n roll movie that stars Meryl Streep as the rock singer (Ricki)
who gave up her family to move to California, dreaming – dreaming of being a
rock star. Rick Springfield plays her
pining Lindsay Buckinham-like partner in rock, and when they return to a
wedding of one of her estranged children, she gets to show off her rock licks
(yes, Meryl Streep can do anything).
They perform a Bruce Springsteen song called My Love Will Not Let You
Down, which I had never heard before because it’s a concert favorite that he
didn’t put on any of his albums. I’ve
now played this song about 20 times, and you should too, and it is the reason I’m really glad I saw
this movie.
Series Finales
I’ve been addicted to enough TV series in my lifetime to
know that what WILL probably let you down is the finale of a series you’ve
hung with throughout its run.
I’m going to say that I’ve seen only two great, totally
satisfying series finales in my lifetime – Newhart, and Six Feet Under.
The recent run of series finales was underwhelming to say
the least.
Nashville, which my wife was a fan of, had a cliffhanger
because they might be back on another network.
The spousal reaction was not good.
The Good Wife didn’t seem to know what to do after 6
enthralling seasons. They left a few
openings for a spinoff, thus there was no real resolution for a whole bunch of
characters in which the audience had built up a lot of equity.
Easily one of the worst I’ve ever seen was Castle. Now this was never a great show, just a
guilty pleasure that we enjoyed largely because of the chemistry between the
two leads, Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic as Rick Castle and Kate Becket. When ABC, showing that they had no
understanding of the word chemistry, decided that Becket would be written out,
the fans erupted through the protest medium of today – social media. So, ABC decided to kill the whole show. The producers had shot two alternative
endings and then made the bizarre decision to use both of them and tack them
together with voiceovers and no explanation of how they meshed. Fortunately,
nobody took the show as seriously as let’s say The Sopranos, so TV will go on, usually not knowing how to wrap things up.
Here's Cranston as LBJ:
