La La Land – 10
There’s been a renaissance of on-screen song and dance and I
think it goes something like this:
American Idol begat Glee which begat Pitch Perfect which begat The
Voice, and all this was going on during about 100 seasons of Dancing with the
Stars, and theater majors everywhere rejoiced.
Then along came a movie with a strong musical emphasis called
Whiplash which was a surprise hit and it picked up an Oscar. So someone with a lot of money that had seen all
those “begats” threw it at Whiplash director Damien Chazelle and said go ahead,
“put on a show.”
Put on a show he does in La La Land. He takes the considerable charisma, talent,
and chemistry of Emma Stone, (who did a turn on Broadway in Cabaret) and Ryan
Gosling, (who grew up as a mouseketeer) and crafts a wonderful modern musical
around their Cinemascope romance.
The movie starts with an inspired song and dance number and
ends with an amazing final act. They are classic scenes. In between
the characters pursue their dreams and their romance and are confronted with
some serious issues about what happens when artists have different degrees of
success. But mostly the movie is just
simply fun and it made me want to pull out my Astaire and Rogers box set. Yea, I really have all their movies on DVD. May the renaissance continue.
Criminal – 8
Kevin Costner is one of our national treasures, and he can
even bring life to a B movie plot like this one. Ryan Reynolds is a CIA agent who gets caught,
tortured, and killed over information he’s got.
The CIA hadn’t gotten the information yet either, so they call on Tommy
Lee Jones to transplant the memories into the lifelong criminal Kevin Costner
plays – who is beyond evil. With Gary
Oldham ranting and raving Costner begins to transform into a man worthy of the
memories he carries while still being able to lay waste to some bad guys. It’s all pretty
cool. I often say you either buy a movie
or you don’t. Have no idea why I bought
this, but I did.
Nocturnal Animals – 6
Which I can't say about this, one of those stylishly beautiful movies that is lovely to
look at but very hard to hold. Riveting
at times, (especially an opening scene unlike anything you've ever seen, or wanted to see) but also baffling, I’m sure if I sat down and tried to figure out the
plot and what the filmmaker was trying to tell us, I might eventually come up
with it, but I’m just not sure it would be worth the effort.
Amy Adams is the loveliest to look out in this tale. She married the wrong guy, then left him for
the wrong guy, and now is going through some remorse as she reads the novel of
the first guy while the second guy is off cavorting on a business trip. The novel is acted out for us by the author –
the first wrong guy. Got all that?
Fences – 7
Denzel Washington directs himself reprising his Tony-winning
Broadway role as a former Negro League baseball star who is now a garbage man
in Pittsburgh. It’s August Wilson’s
Pulitzer Prize winning play and there is never any doubt that it is a great play. But a great play does not a great movie make,
which we’ve learned many times.
The language and the acting are compelling and I would
expect that Denzel Washington and Viola Davis will be recognized during award
season. But the movie suffers from one
problem.
Broadway plays are usually in the 2 and a half to 3 hour
range, in some ways to justify that ticket investment. Who would want to pay
those prices for a 90 minute play? So,
every minute of that play appears to have made it to the big screen, and this
movie, as interesting as it is, is just interminably long. Most of it is an interesting portrait of the
dynamics of a dysfunctional family. But
the truth is that it is Denzel Washington’s Troy Maxson who carries the
dysfunctional torch and the problems revolve around him like the sun. It’s interesting and provocative, but
gruelingly long.
Rogue One: A Star
Wars Story – 7
The familiar Star wars theme music swells to cue you that something
big is happening. This new story is well done, but dare I say that Star Wars is
running out of steam. Even with characters we’ve never seen before,
we kind of feel like we’ve seen it all before.
This is essentially a war movie, and the battle scenes that occupy the
final third of the movie are certainly exciting, but maybe they
are running out of ideas.
Scanning the Satellite
Rectify – one of my favorite all-time dramas, came to a
satisfying conclusion with its final season on the Sundance Channel. Incredible characterizations by an astounding group of actors - If you ever get the chance, it’s
binge-worthy.
Bright Lights:
Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds – 8
HBO commissioned a documentary and then televised it early
after the tragic deaths of the two subjects over the holidays. If you don’t think people who entertain for a
living are different, check this out.
Marathon: The
Patriots Day Bombing – 10
HBO unveils another stunning documentary, a heart-tearing
story of the Boston Marathon bombing. If
this doesn’t move you in a dozen different ways, from the footage of the actual
event, to the story of the recovering victims, to the story of the
investigation and pursuit – you better check your pulse.
No comments:
Post a Comment