The Monuments Men

The reviews have not been great and the buzz almost killed this for me. Then two things happened to make me once again want to see this movie. I read a review from one of the sites that I visit (which I usually avoid if I am planning on seeing the film) and I saw a repeat of the original story on CBS Sunday morning from four or five years ago. The story of what American forces were trying to do during WW II to save art history was compelling in a 6 minute slot on a news show, so how could this be a problem? I also trust the taste of my blogging colleague Keith and the Movies, and he was very enthusiastic. So since it is President's Day and I had the morning off before class this evening, I went ahead and saw this terrific film. (Thanks Keith)

"Monuments Men" tells the story of a small group of Allied art experts who were tasked with trying to locate the art that Hitler had looted from across Europe. There are some back-story inserts about particular works of art that are then used as focus points for the dramatized version of the story. I suppose if you read the book that the film is based on, you would get a clearer idea of what was fiction and what was invented. I think I can pick out enough of the dramatic bits to say that this  film is mostly an imposition of plot on top of a real world story. The plot is serviceable enough and even better, it highlights the elements that make you proud to be an American. As the CBS story pointed out, we did not take these works back to American Museums, we tried to return them to their rightful places. The story also mentioned that art pieces are still appearing seventy years later, in private collections and the work of clearing the legacy of theft is ongoing.

George Clooney stars in and directed, from a script he co-wrote. When he did "Good Night, and Good Luck", he was the toast of the town, by the time he did "Leatherheads" he was just toast. His last few films as director have not been well received. I did not see the "Ides of March" but I think I know what turns some other critics off. He keeps the story straight and does not shy away from sentiment. Cynicism is the coin of the realm in critical circles and there is not an ounce of it in "Monuments Men". There are clear heroes and villains and a task that is difficult. Sometimes a race to the treasure aspect or a dramatic incident is used to make the audience stay invested, but never in a way that talks down to them. His style may be just too direct and workmanlike to please cineastes, but the average film goer should be plenty satisfied with this story.

I especially enjoyed the pairings in the film that carry much of the entertainment value. Clooney and Damon play off one another like the frequent partners they have been. John Goodman and Jean Dujardin have a nice sequence in a truck that plays up humor at first and then tragedy.  Bill Murray and Bob Balaban get the most opportunities to make us smile, both in the warm embrace of home and the smug satisfaction of besting an evil opponent or a scared kid, and knowing the difference. The truth is that all of the real Monuments Men were in a real war with real bullets flying. There are sometimes a few too many words in the speeches that tell us how important this project is, but they are sincere words and I did not think they hurt the story at all.

I guess one of the criticisms is that by being so sincere the film plays flat. I found it refreshing that the soldiers did the same kinds of things I member seeing in B & W WWII films starring John Wayne, Errol Flynn or a dozen other stars from the forties. No one takes out a baseball bat and pounds the truth out of someone, they use deception, reason and righteous anger to get the job done. There are several points where the story does have to payoff given the way the script is written, and those outcomes were fairly satisfying to me. In a flash forward coda, I thought at first I was seeing an amazing make up job but than I realized the director managed to get his father into the film and that was a kick. The former host of AMC, before commercials and "Breaking Bad" was a nice presence and suggests just how heartfelt the whole enterprise was.

Drew and Bob: The Masters of Movie Art

The great video above is from "Beyond the Marquee" and is part of an ongoing web series devoted to the movies. We had the pleasure of visiting the exhibit the day of the reception. Unfortunately our plans for the evening precluded us from staying for what looked like a wonderful gathering. Tom Peak, the son of artist Bob Peak was there early and he spoke to several of us about his father's work. I saw Drew Struzan pull up and get out of his car just as we were leaving. It took a lot of energy on my part not to blow off our plans for later in the evening and just follow him inside.

I'd taken one cell phone shot before I noticed the sign asking that there be no photography. I stopped immediately but after seeing the work displayed in the above video, my guess is that it will not offend anyone too much if I share that picture here.

The works here are by the late Bob Peak, an artist who defined movie illustration design in the 60s and seventies. I'm staring straight ahead as I type this and I have his work for Excalibur on the cover of the Laserdisc on the wall. According to the exhibit notes, Bob Peak was most proud of the campaign art he did for "Apocalypse Now". This art for "Silverado" hung on my wall in the form of a poster for several years. I may dig it out and return it to it's previous spot.

I have written a couple of posts on the Drew Struzan documentary, including the listing on my ten favorite films from last year. The exhibit gave me a chance to see the detail work on some of those iconic images. I envy those with the powers and imagination to create in this manner.

If you are in the Southern California area, you really should take the trip over to Forest Lawn Glendale to see the exhibit. The museum there is lovely and although it might be disconcerting to be at a cemetery, the views are spectacular and it is free.

Lone Survivor

I must tell you, I am pretty damn devastated right now. This movie is a tribute to the warrior spirit that defends us in some of the darkest places on Earth. The fortitude and physical stamina that it takes to become a Navy Seal is hard for anyone to imagine, and that's just the training phase. When these men stand up for us they take risks and make sacrifices that frankly put the rest of us to shame. There are moments here when you will wince with pain from what you are seeing, and then you will remember that you are only watching a movie and the men that when through it were not just acting, they were living and dying in this nightmare. Much like the brutal opening of "Saving Private Ryan", the combat sequences here are relentless and unforgiving. Director Peter Berg has made a real effort to put us into the fight visually and emotionally and he does a terrific job.

There is a slow build up to the mission's combat and that gives us a chance to learn a few things about our heroes. This was a group story rather than just focusing on the titular figure. Even the Seals that are not part of the ground team are given a place in the story. It is a tough culture of warriors that we are peeking at but they clearly have a sense of loyalty and comradery. It's clear that they are all capable, even the freshest among them. They are doing a job in a place that is far from home and all of them would love to be at home but as we hear in the narration, there is something that burns in them that makes this job their life. At the end of the film we get glimpses of what they sacrifice to do the job, and no one could say that they should not be honored for the choice they made.

The staging of the battle between the Taliban forces the Red Wing team encounters is up close and personal. We can see the injuries that they inflict and that are inflicted upon them. The spray of crimson in these shots is not the grotesque joke of a horror film or a mindless action movie. It is a visualization of the ugliness of war. Death can be sudden or it can be prolonged. The team never stops fighting for every chance they have, even when the odds are overwhelmingly great. There are two sequences that especially bring home the toughness and the desperation of the Seals. They are twice forced to fall back from positions in a way that is hard to watch. It is not a planned exit strategy but a nearly suicidal leap of faith that moves them down the side of the mountain. As the bodies spin through rocks, trees and assorted brush, we witness the brutal effect on the human form and roll our fingers up and duck our heads in coordination with the Seals. In a regular action film, you would see the spy/soldier/explorer walk away with a minimal amount of damage. This film shows you what the damage would really look and feel like. It is not something that you just brush off.

Some of the secondary team are taken out in a shocking moment that reflects the capricious nature of battle. We watch as four men fight for every inch of their lives and make the most of every opportunity they get, and at the same time we see a dozen others who get no opportunities and no choices and they are gone in an instant. All of them could have been in the fight if given a chance, but that is not the way war works. It sometimes snuffs out the strong and smart and brave without giving them the same valor, even though they deserve it no less. The four main actors are all excellent in their roles, but Mark Wallberg and Ben Foster deserve a little extra notice for the exceptional work they do in playing out the grim parts of the story. Foster's final scene is a heartbreaking combination of acting and direction that is sad and grim and real. Wallberg has an opportunity to actin some non combat scenes toward the end of the movie that reveal a little bit more about why we are fighting in Afghanistan. The Taliban may have been freedom fighting mujahedin at one point, but they are oppressive bullies who are trying to gain control over a population that is not all on their side. There are people in Afghanistan who want to be left to their own devices and traditions. We can only hope that they will be able to carry on when the U.S. has moved out. I was unprepared for the emotional wallop that the final act gave me and while the movie tries hard to remain non-political, this part of the story does carry some weight in explaining why our presence has been needed.

We were originally scheduled to see this when it opened wide, with our friends who currently have a son serving in the Marines in Afghanistan. I know they would be proud of all the American forces fighting on our behalf, but they might also be reminded of the danger their oldest is in. This is the kind of film that honors American efforts in the war on terror rather than mocking it. Hollywood has tried to feed us stories in the past about American hubris or arrogance in these conflicts. Certainly we have been less than perfect, but an audience should get a chance to see the valiant efforts of our troops as well as the faults in our policies. This film has been a success because it is a well made look at real people doing an unimaginably difficult job and trying to live up to the values we want the world to know us by. I may have lucked out that our plans fell through to see this with them, I escaped the specter of weeping in front of my friends and knowing that they have so much more reason to weep than I do. Thank Goodness we have such men to depend on.

007 Double Feature At the Egyptian

For the second week in a row, I made it down to Hollywood to catch a classic on the big screen at the Egyptian Theater. Actually there were two classics, both James Bond films from the heyday of the 1960s. These are the two films that most turned 007 into a a massive popular cultural phenomenon and the most consistently successful film series of  all time. The pairing was irresistible to me and although I could occassionally hear the snickering of hipsters in the audience over the costumes in the movies or a piece of plot line that seems a little fantastic, the general response was one of love from the hundreds of us who managed to make it there and see the first and greatest James Bond, Sean Connery.

Goldfinger

It was just last June that I saw Goldfinger on the big screen along with another Sean Connery feature "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". I can and do regularly watch this film. It is as entertaining as any movie you are likely to see and it is in my opinion the greatest of all the James Bond films. I won't relive the entire countdown to Skyfall that I did in 2012, but there are a few posts that you might enjoy here.

This first is a memory piece and review that I did early in the year leading up to Skyfall.

This is the KAMAD Video Blog that I posted after the Father's Day visit to see 007 and Dr. Jones together.

I did notice something a bit odd in last night's screening. The end credit did not list the correct movie coming up next in the sequence.  Here is the way it looks in the DVD remaster from a half dozen years ago:

It properly lists "Thunderball" as the next film. On last night's print the film listed was "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". Amanda and I talked about this and she is of the opinion that this was the original listing because they did not know that "Thunderball" would be next due to all the legal issues surrounding the property. I tended to agree with her except that "You Only Live Twice" came before "OHMSS" and "Thunderball" was released the year after "Goldfinger" so they should have been in production at the time they did release the third film. The answer according the IMDB is:

 In the original end title credits, which featured the famous "James Bond will return in..." teaser, the next film advertised was On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). However, when the producers began pre-production, they were unable to secure the Swiss locations needed for the film and decided to make Thunderball (1965) instead. The end title teaser was later changed to advertise "Thunderball".

 So that mystery is solved for the moment.

Thunderball

I don't think I have a previous post exclusively on "Thunderball".  I do however have this section of a post that I have copied over for you:

The original "Thunderball" was one of the biggest blockbusters of the 1960s. When adjusted for inflation it stands as the most financially successful of all the Bond movies. The audacity of Goldfinger was multiplied by a bigger canvas for the story telling. More exotic locations and bigger set pieces are put into place. As a kid I wanted the 007 lunchbox with all the frogmen fighting underwater. It was an image that sold all of us on the adventure we had coming. As far as I know, this is the first story to exploit the idea of nuclear terrorism. It was not of course the last. Here was SPECTRE as a real organization, with a board of directors and a chairman presiding over crime and doling out death as a punishment for failing the company. In a way, with all of the numbers, and secret locations and passwords or codes, it is the mirror image of MI6, and the bureaucracy that Bond actually represents.
There are great sequences in the picture and some real imaginative gizmos in the story. The jet-pack is just so outlandish that it gives the ejector seat a run for it's money as the most over the top toys of 007 in the early films. The miniature breathing apparatus looks like it could be practical for emergencies. Bond gets taken for a ride in an early Mustang, he has an underwater version of the jet-pack, and he gets yanked into the sky forty years before Batman uses the same technology in "The Dark Knight". The problems with the film have to do with pacing. A slog through the stuff at Shrublands, hide and seek in the Mardi Gras like parade in Jamaica, and the underwater battle looks cool but needed some editing. "Thunderball" is like one of those great Thanksgiving meals with so many choices, that are so rich and you want to try them all. When you do, you feel a little sick afterwards. "Thunderball" doesn't exactly make me sick, but my blood sugar is usually a little high after I watch it. I should get up and go for a walk, but I usually just fall asleep contentedly. Another blogger El Santo, did a fantastic piece on the music from "Thunderball', that goes way beyond the theme song. I hope he is OK with my linking it here, you should read and listen.

I will also mention that this film was one from my youth that I know gave me a nightmare or two. When Angelo Palazzi playing the doppelganger of Major François Derval gets stuck in the seat belt in the plane he just hijacked and landed in the ocean, Largo cuts his air hose and he drowns flailing away for help and oxygen. It gave me the creeps watching it and I dreamed about that death on more than one occasion. 

Sometimes there are little things that might slip by on the television screen that will not escape your attention on a screen thirty feet high and seventy feet wide. Last night I remembered one of those weird little details when the image came up for just a brief couple of seconds. There is a dog, taking a leak in the middle of a scene, and it either was too complicated to shoot it over or the editor just thought it was a lark and left it in. I went in search and fopund it on my DVD of the film and thought I'd share it with you here.

 As Bond is trying to escape in the confusion of the parade, two of his pursuers are bisected in this shot by a random animal lifting it's leg and letting it out. Amanda missed it but I have now made sure that none of you reading this will ever miss it again. 

We have a long wait until the next James Bond film, but with a rich 50 year history and opportunities like this screening at the American Cinematique  at the Egyptian, we will always have plenty to talk about. 

 

The Lego Movie

I have a vague notion of playing with Tinker Toys when I was a kid and I know my older brother had an Erector set that I envied because it had gears and motors and a lot of shiny metal pieces.  I never knew the joy of Legos as a kid . When I became a parent, I must have deliberately chosen to keep legos out of the house for fear of the mess and pain they might represent (stepping on a sharp plastic item, barefoot and in the dark was something I wanted to avoid). We did play with the Legos at the daycare or at the doctors office but there were never any sets or instructions, just building blocks. Sometime in the last twenty years, Legos marketing figured out that connecting with brand-name icons would move even more product for kids who wanted their toys to resemble their movies and TV shows. So characters and action figures became part of the Lego Universe and it has all lead to this, a movie about building blocks.

Way back in the early eighties I was listening to speeches that criticized half hour kids cartoons that were basically shilling for toys. You know, G.I. Joe, Masters of the Universe, and My Little Pony. All of those toys eventually had movies made out of them and if you judged by those films, you would know what my students were worried about, but if you started with this film, you would have no worries at all. This is a movie, featuring toys, that is less about selling a product and more about playing creatively. While you will never be able to see this film and not think of the product, you will certainly not think of it in the same way. This movie is anarchistic, colorful and somewhat demented. It is also funnier than most of the comedies that you see being advertised. I have not yet seen , nor am I likely to, "Ride Along", but the jokes in the trailers and ads for that have not made me smile once much less laugh out loud. "The Lego Movie" had me chuckling at the first trailer and seeing the film today, basically repeated the experience for ninety minutes. This movie is a kick and a contender for best animated feature in next years award lineups. 

The story is a hero's quest featuring the "Legos" figures from most of the popular play sets and some that I'm sure were invented for the movie. There is a funky wizard modeled  after "Gandalf" but don't think it is Gandalf because he appears as himself briefly in one sequence. The ancient giver of wisdom is voiced by the marvelous Morgan Freeman, whose voice was delivered to us by the Gods. Backing up Freeman are the voices of dozens of well known movie and TV personalities, all cast for the unique qualities of their voices. I was listening to the voice of our hero, Emmet, and I confused it with the voice of Chris Parnell. Emmet's range is a little higher than Cyril Figus but they both have that plain, somewhat emasculated tone that makes them the vanilla of the cast of crazy vocal performances. The movie features voice acting from; Jonah Hill, Will Ferrell, Will Arnet, Will Forte, Shaquille O'Neil, Billy Dee Williams, Channing Tatum, Elizabeth Banks and a whole bunch more.  Drawing special mention along with Morgan Freeman, is the king of Winter badassery, Liam Neeson himself. I missed his work in "The Nut Job" a couple of weeks ago, but it seems that Mr. Neeson has been regularly employed because this is the second of three films he has coming out in January and February. His dual role here as "Good Cop"/"Bad Cop" is a jewel of comic vocal variety. Freeman and Neeson alone might have been worth the price of admission but there is also the visual spectacular to bring you in.

The city scapes, oceans, clouds and just about everything else is rendered in "lego" form. The effect is hypnotically amazing and very surreal at times. The space craft and cars and building, you sort of expect from the toys, but the backgrounds and scenery are also visualized as lego constructions and it give the movie an odd sense of "pop" art and engineering genius.  This movie is really well imagined and the look might be worth a 3D investment although I was happy with the traditional view that we experienced it through. 

All the crazy visuals would be only interesting to look at for a short while. You need a story and some dialogue to go along with it. The plot is not especially surprising, although the idea of the alternate universes of "Legos" colliding is a fun and creative addition to the story process. The characters are realized in the most creative part of the film. The action figures talk like they would be the characters, as if they were being voiced by a creative child. Ferrell's President Business drops in an aside here and there to reveal his true colors in some most amusing comments. Will Arnet parodies both Bruce Wayne and Batman with a voice that is deep and dark and silly at the same time. It took a delicate mind to write some of these lines and not have them come off as loud and obvious at times. Pratt's timing in delivering the gee whiz cliches and oh oh jokes is just perfect. Although we do get sucker punched into more Will Ferrell than I would have preferred, in the end he does a good job as well, keeping his usual screaming persona to a minimum. 

There are some serious attempts to make the movie a message about the faults of conformity, but to do so without kicking the kids that can actually follow directions in the teeth for doing so. The number one song in the "Lego" universe is a parody of upbeat dance infected pop that passes for entertainment these days, but it is also catchy as heck and like the pop music it is making fun of, it is very entertaining. 
Listen to this clip to get a sense of what I mean:


I would strongly recommend this film to adults and children. You will find plenty to enjoy, and a confusing set of messages that don't detract from the spirit of the film. It is hard to imagine that the one film made from a specific toy, that I liked was one about a toy that I know next to nothing about and would seem to be incredibly boring. It is the opposite of boring and it is a terrific way to build your weekend into a winner.

A Little Birthday Flashback

Seeing how I am getting on in years, I'm looking for ways to keep track of the past. Here is a quick list of five movies I've seen from the year I was born.

Lawrence of Arabia Screening

Somewhere over the last couple of years, Amanda has fallen in love with this movie. I have admired it completely since I saw the restoration with my Father back in 1989 at the Century City AMC Complex. Last night was the second time in 7 months that we got to experience it on the big screen. That's in addition to the two times I've watched it on the fabulous Blu Ray Special package that I got as a Father's Day gift. I'm not going to do a complete post on it today, but I will post a link to the Vlog I put up last June, in case you missed it.

Last nights screening was at the Egyptian Theater. The audience was packed and there were hundreds of people seeing it for the first time.

Needless to say we had a great time. Amanda's New Years Resolution is to see this on the big screen every time it plays somewhere in the L.A. Area. That seems good to me. 

The Academy Goes off the Deep End

Bruce Broughton defends actions after rescinded Academy Award nomination - CBS News



Composer Bruce Broughton has been stripped of his Academy Award Nomination for a song he composed for a small Christian based film. The song was a surprise nominee because big time music figures who made contributions to other films did not get nominated and this did. There is not a clear statement concerning a rule violation, instead the implication is that because Broughton is a former governor of the Academy, that a personal e-mail carries with it some extra onus and maybe even intimidation. Having read the e-mail in question, I have to call BS on that. His tentative outreach was not to the entire music branch, and it is the mildest form of promotion you can imagine. The idea that he is using his position in the Academy as a way of gaining a nomination is preposterous. If this were true, no one actively serving on the board could ever hope their work in the industry could be nominated  at the same time they are volunteering to administer Academy business.



These people are shooting themselves in the foot and doing so in a way that is embarrassing and humiliating to a working professional who has given his time to the very institution that is now stepping on him. Unless there is some other issue that remains in the background, this is an incredibly unfair act and probably completely unnecessary. The chance of this piece of music winning the award is zero. There is more pressure in the guilds and production centers to vote for any nominee than this little film could ever muster. If I were a member of the music branch, I would be writing to the Academy at this very moment, protesting this decision. I would also be worried that any time a famous big time musician got bypassed, that someone is going to suffer the consequences of a political hissy fit.







Listen to this beautiful piece of music and know that the people who worked on this still have something to be proud of.



I had never heard of this movie before but I am now going to look for it and try to watch and post on it. I hope that the low budget and other limitations still allow a good story to be told. Mr Broughton, I have heard your music in many films and television projects and they have always been worthy and professional. You have probably heard for years how great the score from "Silverado" was. Hold your head up high and know that you did nothing wrong, this is just the cutthroat industry that you have made your living in for many years. There are wonderful people in the industry but there are also a lot of self important ass kissers. You stepped on someones toes by asking for the same kind of consideration that anyone else would be entitled to and they would usually demand it at the top of their lungs. I'm sorry you have suffered this indignity. I hope that whatever set of envious colleagues were responsible for this travesty will certainly receive the karma they have earned from this tantrum.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

I will admit up front that I have never read a Tom Clancy novel. They were ubiquitous accessories in the times that I lived through. Almost everyone I knew carried a copy of one of the Jack Ryan books and thumbed through them at bus stops, in waiting areas of restaurants, any place where time was to be passed and long before the internet was available for us to kill that time with. Next to Stephen King, Clancy defined the world of popular fiction in the 1980s and 90s. When the first incarnation of Ryan arrived on screen in the form of "The Hunt for Red October" I was sold. This was a different kind of spy game and I thought the films did a good job making the stories work on screen. Jack Ryan was played over a twelve year period by three different actors and all of those movies worked to some degree or other. It has been twelve years now since this character was on screen and the reboot seems like it should work and we can look forward to some more of Dr. Ryan over the next dozen years.

It looks as though this is an original story rather than an adaptation of one of Clancy's works. The update, getting Ryan involved through a 9/11 epiphany seems completely realistic for the times. In the long run it may date the movie, but I still can watch "Red October" even though the Soviet Union is long  gone so maybe it won't matter. The helicopter accident that was mentioned in the 1990s films, becomes a part of an origins story for this movie. I liked the concept but the rapid time forward makes the focus less about Ryan and his character and more about the "evil plan" of the the moment. It is a convoluted attack on America, involving short selling of American bonds and a coordinated terror attack. It is fortuitous that the Russians have themselves rebooted to their cryptic and totalitarian ways. The current intransigence of Moscow makes this script a lot more believable in a time when most terror threats originate from the Islamic world of fundamentalist warriors.

Chris Pine is an up and coming star. He has a great look and he is capable of acting so if given a chance, the character may be sustainable for a period of time. The script here gives him some early opportunities to show us his chops, but once the plot kicks in, mostly it is action based yelling and jumping that will characterize his role. His best moments are trading lines with director and co-star Kenneth Brannagh. Each of their scenes together gives Pine an opportunity to play smart and to use body language and dialogue to tell the story. When we arrive at the climax of the attack, there is basically nothing to distinguish Ryan from all the other hard guy spies that we have seen in other movies. The motorcycle chase near the end makes very little sense except it keeps the star in the center of the action.

The director's greatest asset in my opinion is himself when playing the role of actor. Sometimes in a story like this, we are given a bad guy who has legendary skills but those are only talked about rather than displayed. Except for a perfunctory introduction to us as a bad ass character who kicks the crap out of a sloppy nurse, all of Brannagh's work here shows us his intelligence and dangerousness with skilled acting. Brannagh holds the screen with his face and his voice. He barely smiles even when it might be the right way to play off the covert agents he is up against. The traditional Russian accent is authentic enough without being reduced to a caricature of Boris Badenov. You can see menace and intelligence in his eyes. The script gives him a superfluous disease that is used only for a character point for Kiera Knightley's doctor to notice. His calm delivery of the dialogue involving the simple torture he plans for his captive is more disturbing because we are listening to a serious character and not just a bogey man.

Knightley is fine as Ryan's future wife, and the best joke in the film involves her discovery of his true job. Kevin Costner is solid in the role of recruiter and operator for the spying activities of the young Jack Ryan. He could easily have been cast in the role himself back in 1990. Had that happened it's likely that instead of two relaunches of the character, we would now be seeing some of the more mature Ryan stories that feature him in a position of political power. You can't rewrite history, so we will never know how things might have gone differently. "Shadow Recruit" is an effective action spy thriller, but it is not particularly special. The best thing about it is the performance from Kenneth Brannagh, but there is plenty of potential for long range development of the character, with some stronger plots. Generic but entertaining.

Best Movie Theaters Los Angeles - Screenings, Films

Best Movie Theaters Los Angeles - Screenings, Films

I've been to most of these venues. The newer ones with the fancy amenities are not yet an experience I've had but The Nuart, Vista, Chinese, Sunset 5, and Arclight  are all gems. The Silent Movie Theater has great programming but an uncomfortable venue. Left off of this list is the great Egyptian Theater, which is only used for special programming which may be why it did not make the list.

I saw JAWS at a screening at the Vista back in 2009, got to meet screenwriter Carl Gottlieb there.

Take a look and imagine seeing a great movie in a great theater.

WTF Happened to Movie Posters?

Too true and too sad.

Nebraska

The new year starts for me with one of the great small films that got released at the end of the last year. "Nebraska" has been talked about since the Cannes Film festival way back in May of last year when Bruce Dern was given the award for best actor. Since that time, it's reputation has grown creating more anticipation and earning several end of the year accolades. There certainly deserves to be attention thrown at the actors in this film, they all do an outstanding job of playing some cantankerous, confused, concerned and conniving personalities. There are several aspects of the story that ring a little close to home at times but in the end, the story manages to be about the connection we have with our loved ones, even in the most trying of times. 

Dern plays "Woody Grant", a delusional old man who is not particularly likable. He is not a mean man or particularly sneaky although once or twice he does say things that might be hurtful to his younger son. The one thing he definitely is however is determined. Having had some first hand experience with elderly dementia, I can say it was easy to relate to the frustration that his family goes through when he is determined to get to Lincoln,Nebraska in order to collect his imagined prize. He is not infirm and his level of dementia is not such that he can easily be distracted. His good hearted son David, played by Will Forte is willing to indulge him so that he does not have to lie to his old man. That desire to do the right thing, even in the face of a ridiculous assumption and obsession, makes David more and more like his Dad than he might have realized. Several times in the story, we hear how "Woody" was taken advantage of by people in the past because he could not say no to them. David repeats the pattern because even though he trys to argue and convince his father that the prize is an illusion, he can't bring himself to lying and decieving his father or putting him in a home.

It is not hard to play a grizzled old man if you are one, and Bruce Dern's long career has prepared him for the role in a lot of ways. He has been making films for more than fifty years and some of the parts he played were unsavory ones. I'm not sure the number of times he played a saddle tramp, dirty and disheveled in some Western, but it is certainly a lot. He also has played crazy before. In the late seventies, if you were looking for a disturbed character actor as an antagonist, his name was probably on the casting list of everyone in town. His performance in this film is more nuanced. He is not supposed to be insane, just mildly obsessive and delusional. His mannerisms reveal a weary frustration at times with the lack of respect that he now commands with his wife and sons. Having been a milquetoast husband and alcoholic father it might be understandable why everyone would expect him to lay down when they draw a line. Dern however shows us a man fighting for respect, far past the point that anyone might be able to earn it. This is not a sentimental portrait but it is an honest one. He does not have as much dialogue as some of the even more peripheral characters but you can tell that his quiet face and bent body are not to be taken lightly. There are no histrionic scenes of emotional revelation. At one point when it is revealed that he had an affair with a woman between the time his first and second sons were born, he does not explain or apologize. There is a mildly sheepish and guilty look on his face but it was not a moment of revelation to him the way it was to his son. Woody manages to accept the judgement that his action might have been wrong and he can see that his son feels betrayed, but Woody knows that it is the past and life needs to be lead in the future. Back in 1985, Geraldine Page won an Oscar for "The Trip to Bountiful", the story of an old woman's return to her childhood home. That film was filled with sentiment and nostalgia. Woody's visit to his family roots, stirs some old memories but they never threaten to bring a tear despite the sadness. That's not the kind of guy Woody is and Dern plays those scenes with quiet introspection but not trying to hit an emotional geyser

I probably identify with Forte's David more than is healthy. My relationship with my father was certainly closer and warmer than the relationship at the center of this story, but both of us feel protective of our old man's dignity and legacy. Despite the fact that his father is infuriating in his single mindedness and that he is a somewhat sloppy drunk, David still manages to find a well of patience to tap whenever he gets a little overwhelmed. Although there are a couple of medical emergencies that take place in the course of events, they are not used to bring the father and son together so much as they exist to show how willing the son is to make some effort to sustain the old man. I don't apologize for the way my father was but I do try to explain how he saw things and why I usually could take his side, sometimes even when he was wrong.  That was the tone that Forte manages to bring to the role. The character of his brother is a little less defined, but in his own way he conveys the same sort of attitude. Woody's wife appears to be somewhat bitter and sarcastic and at times not very loving. She is also irreverent and fiercely committed to her husband despite the caustic surface. June Squibb is getting a lot of attention for her role and in the back seat of the car, as the brothers try to remove their parents from some of the situations they find themselves in, she and Dern are well matched older people who understand each others idiosyncrasies.

The pace of the film is slow, and there are some wild characters that might stretch credulity, although I have been to enough funerals and family functions to know that relatives can get crazy at times. The final resolution of the story is a bit of an indulgence for David to make but it is deeply satisfying despite the fact that those coincidences of timing on a late drive through town just are not likely.  The town is full of good folks and bad ones, and the idea is a solid answer to the heart of what Woody really needs. This is a terrific film that grows on you the longer you are immersed in it. The opening hour will test your patience but if you can be like David, the rewards in the end are worth it.

Traditional Top Ten for 2013

Happy New Year Everyone

Before I give you my listing, the three films that moved in and out of my top ten deserve to be mentioned as well. One last minute film bumped "Saving Mr. Banks" off the list. "About Time" was on the list at one point but was bumped by "Saving Mr. Banks". "12 Years A Slave" is a fine film and hovered on the edge for me. Ultimately I was just not moved in the same ways that everyone else seems to be by it. The horrifying depiction of human cruelty may have suffered because I'm not sure how repeatable the experience is for me. This is not really a list of the "Best" films of the year, it simply represents my set of favorites. It is of course subjective, but I could enjoy seeing all of these multiple times. The original reviews are available by clicking on the posters shown below.

10.  42 

This is a social movement film that describes an important change in the American character and the greatness of one man. Jackie Robinson achieved his place in sports history not just because he was the first black player in the major leagues, but also because he was a great player and a courageous man. The story will probably be seen by many as too conventionally told but it hits all the important emotional points and it works on each of them. It also has the advantage of having my favorite movie poster of the year. The image to the left here depicts a baseball move, but look at Robinson's right hand, it is raised and clutched in defiance. The fact that this horizontal activity is depicted vertically, makes it more interesting and maybe even symbolic. Harrison Ford gives a terrific performance as Branch Rickey, the baseball man who saw the future.

9. The World's End

 This movie is on the list for one reason, it made me laugh and it made me laugh hard. I was chuckling all the way to the car after the movie was over and still laugh just thinking about it. Simon Pegg has become one of my favorites in the last few years. He has a comic persona but can play a good dramatic turn as well. I was late to "Shaun of the Dead" but "Hot Fuzz" was on my radar before it opened and i was there that first night. The idea that these films are in any way connected story wise is just part of the joke that everyone seems willing to go along with. The set up of the movie was excellent and the characters were played straight. When it takes a sharp turn two thirds of the way in, we are willing to go along because the characters were so strong to begin with. I know I will be watching ten or fifteen minutes of this every time I run across it, and I know that if I have the time, I will end up finishing it.

8. Drew: The Man Behind the Poster

As a movie, this documentary about the illustrator Drew Struzan is pretty conventional. There are a lot of talking heads sharing opinions and telling stories. The fact that those talking heads belong to some of the greatest film makers of the last thirty years is what begins to tell you there is something different here. I looked forward to this movie for about a year before it opened. I love movie posters and I love poster art. Too many posters now are simply photoshop creations. Some of them are attractive but they are rarely artistic. Drew Struzan makes art. I'm not sure I know how one distinguishes illustrator from artist, but I am confident that Mr. Struzan is esteemed by people in both fields. The movie played at a film festival here in Southern California and that's what allowed me to meet both the director and the subject. Each of them was gracious with the few moments i spent talking to them and it was a highlight of the year for me.

7. American Hustle

In terms of quality, this may be the best picture of the year. I thought it was extremely well written and turned an interesting historical event into an entertaining story with some clever additions of romance and "Sting" like story deception. As a collection of performers it would be difficult to find a cast that did a better overall job than this one. All of the major characters are effective in their roles with special attention going to Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence. These two women are the current generations version of Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck, sexy in non conventional ways and talented as all get out. This is director David O. Russells third film in a row to knock it out of the park, he is in the sweet spot of his career right now and we are lucky to be a part of it.

6. Evil Dead

The thing that most scared me when I knew this was coming was that it would suck. The original "Evil Dead" is a touchstone horror classic from the 1980s and it was straight out frightening. The sequels went more for humor mixed with scares but the original practically invented the cabin in the woods genre of horror movies. The one thing that gave me some confidence was that the original film makers were overseeing the new crew and they would not want their legacy to be tainted. Some of the other sites I read did not like this but i thought it was everything I hoped it would be. There was gore in service of the story and characters, the effects are for the most part practical, there are some good subtle nods to the original without becoming campy and best of all, it was frightening.

5. The Conjuring

That's right, I've got two horror films on my ten favorite list and they are back to back. Where "Evil Dead" goes for the visceral horror, "The Conjuring" is more suspenseful and builds to it's frights. There a smashing opening that seems to have little to do with the later events but of course in the end it will be connected for us. This is a moody, haunted house piece that does not reinvent the genre, it just does it's job efficiently and with professionalism. There are CGI moments but they are used with restraint, which seems to be the main problem I have with most films in this genre, when it's time for the boogie man to show up, it is often not as frightening and sometimes it is visually distracting.

4. Gravity

 This movie looks amazing. The images could convince you that it was filmed on location. I have seen a couple of pieces critical of the science or a storytelling technique or two, but those criticisms miss the bigger picture. This is an ambitious film, told on a grand scale about some of the most intimate feelings we as human beings have. While others have been beating the drum for Cate Blanchett as the best female performance of the year, I know in my heart and in my brain, that Sandra Bullock completely owns this move and this solar system. If you go to the movies to be wowed, than this is the movie to go to. It impressed me repeatedly. This is the kind of movie that 3D IMAX films were made for. I hope it will translate to other platforms because the story and the performance deserve equal attention to the look of the movie.

3. The Way, Way Back

One of those little movies that can, does. A coming of age story that has a few twists and a genuinely appealing performance from Sam Rockwell. The scenario is a little complicated but the story is conventional. The characters are incredibly real and the dialogue is full of sparkling insights about growing up and relationships. Allison Janey will slay you every time she opens her mouth. This is a funny film that has some genuine heart and the performances are winning. It crawled under my skin and just stayed there, daring me to try to rid myself of the warm happy feeling it gave me. I expect this to be a summer perennial at my house. 

2. Rush

The real life story of a Formula One rivalry from more than thirty years ago did not seem to be something that I would fall in love with. I'm not a race fan and although I vaguely remember the incident, it was not of historical significance. None of that mattered once these characters came alive on screen. The fascinating point of the story is how competition compels us to make ourselves better and that competition means someone else is challenging us. The two lead actors are excellent and the race sequences are well staged. Somehow this movie pulled me in and as I sat in the theater after it was over, I could hardly contain my enthusiasm for the film. This movie has disappeared from most people's radar for end of the year accolades, I say it easily is better than the new Scorsese film and equal to the other films that are being bandied around now. This is an adult film for grown ups who want to be intelligently entertained, not shocked or pandered to.

1. Mud

This film contains a more subtle performance from Matthew McConaughey than the one he gave in "Dallas Buyers Club". I prefer it but both of those roles are terrific showpieces for an actor who has been slumming in rom-com world for far too long. Here's the thing though, McConaughey's performance is not the best one in the movie. That was provided to us by a child actor named Tye Sherida. Kids performances may be hard to gauge because sometimes they are just being kids and that's all the part calls for. This was a lot more complicated and difficult and he pulled it off while being surrounded by a pretty impressive cast. This film came out in April and is now making the rounds on cable. Be sure to take some time to see it. The less you know about it, the more I think you will enjoy it. From the time I saw it, it was on the top of my list and nothing that has come since has been able to dislodge it.

End of the Year Wrap Up

This year was certainly better than last year when it came to the diversity of quality films. I still worry that I see too many sequels and comic book based movies but I have to say there were several that I enjoyed quite a bit. When I get to the traditional top ten list later, I was surprised to see that there were no animated films near the top. Last year I had two and in 2010 I had three. Monsters University was as close as I could come and it was not that close. Also missing from my list will be a few surprises. I love Star Trek, but "Into Darkness" just missed the list. "Man of Steel" was one of my most highly anticipated films of 2013, and the more I think about it, the lower it drops in my esteem. "The Wolf of Wall Street" was not just a disappointment to me, it kinda ticked me off. Before I pass out my accolades to the movies of the last year, I want to comment a bit on my own blogging efforts.

I try to look at a variety of blog pages from people that I have encountered on line. I visit Keith and the Movies,  The Cinematic Katzenjammer, It Rains...You Get Wet, and Every 70s Movie on a daily basis. Several other bloggers also are worth visiting, I just don' always have time every day, they include Morgan on Media, Citizen Charlie, And So It Begins, and Scopophilia Movies of the 60s, 70s,80s. Two of my favorite blogs however are not daily blogs, My Movies My Words is a project by a writer on the other side of the country and I enjoy Eric's take on films but he posts when he can rather than on a regular schedule. Finally, Fogs Movie Reviews has discontinued publishing but Dan still has two years worth of posts that you can go back though and enjoy.  Many of these sites are more prolific than I could ever hope to be and some of the writers have a way with words and insights that frankly intimidate me a bit. I am however happy with what I manage to produce and by way of narcissistic-ally looking back over the year I producede this inventory.

Blog Record for KAMAD

I did some kind of post on all 89 trips to a movie theater that I made this year. That was a lot of AMC Stubbs reward points but also a lot of money spent.

69 New features released this year
11 Classics seen on the big screen years after their first appearance in theaters.
9 VLOG posts on the companion site
41 Posts that are not strictly reviews this includes blogathon reviews, MIWETS on Fogs and My page, and assorted commentaries on movie related issues.
341 Different films watched during the year. At least forty of those were watched a second time so I definately averaged more than a movie a day, even if I did not post on all of them.

A Few Favorite Posts

Not a top ten list but some of the Reviews or Commentaries I most enjoyed writing this year:

Ten Favorite Moments from 2012  A countdown of favorite moments from films in 2012, most of these moments lasted thirty seconds or less. It was fun to put together but the video quote from Piranha 3DD is missing because the film was taken down (Probably by my own daughters company).

      Shelby: Josh cut off his penis because something came out of my vagina.

Kirkham A Movie A Year  A quick visual trip though my 55 years on the planet.

   

My Secret Lair

King Kong Times 3  A personal reflection on the three versions of the story of the Eighth Wonder of the World.

Three Perfect Movies   Do yourself a favor and watch any of these gems that not everyone is aware of. If I ever need to cheer myself up, I put in one of these 3 movies and I am happy again almost immediately.

Happy Birthday Strother Martin A salute to one of the great character actors of all time, and a man that I knew slightly because he was related to me. (Visual Proof Included)

The Adventures of Robin Hood on the 75th Anniversary of its release. This is the original post and it still has the video links that were not copied to the Favorite film page.

Jaws: The Vlog Link  This link will take you to an epic forty-five minute video on the movie. I yak for about twenty minutes, There is a quick interview with some guys at the theater in costume and then Amanda and I debrief for about twenty minutes. A big investment of your time, but I had a blast doing it.

Top Ten 007 Movie Posters  I was inspired by Eric from "My Movies, My Words" and then was re-blogged by Michael at "It Rains ...You Get Wet." Another chance to talk about one of my favorite subjects, Bond, James Bond.

Not the Posters but a Laser Disc Re-Creation

Drew: The Man Behind the Poster  This may have been the film going highlight of the year. I got to meet the subject of the film and have a short conversation with both he and the director. Look for the movie either on DVD or Streaming, a fascinating look at a real artistic genius.

CK Secret Santa Blog a Thon  My secret Santa gave me a terrific classic to post on. If you go to the link there is also a link to the Cinematic Katzenjammer site that compiles all the secret Santa Reviews.

Movies I Want Everyone to See  I was privileged to write for Fogs Movie Reviews for almost five months. This is the review I did for my wife's favorite movie and one of the things I'm most proud of writing for that now closed site.

Next Up, the Traditional Top Ten List. Check back soon, it should be up sometime on January 1, 2014.

47 Ronin

This movie has apparently been sitting on a shelf for a year or so, and there were not a lot of ads or promotions for it. I guess the studio decided that their investment could not be recovered and they are protecting themselves by releasing it as counter-programing during the holidays and offering only a small amount of release support.  That's a business decision, and the investors have to go with their guts. I think the movie may have been tainted by some of those actions because it was much better than I was expecting it to be.

A little palate cleansing is nice at this time of year. I just saw six new releases of end of the year Oscar bait and Holiday cash in fare. I've been a little overwhelmed and I looked forward to something fairly mindless and action oriented, and here sat "47 Ronin" starring Keanu Reeves on my doorstep. The trailer was not promising, it emphasizes the CGI 3-D hooks of the movie. Fortunately, there is less of that element than might be expected. There are still dragons and ogres and mystical warriors, but the vast majority of the plot seems to be standard samurai action and setting.

Mr. Reeves is often criticized for his acting skills but I have found him acceptable most of the time if he is cast well.  There are not long passages of dialogue for him to spout. The exposition is done in an opening narration and through the voices of other characters. There was only one sequence where Keanu delivers lines that are portentous and even in that spot the sentences are short and to the point. If your objection is to Keanu in a love story set in the Samurai world, don't worry, that is only a small element of what takes place. In truth his character Kai is more of a co-starring role rather than lead. He is an important character, but the story is not about his journey, he is simply one of those acting to avenge their master and restore balance to the world as they see it.

The events are steeped in mysticism but are based on a real event that has been retold and embellished and changed over the years.  The actions of the warriors appear to be in keeping with the code that they lived by and this movie takes pains to emphasize that. There are frequent ceremonial rituals that are engaged in, and clothes that are associated with families and levels of service. The obligations that the ronin feel are explained by their leader and illustrated by their actions. This was one of the aspects of the movie that made it so much more appealing to me. There are several action scenes and the magical/supernatural elements do appeal to a broader audience in modern cinema, but I think this could have been effectively told without all of those components.

A couple of examples of elements that feel overdone; when the lead retainer, Ôishi seeks the banished Kai, he ends up in the set from the third "Pirates of the Caribbean". It feels strange and it is a sequence that is used to partially explain  why Keanu Reeves is not Japanese. In that sequence Kai is battling what appears to be a demonic ogre and it is a CGI creation. A traditional fight would serve the story just as well but the 3-D needs to have some weapons fly off the screen and the leaps and jumps need to be made fitting for a jaded audience. I was still entertained but I would have been just as pleased with a straight drama.

In the long run it was not great but it was good and I was entertained more than I expected to be. I hope that if you are interested you will take the time to see it in a theater. There are other films out there but if you are seeking mainstream entertainment and a entertaining action film, this is your best choice for the holiday period.

Top 25 Movie Posters of 2013 - Movies HD

Not my list but some good choices, take a couple of minutes to check them out.

The Wolf of Wall Street

OK, I'm not drinking the Kool Aid on this one. It was basically three hours of material that you would put in a trailer and almost no story telling at all. I know that Martin Scorsese is one of our greatest living directors but he needs to be called out the same way that people are willing to call out Spielberg when he plays the same notes over and over again. This is not a movie that has anything to say and it hits no emotional points except tedium and disgust.  I can't say it is vile because the movie does not really advocate a viewpoint, but it would be easy to see how people watching this would have the same reaction as the stockbrokers who saw the Forbes article that shared the title of this film. Where do I sign up?

The movie "Wall Street" had a clearer condemnation of the excesses of greed and capitalism, this movie is simply an excuse to showcase those excesses. How many times is it necessary to see Leonardo DiCaprio pop a pill, snort cocaine up his nose or end up drooling on the floor? If your answer is less than a half dozen times, be prepared to be bored, because that sequence of events is repeated every twenty minutes in this three hour tour of late eighties/early nineties barbarism. The fact that he is often accompanied by Jonah Hill as a dweebish partner in crime should make it even less necessary to repeat the events over and over. We get it. Ladle on some nudity, including a shot of what I hope was a prosthetic Jonah Hill penis, and you begin to imagine the lengths to which this movie will go to show us the depravity of this wolf-pack. What might have been missing was any sense of the consequences to anyone other that the lead character in the schemes being played out here. I did not care much for "Blue Jasmine" earlier this year but it is an intellectual and moral giant of a film com,pared to this load of thunder signifying nothing.

Jordan Belfort heads a company designed to separate people from their money regardless of whether the investment has any merit. In fact he seems to prefer that the stocks that he peddles are so high risk because that will absolve him of blame for a lack of return by any of his customers. DiCaprio tears into the role with gusto but the part is so under written that he comes across as a stick figure of bellicose ambition. Just as there are too many sequences of debauchery; from dwarf tossing to gang bangs to gleeful fraud on a party line, there are way too many speeches. This my friends comes from a speech teacher. Belfort gets on the microphone in front of his troops almost as often as he snorts cocaine. What should come over as lunatic inspirational messaging for the sales people in the boiler room operation disguised as an investment firm, seems tired and redundant. Emotional high points can't be high if everything is delivered at the same pitch. The one time it worked in the film was in the moment that Belfort reneges on his S.E.C. agreement. He drops the hyperbole for a few seconds to make a real emotional connection with one of his employees and then dramatically returns to the hyper stylized tone he uses for most of the picture.

There is no character arc in the story. Everyone starts out as a greedy bastard and everyone end up as a greedy bastard. No one is enlightened or changed as a result of the events that take place in the time span of the movie. Some of those events make an interesting anecdote but they do not make a compelling story and when strung together for three hours they make a tedious film. I can understand why there was talk of moving this film to the early part of the next year, it needs some firm pruning and a story editor who can make some sense out of what Scorsese has shot. I think that a decision was made that the salacious nature of the film subject and the name of Martin Scorsese would be satisfactory at  bringing in film fans and there are enough critical apologists that the movie would get some awards consideration. I frankly saw DiCaprio better in a two minute scene in "The Great Gatsby" than in the whole of this film.

The kinetic energy of the filming and editing can't turn the excesses into anything other than a teaser trailer for a movie that lasts three hours. If you watch the first teaser for the film, you get everything there is in the movie. Add a few more F-bombs and a lot of nudity and drug use and there you have what so many people are claiming is a great film. It takes a lot of talented people to make a movie and the technical aspects of this film are excellent. There are some good short pieces of acting work that are quality based but they are in aid of something meaningless. The vision of the director is ultimately responsible for how the film is supposed to come across to the audience. The director here seems to be blinded by his vision of decadence, much the same way as he was by the style of film in "New York, New York". A vision can't just be the images, it needs to be emotions and insight, two things lacking in this film.  Art is subjective, so some will find this artful, I just found it loud, crass and not very entertaining.

Philomena

This a a film to stir your blood if you have any sense of injustice. Regardless of your faith or political leanings, the history of harsh treatment of pregnant young women in Ireland in the first half of the last century is not a happy one. Whether it was the horror show projected by "the Magdalene Sisters" ( a film that has received much criticism for it's accuracy) or the more mundane heartlessness of the abbey shown in this film, it does appear that strict moral adhesion to a philosophy was emotionally cruel. This film is actually a pretty sad story despite the humor that is highlighted in the trailer above. There are moments of levity but at it's heart, the film concerns the indifference of a couple of institutions to the people that they serve.

The first of those institutions are the convents that took in women abandoned by their families and then misused them. I have not done enough research to know if this is just typical Catholic bashing or if this was standard operating procedure. I do believe that the film shows a strength of faith by the title character that would be hard to preserve if there was not a foundation of goodness somewhere. From a more modern perspective, unwed pregnant women are not something to be hidden away and their children taken from them. From a perspective of the times, it might seem that the children were given treatment in their best interest and that the expectation that the women would simply accept the results was normal. What is not normal is the desire to cover up past sins when relevant information is deliberately withheld. I watched and was unhappy when the children were taken, but I did not see that as an act of evil. Later in the story, when we discover that at least some officials in the hierarchy deliberately withheld information from parents and children, the shroud of evil is draped on those characters. The way the story is revealed in the film seems to be dramatically effective, regardless whether it is accurate or not.

The second institution that is criticized here is the world of journalism. The author of the book that the film is based on is portrayed as the lead character of the film. The screenwriters have not been shy about displaying his flaws as a human being. As an outcast from the privileged class of journalists at the high levels of government, he seems to have disdain for the idea of a human interest story and for anyone who would be interested in reading one. The pompous fall back of writing Russian history after a fall from grace might make him seem less of a failure from the class that he sees himself in, but it was clear that the rest of the world had little use for it. The nice part of the story is that he is forced to recognize that there is worth in the stories of others who are not czars, commissars, or members of an oligarchy.

Judi Dench is marvelous as the elderly woman seeking her lost child. She conveys a rueful manner at those times that the imagined image of her child  appears in her mind. She is also a peppy retired nurse with simple enthusiasms and a warm human nature. I know people who speak to the employees of a restaurant or hotel and make friendly conversation. They sound very much like the chipper Philomena Lee does in those sequences in Washington D.C.Where the misanthropic and jaded journalist sees a person of pitiful or limited imagination, most of us would see a warm hearted soul, willing to share something of herself and learn something from others. Although it is not the journey that will get the most attention, the story of the journalist is just as significant to the film as that of the mother trying to find the lost child from her past.

Steve Coogan plays the writer Martin Sixsmith and he does a good job of reflecting his conflicted loyalties to his journalistic roots and the feelings of his newly acquired friend Philomena Lee. The flashback sequences to the 1950s Irish Convent feel authentic in tone and they certainly look like they might have been filmed at a location where time has stood still. The film is well made and tells the story efficiently, although it does tend to take a couple of political shots, those are largely minor sucker punches that anyone could expect from the authors point of view. There are elements of the final resolution with the adopted sister and the long time lover that I thought needed to be expanded upon, but on the whole it was a rewarding experience for the acting talents and the sad set of stories that make up the whole purpose of the film.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The story idea of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is a natural for movies. A quiet man leads a rich internal life compared to the mundane existence he eeks out every day. Back in 1947, the great Danny Kaye starred in a Goldwyn musical feature based on the story. There is two hours of entertainment that is fairly conventional and has a nostalgic charm to it that seems light and airy. This new take on the story is a lot more serious, it has a great contemporary song score (but it is not a musical), and despite having some darker themes, it is even more ephemeral than the Danny Kaye film.

Ben Stiller stars in and directed this mediation on loneliness and  fantasy. In this story, Walter is not really unfulfilled in his job, but he is wistful over lost opportunities and the absence of love in his life. It is his longing for romantic contact that drives him to live out a series of imaginary adventures that are then followed up with more real experiences. His interest of affection is not a glamorous music star or model, but rather a pretty co-worker, near his age with a pre-teen child. Walter's main fantasy is not unreachable but all of the scenerios in which he sees himself or later actually experience, are far out of his ability to achieve. My daughter used the phrase "magical realism", which is often associated with  the literary works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I know the concept has been used to describe films as well. "Chocolt", "Amelie" and even "Groundhog Day" are examples. The most recent example of a film of this type would be "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". That film is deliberately referenced in this film, probably as a way of easing us into accepting that which is not logical but which makes the story more interesting and memorable.

The film moves quietly for the most part. It is punctuated with the kind of soft lyrical music you would find on an independent radio station or on NPR at night. The music sets the tone for the film, it is sometimes contemplative, sometimes exuberant but it is always controlled and tasteful. The movie story is the same way. there are bursts of visual craziness but they are simple passages in a longer,calmer plot line. As Walter moves from imagined adventures to real one, we begin to allow the outrageous concept of an everyday man doing the incredible, repeatedly, to be the norm. I think the music score has as much to do with this as the "magical realism" motif that the film adopts. 

If it were not for the presence of some spectacular visual sequences, which combine location work with CGI fx, this is a movie that could have been done on a shoestring budget. As it is, this is a big time studio picture directed at a holiday audience with an intention to have very broad appeal. From a story and performance point of view I think they largely succeed. Walter Mitty is an identifiable character and the woman he longs for, played by Kristen Wiig, seems a nice normal match for a romantic comedy. The fact that this is not a traditional romcom is what makes it appealing but it may also make it a target. I can imagine a world full of cynics, sharpening their knives to go after this lightweight entertainment. If you listen to them, believing the film is tired or not challenging, you will miss a nice experience at the movies. Not every film needs to achieve histrionic heights to be worthwhile.

This is a pleasant fantasy that has a few humorous moments and some beautiful imagery. The central performers are appealing and the story is told effectively. I think it might be a little long for such a souffle. Adults will be able to indulge the leisurely pace of the film, but younger audiences used to instant gratification and comic book action will probably notice the running time a little more than they should. The film has a few things to say but for the most part it just tries to show us how much life we can experience, if we just find sufficient motivation.