At the Cinema - August/September 2017

Icarus – 10

Bryan Fogel may be the luckiest filmmaker ever.  He sets out to make a simple little documentary about doping and ends up in the middle of an international scandal.  It’s incredible stuff.

Fogel wants to show just how Lance Armstrong got away with it for so many years.  He begins doping and injecting all kinds of things into his thigh in an effort to improve his performance in a bicycle race.

Along the way he gets pointed in the way of the Russian anti-doping head, Grigory Rodchenkov.  Gregory is anti-doping the way I’m anti-lasagna.  He has actually been doping Russian athletes and helping them evade detection for decades. 

In the middle of a variety of nefarious discussions and plotting between the two, all that happens is the Russian doping scandal breaks before the Rio Olympics, Rodchenkov feels his life is in danger, he flees to the US and spills the beans to the New York Times. 

The movie suffers a little from some unnecessary philosophizing and filler making it run a little long.  But for the most part, it’s riveting.  I can’t imagine anyone not being fascinated by this one.  It’s on Netflix, and while I don’t often write about Netflix, this one shouldn’t be missed.

The Battle of the Sexes – 8

Fresh off her Oscar win for La La Land Emma Stone impersonates the great Billie Jean King in an in-depth look at the run up to her triumph over hustler Bobby Riggs in a much hyped tennis match in the Houston Astro Dome.  Steve Carell is equally impressive as the older Riggs who is trying harder to crush women’s lib than Rush Limbaugh.  Carell has Riggs down pat from his gambling addiction to his clownish on-court behavior.  One of the funnies scenes has Riggs telling his gambler’s anonymous group that their problem isn’t that they gamble too much, it’s that they lose too much.

Both Riggs and King are having marital problems that the film must deal with.  Riggs is a non-repentant about his gambling, and King is beginning to doubt her sexuality.  There’s a lot to cover, and the script gets it all in. 
Carell reminds me of Steve Martin in that he is building up a nice body of work.  The supporting cast is terrific as well.  The build up to the crowd-pleasing conclusion is your standard movie-making magic.

If you were around back then, like I was, you’ll probably enjoy the look back.

Kidnap – 8

I have a strong affinity for simple little movies that do exactly what they set out to do.  That’s exactly what makes this Halle Berry potboiler pretty well.  It’s modest ambitions serve it well.  Halle sees her son get kidnapped and she’s off to the races to save him.  She’s a stunt car driver, a detective, and finally a hero.  All predictable, but sometimes there’s nothing wrong with that.  

Oscar Predictions

Yes, I’ll be watching the Oscars as usual.  Just as I have every year since 1928.I love the movies and of course the ceremony will be too long, and there’s always the specter that a little free speech might break out at any moment.  So, here’s my annual predictions.  It was a great year for movies.  I actually saw, and liked all the Best Picture nominees.  The question is which ones will go on to become classics?

Best Picture

Will Win:  La La Land

Should Win:  Arrival

Best Actress
Will Win:  Emma Stone
Should Win:  Amy Adams in Arrival (oops, not even nominated)

Best Actor
Will Win:  Denzel Washington
Should Win:  Casey Affleck

Best Supporting Actress
Will Win:  Viola Davis
Should Win:  Viola Davis

Best Supporting Actor

Will Win:  Marershala Ali
Should Win:  Hugo Weaving (not even nominated for Hacksaw Ridge)

Best Director

Will Win:  Damien Chazelle

Should Win:  Damien Chazelle

Other Predictions

Original Screenplay:  Manchester By the Sea
Adapted Screenplay:  Moonlight
Animated Feature:  Zootopia
Animated Short:  Piper
Production Design:  La La Land

Cinematography:  La La Land

Costume Design:  La La Land
Editing:  Hacksaw Ridge

Makeup:  Star Trek: Beyond

Sound Mixing:  Hacksaw Ridge
Sound Editing:  Hacksaw Ridge
Visual Effects:  Rogue One:  A Star Wars Story
Original Score:  La La Land

Original Song:  City of Lights
Documentary Feature:  OJ Made in America

Documentary Short: Watani: My Homeland

Foreign Film:  The Salesman

Live Action Short:  TimeCode

Enjoy

At the Cinema - December 2016

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.