TCM Film Festival Day 1: The Cincinnati Kid

I don't know how anyone could not be a Steve McQueen fan. His laconic style was the epitome of cool back in the day. We lost him much too soon and his work as an actor is often overshadowed by his status as an icon. I remember seeing this film on television, probably on a Friday night, and watching it to the end and being hugely disappointed because of the climax of the film. Of course I was maybe twelve or thirteen at the time and the needs of an adolescent are not always the best way to service an adult drama (do you hear that contemporary Hollywood?).

After having sat through the tough and sad real life story of Lenny Bruce, my friend Michael and I queued up for a second helping of dingy drama, but this time in a much more romantic movie setting, the 1930s in New Orleans. This fictional story of an up and comer taking on "the man" at the top of the poker playing mountain, is filled with wonderful character actors, gritty sets and a jazz based score. Originally a Sam Peckinpah film, the producers replaced him with Norman Jewison and recast  Tuesday Weld in the part originally to be played by Sharon Tate.

Even though we we near the end of the line to get into the film, we ended up in almost exactly the same seats we had had just a few minutes before. I'd not eaten anything that day so I went to the concession stand to get some popcorn. It was nice that I did because at the back of the line of the concession stand I had to move slightly forward to allow the featured guest to get into the theater. That's right, Ann Margaret brushed right by me while I waiting to get some corn and coke. She did move by quickly but you can see that she retains the glow of beauty that has made her a star for fifty years.

TCM Host  Ben Mankiewicz interviewed Ann Margaret before the screening of the film and she was delightful. They had done a Club TCM Interview earlier in the day, so there were occasional references to events that they had discussed earlier but the overall effect was a positive one.

If you have not seen The Cincinnati Kid, let me recommend to you for the cool of Steve McQueen, the sensuality of Ann Margaret but especially for the seasoned wisdom of Edward G. Robinson. Robinson plays the top dog in the poker world, and he is appropriately confident, wary, and assured. Rip Torn is impossibly young in the movie and most of you won't recognize him.  The perspective that time has given me on the movie made it a very worthwhile couple of hours.

TCM Film Festival Day 1: Lenny

A lot of the fans of TCM wonder why films from the 70s, 80, and 90s would be included in a "classic" film festival. That's understandable, most of the fare on the TCM channel comes from the heyday of the studio system when movie making was part of a factory process. The collapse of the old ways of doing things ushered in chaos, innovation, vulgarity, sexuality a very different sensibility. I love studio films from the dream factory but the term "classic" is not really limited to a time period. From my perspective, a film earns that title if it made a unique mark on the industry and culture. So many of the films that I love come from the second and shorter golden age of Hollywood, 1969 to 1977. For a few brief years, the inmates were in charge of the asylum, and there were some amazing films produced as a result.

One of those films is "Lenny", the biopic of comedian Lenny Bruce by director Bob Fosse. Bruce turned into a controversial figure after becoming the subject of prosecution for violating obscenity laws. That controversy spurred him into becoming an activist and political figure in the culture war that was breaking out in the early 1960s. The film was widely lauded for it's photographic style and the nominated performances of the two leads. It is however a slog to get through since the story does not have a strong narrative and the subject matter is sometimes lurid and ugly. This screening was not originally in my schedule for the festival but the work related meeting that was going to keep me out of the festival until late afternoon was not happening and so I took a chance on seeing this again, for maybe the third time since it was originally released.

In the line up to get in, I chatted with two very nice women who were old friends and were at their second TCM Festival. One is from Virgina and the other from the San Diego area. After twisting her friend's arm into going with her last year, this year the formerly reluctant friend became the programmer for their Festival and choose this movie for their Friday morning. When the line began to move, I heard someone call out my name and I spotted my on-line friend Michael, le0pard13.com standing in line in front of me. He indicated that he would find seats for us and I joined him inside the theater. I've run into Michael a few times at screenings at the Egyptian and he is a great movie companion, full of enthusiasm and knowledge and also willing to listen when you have something to say. We ended up attending four films together at the Festival and I enjoyed every minute of his company.

The film itself is fascinating to see because the black and white photography seems to fit the actual time period and subject more effectively than color would have. The time period covered featured TV in Black and White. Comics talking to each other and working in nightclubs just feel like they belong in B & W. I remember "Broadway Danny Rose" the Woody Allen film featuring a number of comics and other acts of the era was also shot in B & W. Fosse had won the Academy Award for Director just two years before for "Cabaret" a musical theater piece that is much more in his groove that this picture was. He only directed five full length features, and was nominated for his work for three of them, including this film.

The special guest arranged by the Festival was star Dustin Hoffman, who was interviewed by actor and frequent TCM co-host Alec Baldwin. The interview took place after the film and Hoffman was greeted with a warm ovation from the capacity crowd. I'd actually seen him going into the theater when we were standing in line so he was there for the screening not just the interview.  At another film line in the Festival, I spoke with a woman who had sat right in front of Hoffman and Baldwin during the screening and she said that Hoffman regularly was commenting to Baldwin about things going on in the film.

Hoffman shared memories of working on the film and struggling with Bob Fosse over the direction that the performance would take. He was gracious enough to say that Fosse was the one who was right in the long run. Those of you who have seen "All That Jazz" will recall that the lead in that movie, a somewhat fictionalized version of Fosse, was working on editing a movie about a comic. Those sequences were directly based on Fosse's struggles to get this movie to take shape. According to Hoffman, it was Fosse's decision to use interviewing sequences to string the episodes together, that finally allowed the film to become more coherent.

Hoffman praised the performance of his co-star Valarie Perrine and said that if we had encountered the "real" Honey Bruce, we would be amazed to see that Valarie Perrine embodied her perfectly. He also shared stories of his being cast in "The Graduate" and of working with Jon Voight in "Midnight Cowboy". As he discussed the improvisational style that Lenny Bruce used, he invoked the name of his late friend Robin Williams and a very real moment occurred when he struggled to compose himself to go on. Alec Baldwin was a supportive interviewer and managed the moment with grace. The two of them were so caught up in the conversation that they seemed to have lost track of time and the interview ran long and another screening was scheduled in the theater. As we were exiting, the lobby was already full of people waiting to get in for another program. No one seemed to mind, since everyone was enjoying their experience so much.

TCM Film Festival Day 1: The Dawn of Technicolor

There is no place like Hollywood today. Thousands of film fans have descended on the street in anticipation of seeing some great films. I arrived in time this Friday morning to make it to "The Dawn of Techicolor" a facinating presentation about the early history of the film color process, that focused on the early two strip process. Like a very nicely done Informative speech, the authors of the book on the subject gave a brief technical description of the process but focused mostly on the historical context.

 The history goes back to the origins of the Technicolor company in 1915. There were apparently a variety of short subjects and early silent films that incorporated the two strip process to make their movies more distinctive. It was around the same time that sound was introduced that the color process took off and the demand began to outstrip the ability of the company to provide the prints required to exhibit the movies. There were maybe 14 films made between 1927 and 1930 that used the process and only a couple of them still exist in a complete form with the color intact.

There have been extensive historical restorations that took parts of the surviving color prints and matched them with black and white prints that were used in the early days of television to complete a few scenes that we were treated to this morning. "Golddiggers of Broadway" is a clunky backstage musical that utilized the color process and is still around. We saw two or three clips to illustrate the complexity of the lighting process, which apparently sometimes left the soundstage at nearly 160 degrees. They had to cut holes in the ceiling and bring in fans to allow the performers to be on the set. The cameramen had it worse though, as they recorded sound live, the cameras had to be operated in large insulated portable rooms, referred to as "Iceboxes" because of their resemblance to the refrigerators of the time rather than the fact that they were cool, which they definitely were not.

 "The Sultan's Jester" was another short that we saw in it's complete form with the color process which sometimes was inconsistent and often lead to grainy backgrounds where the focus seemed off. It featured a pretty dramatic acrobatic act that consisted of three guys tossing around a woman in some very dangerous circus type moves. It was a hoot, it seems dated but it was so sincere in the way it wanted to convey entertainment it remained a joy despite it's clunky nature.

 There was a great musical sequence from the Golddiggers film that featured "Tiptoe through the Tulips." The presentation was done as a large scale powerpoint/prezi presentation, with pauses built into the speech for the lengthy movie clips. It was at the Egyptian Theater and it was packed. I walked in just after it started and had to stand in the wings waiting for a movie clip to start because it was so dark with just a podium light on the speaker, I could not see. Finally I found a nice spot on the side and discovered there are no bad site lines in the theater. While it was not a full film, "The Dawn of Technicolor" lecture was packed with clips and rare photos, and it is based on a book put together by the two historians who did the presentation, David Pierce and James Layton. If you are interested, here is a link to amazon for purchasing the book.

TCM Film Festival Preview

Last year I made my first trip down to the TCM Film Festival and crashed a screening of my favorite film. I was jealous of my friend Michael who was there for the whole Festival, but also grateful to him for saving some seats for my wife and I. I briefly met Will McKinney and Kellee Pratt, two bloggers that I follow and friends of Michael s'. I'm sure they don't remember because it was about 90 seconds and they were off to another activity. This year however, I pulled the trigger and bought a weekend pass for the event. My job is keeping me away from the Thursday opening and the Friday morning screenings but I have planned a full schedule for myself from Friday evening on.

Some of you may be headed down to Hollywood for this this weekend of bliss, and if you have time, I would love to meet you in person. I'm not on twitter, which is apparently the best way to connect when at a function like this, but I will be updating my Facebook posts on my Movie Blog Page.

I plan on doing a full report on the event after it is over, and I hope to have pictures and video to include. For now though, I thought I would post a list of the films I am going to try to get into and if you are seeing any of these, I hope you will look for me in the crowd. I'm a reasonably friendly person and I'd love to trade opinions, stories and what not with you.

Friday Night

5:30 pm at the Chinese Multiplex 4

Same place, different Classic 7:30 p.m.

In House 1 at the Chinese Multiplex, 007 at 9:15

Saturday

 Christopher Plummer, aka Rudyard Kipling, is supposed to make an appearance at 10:00 am. Egyptian Theater

 

 

 

 

The last film produced by Jack Warner himself, at 1:45 in the Chinese IMAX

  

 Maybe the greatest score bu my favorite film composer, in a movie from rebel John Milius.  6:15 pm at the Egyptian

 

 

 Speaking of rebels, William Friedkin is scheduled to speak at this screening of his Academy Award winning film, starring my favorite actor, Gene Hackman, 9:15 at the Chinese IMAX

 

 

 

Sunday

 The great Tyrone Power in a dark, dark vision of con men and carnivals.
"You know what a geek is, don't ya?"

Chinese Multiplex House 6 10:00

I'm a sucker for swashbuckling British Soldiers, Egyptian Theater 1:00

George Clooney locked in a trunk with Jennifer Lopez. Throw in Steve Zahn, Don Cheedle and Albert Brooks, from an Elmore Leonard Novel, of course this is where I will be.

Chinese Multiplex House 1 4:15

The Greatest Showman of the 20th Century, made movies as well as making things disappear. After Disappearing itself for 70 plus years, Houdini's "the Grim Game, with musical accompaniment. 8:15 at the Egyptian Theater.

Hope everyone who goes gets to see everything they came for, and I hope I get to meet you as well. See you next week in Hollywood.

Run All Night

There will be cynics out there who will dismiss this movie as another reach for your wallet, simply because of our love of Liam Neeson. I am as guilty as the next person of perpetuating the chain of Neeson badass characters showing up in the first part of the year and giving us some meaningless action pieces. "Unknown", "Taken 2", "Non-Stop", and "Taken 3" are all about an inch deep and are really just an attempt to allow Liam to play a hard case. The storytelling in those movies is not well thought out and the action is usually shot in a manner designed to give us a memorable moment with Liam Neeson with a gun in his hand. While there is a moment like that in this film, the rest of the movie strays far from the formula and builds a real story around a sad character that we should have no sympathy for but who ultimately tries to redeem himself for his son and for all of us watching.

"Run All Night" comes much closer to the great Neeson action films of the last few years; the original "Taken", "The Grey" and last years criminally under appreciated "A Walk Among the Tombstones". Like those films, his character's weaknesses are developed as part of the story, not just laid on to create background. His character, Jimmy Conlon, is a mob enforcer formerly known as "The Gravedigger". Jimmy's fortunes have fallen by the wayside as he drowns his nightmares in drink and sloth that barely keep him alive. His best, friend and former employer makes sure that he is taken care of but no longer entrusts him to do the dirty jobs he was once responsible for. That friend, Shawn McGuire, played by Ed Harris, no longer needs that help because his business is more legitimate and less violent than it once was, at least until his son Danny tries to make a name for himself in the rackets. If you have seen the trailer, you know the set up of the movie and it looks like it will be standard action killings for a couple of hours. There are indeed several action sequences and a lot of people get dead, but unlike the disposable types of perfunctory death that Neeson's characters usually provide, these all take a toll on him one way or another. As he attempts to protect his son, Jimmy is forced to confront his legacy as well and it is not a pretty picture.

Neeson plays a real character here not simply some automaton  that walks through the door with guns blazing. The strained relationship with his son makes the process of trying to protect his boy more difficult. The fact that he understands his enemy so well because he once was that enemy is a slap in the face for the kind of person he has been most of his life. Ed Harris give a very strong performance in the film as the conflicted best friend and boss who now wants to make his former associate suffer for what are really his own faults as a father. He knew his kid was a bad seed, but he loved him. The tough love he tries when Danny attempts to build a drug kingdom, is directly responsible for the death of his son. No one will be able to accept that when he can put the blame on a boogie man that he helped create. Jimmy and his son Michael (Joel Kinnaman), become the fall guys for McGuire's own faults. Everybody knows this except Michael, the grown son of Jimmy with a young family of his own and the good sense to stay away from his father's old life.  When Michael tries to do the right thing, it leads to all hell breaking loose. Some cops are crooked, old haunts become dangerous and old friends want to kill the father and son. Reason was never a strong suit with these characters and there is no way of making this right. Ed Harris just received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and it was timed to go with this films opening. He can be proud that his work here is more vital than some of his recent efforts like "Snowpiercer".

Even though it is a well told story, there are still a few trite elements that are inevitable. Michel's family is in jeopardy so there will be scenes of them being stalked. The father-son dynamic is stress filled so there will be some defiance of orders/advice given by a criminal to his honest as the day is long son. An implacable hitman is put on the job to dispose of the pair, regardless of the fact that Shawn already has nearly two dozen guys and insiders in the police department working on the task. So if there is so much SOP in this movie, why do I see it as being so much better than the rest of these films? One reason is that there is a side story of a dedicated but frustrated cop who knows what Jimmy has done in his life and he still wants answers for those who have been gone for years. Vincent D'Onofrio is the weary but dogged honest cop who could be a key to saving Michael, if Jimmy plays it straight. An uncredited big name shows up for one scene and delivers a heart rending piece of information that makes it even more impossible for Michael to trust his Dad. There are also good supporting performances from the thugs and victims of the story. Whenever Bruce McGill shows up in a movie, it gets a little better, I only wish he had more to do in this.

The director Jaume Collet-Serra, who made "Non-Stop" and "Unknown" with Neeson before, has a much better story here and he uses the camera and the city of New York in an interesting way to tell it. Ultimately though, it is the story arc of Jimmy that makes this work. He is legitimately troubled by his past but lives through it in daily misery as a penance for what he has done. He never sees this as a chance to redeem his relationship with his son, he knows that he is a dead man, he just wants to do the right thing at the end of his life. The relationship he and Shawn had is brought to life by the solid work done by Liam Neeson and Ed Harris. Their scenes together are sad but reflect a deep bond in spite of the circumstances. You will get a requisite amount of mayhem, but you will also get a tragic story of wasted lives and lost friendships.

The Second Best ExoticMarigold Hotel

If ever a movie would have been fine without a sequel, this continuing story of the elderly residents of the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in India would probably qualify. In the first story, all the loose ends seemed wrapped up, the key characters who were moving on did so and the ones who were staying appeared to have things under control. Of course when you make nearly a $140 million at the box office on a $10 million dollar investment, it is hard to walk away from the table. You have to figure that you are playing with the house's money so why not take a shot?

Fortunately, instead of being a straight money grab like the two sequels to "Taken" have been, "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" has a few pieces of pleasure to dispense. There is nothing here that is essential to a story, but if you enjoyed the company of the cast in the first movie, there are some nice moments to get reacquainted and to have a mild laugh or two. If you never see this film, you are not depriving yourself, but if you do, you are certainly not hurting either yourself or the memory of the earlier movie.

This time out the culture clash is keep to a minimum, and in fact, the main characters are emerged in their new home and culture very nicely. The outside influence this time is the involvement of a major American Company that has been asked to invest in a franchise of the original establishment and expanded capacity. A brief  visit to America by young Sonny the Hotel Manager played by Dev Patel with Maggie Smith's Miss Donnelly as adviser, brings the promise of an investigation of the facility by the potential partners. Lickity split, two new arrivals appear at the hotel and Sonny begins to lose control and allows jealousy and fear to blind him to his behaviors. His upcoming wedding becomes the playground for several episodes of embarrassing humor and for a little bit of drama.

We see less of the gritty part of India in this chapter and instead focus more on the festive. I had the pleasure once of attending an Indian wedding here in Southern California, or I should say one part of an Indian wedding because it seems that there are several rituals to go through. The different events each allow an escalation in the tension (what little there is) but mostly provide a beautiful backdrop for music, dancing and costumes of the sub-continent. The mild romantic endeavors of the aging sweethearts are side shows to the nuptials of the young couple. There is some silly business about an accidental contract put out on one of the women, a slow realization that wealth is less important than compatibility, and a final push toward the edge of commitment for couples that do not have that much time left to commit. None of it means anything, it is like it's predecessor, a frothy confection for the over 50 set who don't want to see an action film or a science fiction film this month.

Richard Gere shows up and while his hair has always been prematurely white or grey, he looks this time like he is actually moving into the golden years, still handsome but a little more weathered. Bill Nighy continues to play the same hesitant, nearly stammering older character that has been so delightful in earlier films, although it does seem he commits to the role a bit. Judy Dench dashes through the film with as much screen time as any other character but with less importance to her role than many of the other characters. Maggie Smith manages to be funny this time without the racial jibes that made her character irascible in the last film.   If the India of this film, were the India of the real world, I might be tempted to retire there myself. I have learned however that a movie and reality are rarely partners and instead i will enjoy the view from my seat and move on to another exotic location in the next film I see.

Live Long and Prosper

A lot of Star Trek fans who are even more passionate than I am will be sharing their thoughts all over the internet in the next few days. I can't begin to match their stories of how the character of Spock, changed their lives. Some were able to live more happily by accepting their own differences, others will have been inspired to pursue careers in science and in writing. There will be a thousand good stories of the actor Leonard Nimoy, touching peoples hearts and minds at conventions, in interviews and with personal contact. I don't have any of those stories. What I have is a heart that was touched by one of the least emotional characters in fiction. How can this be? It is simple, the actor who played the alien was a real person and the real person is what made the character someone we could care for. We have an emotional connection to Mr. Spock because of the friendship he had with the other main characters on Star Trek, Captain Kirk and Dr.McCoy .

Ethos, Pathos and Logos battled it out each week in an effort to solve the problems faced by the crew of the Enterprise. We usually discovered that it was not one path that leads to a solution but many combinations of these essential traits. That two humans with outsized personalities could find comradery  with an emotionless, cold, half alien seems hard to believe, until you see the show. Then we know that friendship can be many things, including frustrating. Kirk and Bones would tease Spock but he never seemed to take it any way except in the way it was intended, as the gesture of a friend. Leonard Nimoy imbued the character with the capacity to be a friend, even if the nature of the character is to reject such an emotional relationship. Nimoy was accomplished outside of the Trek universe and he had much to be proud of in all his other work, but everyone knew that when this sad day came, this was the image of the actor that everyone would recall.

All of us will feel as if we were in this scene, unable to touch our friend as he left us, bereft of the friendship that has been a part of our lives for fifty years, and sad that as with all of us, the final frontier awaits.

2015 Academy Awards

Having now seen all of the pictures nominated for Best Picture, and most of the performances in the Acting Categories, I'm willing to make a few calls for this evenings show. We will basically be going with the six big plus the live action and animated shorts since I have seen all of those.

Best Live Action Short

I'd be happy to see "Boogaloo and Graham" win. It was a delight to watch but it is ultimately a bit slight. My pick for winning is "Parvaneh", a well made, politically correct parable about cross cultural connections.

Best Animated Short

Of the five nominees, "Feast" has to be the most widely seen and it is also the one that is most completely put together. Basically it tells a complete story without dialogue but with a huge amount of heart and humor.

Best Supporting Actress

In the category that they found another slot to fit Meryl Streep, I think anyone would be surprised if someone other than Partricia Arquette were to end up with the Award. She is the glue that holds "Boyhood" together. She has been winning in all the other contests at the end of the year, so she is a pretty sure thing.

Best Supporting Actor

If a name other than J.K. Simmons is called tonight, all bets are off. He is as close to a sure thing as there is and he deserves the award. Whiplash was my favorite film of the last year and it needs to get some props from the Academy. It is unlikely to win the big Award tonight so this will be the one place where it can make a splash.

Best Actress

This is the one field where I have not seen all the performances. All indications seem to be that the barely released Alzheimers drama, "Still Alice" will;bring Julianne Moore her long overdue award. I thought Rosemund Pike was outstanding in "Gone Girl" but I will go with the conventional wisdom.

Best Actor

Since people like the idea of a horserace, this is the category where I can see a close competition. Eddie Redmayne as Steven Hawking did a good job with the physicality of his role but the part is so conventionally drawn that the character is just not as interesting as he should be. Michael Keaton has the opposite issue, his character is so interesting that the performance may be hidden by the fireworks. I'm going with Keaton, I think the movie is catnip to film proessionals, it is about an actor struggling with his place in the world and it is shot in a style that celebrates creativity.

Best Director

Alejandro González Iñárritu for "Birdman". Other than Keaton, his is the hand that is most visible on the film. Richard Linklater managed a similar influence with "Boyhood", if that film ends up as the Best Picture winner, he could be pulled into the winner's envelope. Conventional wisom is to go with the DGA winner and that would be Alejandro González Iñárritu. The Academy Awards gets more and more conventionally unsurprising as it's membership expands.

Best Picture

This is the place where there is the most uncertainty about the award. A late surge by "American Sniper" may have been undermined by controversy of a political sort. "Birdman" was a critical favorite and might still win, but it is the most off center film nominated, and the broader Academy is likely to be satisfied with splitting the awards and giving this unusual film it's glory in other categories.  My guess is that this is a "Driving Miss Daisy" and then "Crash"-ing year. The major award going to a film that is not a landslide but a default winner because it is ultimately emotionally satisfying. While I'd love to see "Whiplash" give every prognosticator a heart attack, I think the winner will be "Boyhood".

5 for 8, I can live with that but I've done better before.

AMC Best Picture Showcase 2015 Day Two

So day two of the annual Best Picture Showcase featured four films that I had not yet seen. This was an unusual year for me, last year at the Best Picture Showcase, "Her" was the only film I needed to catch up on, so it was the only one from either day that I needed to do a fairly complete post on. This year, the burden is more complicated. All four of today's movies were new to me, but I don't have the energy to do a full review of each at this time of night and I want to be finished before the Awards tomorrow. So you are going to get a thumbnail review of each of the four, and during the Awards tomorrow, I may post some commentary video to go along with my opinions and guesses.

This is the film that I was least looking forward to. The subject sounded a little mundane and the film looked like it was entirely predicated on a gimmick. I had heard a number of positive comments and the reviews have mostly been glowing, but I could not shake off my dread. After being subjected to "The Wolf of Wall Street", "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and "The Tree of Life" in the last few years, I assumed there would be a pretentious turkey in the bunch and this looked like it would fit the bill. I am happy to say I am completely surprised and that this is indeed an outstanding piece of work, deserving of some acclaim and a warm spot in almost anyone's heart.

While it is episodic and sometimes without much of a theme or structure, it is also a lot more entertaining than I expected. There is a stronger narrative than I was lead to believe, although it gives Patricia Arquette the thankless task of playing a woman who can only choose losers as husbands.  I should have known that the slice of life approach could be enthralling coming from director Richard Linklater. He did a fantastic job on "Dazed and Confused" twenty one years ago and this proves that he has the right touch for character pieces.

Ellar Coltrane grows up in front of us but there is more to the story than that. His character has to give up friends, confront bullies, live with neurotic parents and cope with a broken heart. I read some criticism of him in a few spots but I thought he was very good at the younger age and got better as the years passed. If you are a parent, be prepared to see some of the events in the growth of your own child pass by in the blink of an eye. It was not always smooth, and the "movies" have conditioned us to expect the worst at times, but this personal diary of a young boys life is a nice way to experience those moments again (minus the abusive drunks).

Eddie Redmayne may very well win the Oscar tomorrow for his portrayal of physicist Steven Hawking. He has a love story and a tragic human malady to support him, and the well known specter of Hawking himself hanging over the proceedings. The part is an actor's dream because it requires a variety of emotional touchstones and a physical transformation that will impress even the most casual of viewers. It is as a result, a technically excellent performance but an unsatisfactory accomplishment. The fault is the completely straightforward narrative of the picture, which takes us from point A to point B and then to point C in exactly the manner that everyone expects.  There are no surprises here, and the thing that even the cosmologist would say is the least important reason for his being well known, the crippling disease that trapped him in a failing body. The brilliant theories are in the movie but they are not realized in a creative way and they are still almost as abstract as the lesson in quantum physics we got in "Interstellar".

The Cambridge environment and the 1960s setting are an elegant tapestry for the love story between the two leads to play out against. The clothes, music and manners of the times feel genuine with these characters. Felicity Jones is a match for Redmayne's performance, without all of the physicality that goes with it. The sad dance of decaying romance turning into respectful friendship also undermines the last half of the story. Yes it is honest and sensitively played, but it is also a downer which finishes the movies  early strengths with hard fact.

This was the most conventional of all the films nominated this year. Even Selma, a story that has history all over it, managed to inject a little tension and anticipation to the events it showed. This film just feels like the cliff notes version of the story, and a very obvious biopic that could have worked on any number of media formats. It is a very good film, but not an excellent one.

From a story telling point of view, this film feels like a very traditional mainstream Academy friendly movie. An oddball genius, has to overcome his own failings as a human being in order to work effectively on a critical job. It is an important part of history, especially World War Two, but also technology since it features what is basically an early computer. It also benefits from having a theme about the oppression of women and homosexuals, two pieces of bait the Academy is unlikely to ignore. Coming as it did right after "The Theory of Everything" it made me feel as though I'd seen almost every British actor of the current generation in a four hour span.

Bouncing around three time periods in the life of Alan Turing, we get enough background to see where he is coming from and why he ends up as he did. The central part of the story is the pressure filled race to crack the "Enigma" code and save lives and win the war. Benedict Cumberbatch has secured his place as a modern British movie icon after a short ten year period where he had small roles in a dozen big films and a breakout role on BBC television. His face is a passive mask on which we can easily project coldness, malevolence and a robotic personality. That he manages to make the later scenes into something more human explains his presence among the nominees for Best Actor this year. Kiera Knightly shines in a clearly supporting role as a woman who is also incredibly bright and overlooked for completely different reasons.

"The Imitation Game" is a well told war story, with a huge chunk of intrigue to boot. That it makes math puzzles interesting and important is an accomplishment of some sort. Mark Strong will soon be the new Michael Caine, he will be appearing in every other movie that comes out of Great Britain before long.  I also enjoyed recognizing Rory Kinnear as the police inspector. He is now a regular in the 007 films playing Bill Tanner the Chief of Staff, and he is technically Veruca Salt's brother.

At Eighty Four years old, Clint Eastwood puts the rest of us average mortals to shame. He had two films that he directed out this year, the musical "Jersey Boys" and this combination war film and biopic of Navy Seal Chris Kyle. As I watched this film today, I was impressed with the detail of the battles and the settings used in filming. There is a terrific performance from the lead actor (and producer of the film) and Clint manages to get a musical credit for himself as well. This is the most financially successful of all of the films nominated and the biggest hit of Eastwood's  career, either in front of or behind the camera. Oh yeah, did I mention that he is 84. Man I feel like a slug by comparison.

Billed as the most lethal sniper in U.S. history, Chris Kyle's story is one that is motivated by a deep love of country and a creed that appears to have been a part of his life since childhood. He is a Shepard protecting the flock from the wolves. I can hardly believe that this story has come in for criticism from some political points of view. There may be legitimate criticisms of the Iraq war, but the troops shown here are heroes, doing their job in incredibly hard circumstances. They have a tough time balancing the warrior spirit with the need to win hearts and minds of the locals. The film never depicts the enemy as anything other than what they are, and it walks the fine line of showing evil and innocence in the same places. That is the story that Kyle tells and the movie shows.

Bradley Cooper is nominated for the third year in a row, suggesting that we can put to rest any doubts about his abilities. He shows that Kyle was a simple man who had to life a complicated life in order to do his duty. While we can celebrate his acts, they are never lingered over or shown in a gratuitous fashion. The only time any sniper shot is show boated is in a final tense shootout when an incredibly difficult shot is depicted with a slow motion camera zoom along the trajectory of a CGI bullet. This moment from a CSI episode was needed because of the distance being shown at which the shot was taken, not to make the killing of an enemy more spectacular.  The much criticized other special effect in the film ( a mechanical baby used for a brief couple of scenes) was not nearly as distracting as some have said.

The brotherhood of the soldiers and the strains on the family at home are not new concepts. They are however honestly shown here and not played for melodrama. Eastwood has the right touch for the domestic scenes and a surprising ability to make the war sequences harrowing and real.  "American Sniper" is a more relevant story than any of the other films nominated this year and the film making skill that went into telling it is second to none. 

Kingsman: The Secret Service

This is one of those meta experiences that so often crop up in films these days. It is a film about spies that references James Bond, Jason Bourne and Jack Bauer, yet it engages in the same over the top story telling and effects that it is simultaneously lampooning. Having done the same thing to Fairy Tales with "Stardust" and Comic Books with "Kick Ass", director Matthew Vaughn now turns to a new genre with this hyper violent exercise in adrenaline based movies. Oh, and just so you know, he pulls it off brilliantly.

The opening credits will make you giggle with the use of exploding pieces of an ancient fort, blowing onto the screen to form the credit titles. All of this is scored with Dire Straights "Money for Nothing", yeah that's the way you do it. Colin Firth is is Harry Hart, codename Galahad, an agent of the privately organized intelligence and espionage agency that borrows from every cartoon spy film of the sixties and makes the idea of a gentleman spy come to life. Firth was once imagined as a James Bond replacement, and the fact that his boss "Arthur" is played by Michael Caine, the working class Bond of the Harry Palmer films, makes the whole thing even more delicious.

Newcomer Taron Egerton plays the hard knock, working class son of an earlier protege of Galahad, rough around the edges but ready to be polished. Early parts of the movie and recurring sequences focus on the recruitment and testing process of likely "Kingsman" material. As the job interview begins, a threat to the world by well meaning but crazy billionaire tech guru Valentine, sends the regular agents out in the field to investigate. Samuel Jackson plays a George Soros/Al Gore hybrid with a distinct lisp and an aversion to seeing the violence that he himself wants. As Hart crosses swords with Valentine, they engage in a parody of cliches from most spy movies of this variety. In their interactions they even discuss the Bond films that feature megalomaniac rich guys who play villain to the English spy, and they both play with those roles effectively.

If your liberal sensibilities are easily offended, you may want to stay away from this. Jackson's character is a rich genius with an evil plan to save the world from global warming. He attempts to recruit influential leaders and celebrities from around the world to be part of his new world order. Visualize the Socialist/Green/Celebrity Environmentalists as the dupes that will populate the Earth like Drax's genetic specimens in "Moonraker" or Stromberg's mermen in "The Spy Who Loved Me". This is the biggest drubbing of liberal sacred cows since "Team America". The Kingsman might seem reactionary to some, invoking as they do the names of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. They even use a piece of equipment supposedly part of the loathed Strategic Defense Initiative [referred to as the Star Wars satellite system] to fight back against the plans of the villain.

Since Star Wars does get mentioned here, it is fun to note that a nearly unrecognizable Mark Hamill appears as a kidnapped scientist. Mark Strong, who has been in most of Vaughn's previous films, plays "Merlin" the aide de camp to the Kingsman.  There also seems to be a CGI version of an American Leader with prominent ears, who plays along with the scheme. At this point some audience members heads will explode, but hold on because that will not be the end of the fireworks. This movie also parodies the Westboro Baptist church crazies, the aristocrats of Great Britain, and dog lovers everywhere. Some of the humor is broad, such as the meal served by the suspected billionaire to the agent posing as another billionaire. It is either biting satire or great product placement.

The young leads get to take over the action at the end and they are just as effective as Firth was in his moments of glory ( or maybe I should say gory). This movie takes "Kick Ass" violence to new levels with some sick jokes mixed in. Imagine the damage a flying marital artist with razor sharp blades for feet can do, and then expect to see it on the screen. The slow mo, fast action styles explored in other films of this ilk are used here to good effect, but if you are over that approach, there are plenty of other bits of violence to delight you.

In all honesty, this is a movie that was genetically designed to tickle my funny bone and stimulate my adrenal glands. If "Kick Ass" and "James Bond" had a love child, this would be it. The film never takes itself too seriously but sometimes it plays with that idea as well. There is classic rock on the soundtrack, Colin Firth, Samuel Jackson and Michael Caine on the screen, and there is enough violence for ten movies. I was in love with this film when it was being hatched in the minds of the comic book artist who created the concept and the person who is responsible for putting Matthew Vaughn in charge. To quote Harry Hart: "Manners maketh man. Do you know what that means? Then let me teach you a lesson". I consider myself well schooled after seeing this.

Academy Award Nominated Shorts 2015

Theater chains often get a bad rap because they play the same films as every other chain, on multiple screens, and they are for the most part faceless entities lacking a distinctive ambiance. In 1998, a thirty screen complex opened in our neck of the woods and it was a better experience than that. They held onto movies for a longer period of time, they programmed in the occasional independent film, and while it does look a little too corporate planned designed, there was a cool space station motif to the decor. A few years ago, after opening another venue even closer to us, the thirty screen theater had such a drop off in business that they closed thirteen of the theaters, basically the south wing of the facility. AMC has continued to try and keep the theater more than just a shopping mall extension, by showing classic films, special event programming and continuing to host the Best Picture Showcase. This year our local venue added the Academy Award nominated shorts to its weekend screenings. We did not get the documentaries but we did have the Animated and Live Action shorts to watch.



The animated shorts were a complete delight and they added three or four honorable mentions to help fill out the program.

A Single Life

This was the shortest of the shorts, a piece of computer animation, Pixar style, with a funny premise and a couple of sly winks at the regular movie industry.

FEAST

An Actual Disney film, I think we saw it playing last year with "Big Hero 6", but it might have been another film it was with. Beautiful story telling and a heart warming payoff, just what you expect from the crew at the most reliable animation studio in the world, and of course it has a dog.

Me and My Moulton

The animation style reminds me of the films I used to see in the seventies and early eighties at the annual Tournee of Animation that we went to at the Rialto Theater every year. The story centers on three Finnish sisters and their desire to have a bicycle. It's another short coming of age story that works well despite some of the odd Finnish touches.

The Bigger Picture

This tackles a tough subject, the care of an elderly parent and the conflicts between siblings that it engenders. It has the most strikingly different visual style and will affect those who have gone through this experience like I have.

The Dam Keeper

This is a parable about bullying, misunderstanding and friendship. It is done in the softest style using water colors and drawings that often look like impressionistic art. It is sixteen minutes long, the lengthiest of the five nominated films.

Prediction: I have no idea how the animation branches of the Academy see things, but I suspect that "Feast" will be the winner because it is the most complete concept and it is extremely polished.



The Live Action Shorts are all longer and they are very different from one another. I am not well versed in this field, although I have encountered Live Action Shorts on occasion. This is an outsiders perspective so I hope you will make allowances.

Aya

This was the longest film at almost forty minutes. It is basically an odd conversation between two strangers in a car in Israel. How they come to be in the car and who they are is part of the charm. I'm not sure what it all means but it was enjoyable.

Boogaloo and Graham

Two boys in Belfast are given chickens as pets by their feckless father. Mom is not as enamored as they are and complication ensue. This was a relatively brief film at fourteen minutes, it was also my favorite of the five.

Butterlamp

Of all the shorts today, this was the one that was most esoteric. A Chinese Photography crew takes pictures of rural, maybe Mongol or Tibetan families in front of a variety of backdrops. That's it. There are some amusing picture combinations and a couple of humorous interactions, but in the long run it did not feel very meaningful.

Parvaneh

An Afghanistan girl struggles to earn money for her family back home while working illegally in various jobs in Switzerland. She speaks German but has some basic cultural issues that make being clear a bit odd. She needs the help of a resident with the right I.D. to get Western Union to wire the money home. The solution to her situation is a great story in overcoming cultural barriers and establishing friendship.

The Phone Call

A crisis intervention phone operator attempts to provide solace to a painfully lonely man on the brink of ending his life. Sally Hawkins, a nominee for Best Supporting Actress from "Blue Jasmine" gives an affecting performance as a woman who doesn't judge but empathizes with her client. Jim Broadbent is the disembodied voice on the phone.

Prediction: Although I liked Boogaloo and Graham the best, my guess is that the message of "Parvaneh" will trump with an Oscar win. We'll see next Sunday.

AMC Best Picture Showcase 2015 Day One

I still can't talk everyone into doing the one day version of this, even though there were only eight films nominated this year. This is an extremely rare year for me, in that I have seen only two of the nominated films this year. I combination of circumstances kept me away from the movies when they were first released and then as it got closer it just seemed to be a better idea to wait and see them all at the annual showcase at our AMC theaters.

Today the first two films that ran were the two that I have previously written about. Both films were in my top five for the year and one of them was my favorite film of last year.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

This marvelous Wes Anderson film is a joy to behold. Filled with eccentric characters, an outlandish plot and a story structure that allows dozens of actors to pop in and out of the film, it is hysterical and very well put together. A combination of miniatures, process shots and fantastic set design takes us through a pre-World War Two , Eastern European country with Ralph Fiennes as M. Gustav, the concierge at the Grand Budapest Hotel and his faithful Lobby Boy.

Whiplash

If you have not seen this film yet, prepare to be shocked. It is one of the most intense experiences you will ever have at a movie and there is virtually no action and with one mild exception, no violence. This is a game of mental torture and artistic chess played by two unlikable characters, both of whom need each other in the worst possible way. Expect J.K. Simmons to walk away with the Best Supporting actor award. Terrence Fletcher is a nightmare of a teacher but a driven artistic taskmaster may be what is needed to push someone to greatness. Just be aware that there is a huge amount of collateral damage along the way. My Favorite film of the last year.

Birdman : (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

This one has been discussed a lot since it came out and it may be one of the favorites to win the big award next week. I was aware that it was a surreal film that uses off camera voices, strange visuals and an unusual set of actors who at times seem to be mining their own experience for the purpose of making this movie.

It is largely a one man show although there is an outstanding supporting cast, including two actors nominated for their roles in the film, but Michael Keaton is the show here. As an actor who make a series of highly successful films in the early 1990s but now is struggling to find artistic and financial success in a Broadway show, Keaton is "Batman", sorry, "Birdman".  The character he plays reflects every insecurity an actor is likely to feel. He has written an adaption of a story by Raymond Carver, and id directing it himself. The voice he hears is his alter ego from the successful film series, both spreading doubt about the current undertaking but also bolstering his confidence at key moments.

As the film starts, I noticed several trademark Keaton mannerisms in the performance. He pauses in mid sentence, he shakes his head and holds up his hands as we have seen in several of his earlier works, but the longer we watch, the less we see of the familiar "movie Star" and the more we see of a troubled performer at war with himself and the world. Despite the shots that Hollywood takes from the script, Keaton shows that he has mastered the art of screen acting. He underplays scenes at times and makes the grand gestures at just the right moments. If he wins the award, it will not be some lifetime achievement honor that is catching up with him. He will have deserved it.

The movie also skews Broadway, rehab cliches, reality TV, critics and modern social media. While less focused on the narcissistic fantasy of love that "Her" projected last year, "Birdman" shows us how shallow comments and accidental video can build up a personality. The fact that a man not schooled in these techniques manages to make them work in his favor is part of the joy of this movie. It is very cleverly shot, suggesting a continuous point of view through out the movie. There is an occasional passage of time but the camera always picks up at the last spot that it left us. This does mean that the photography is sometime a little frenetic, but you probably don't need to take any Dramamine.

This picture is a chance for director Alejandro González Iñárritu, to show off a little. The only other film of his that I have seen is the multistory culture clash movie "Babel " which was not nearly as visually accomplished but was a lot more coherent. "Birdman" is jarring in it's oddness but very interesting and thoughtful. It reminded me of a less irritating version of "Black Swan", without the "Twilight Zone" twist.

Selma

The story of the civil rights movement continues to be an important one to this country. It is hard to imagine that the events depicted here happened in my lifetime. It is also hard to believe how much the film makers tried to turn the passionate Martin Luther King Jr. into a different kind of hero. There rational and compassionate minister gets a steroid injection by the cutting together of many of his words into a series of sermons and speeches that shown in this manner, make him more belligerent than the times called for. So much of the story is on point that it seems like a cheat to shoehorn in some of the extra drama.

I have read that former members of L.B.J.'s administration are offended at the way their President was depicted in this movie. Johnson may have prioritized things but he was not an impediment to the Voting Rights act. In fact he had authorized a stringent attempt to create a bill that would be as strong as imaginable. Despite having 68 Democratic Senators he feared that the Southern democrats would block the legislation so soon after the Civil Rights Act had been passed the year before. The movie attempts to show how the violent tactics used by the authorities in the South, spurred Johnson on to support the legislation. Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen was particularly moved to push the legislation through because of the Selma March and the tactics used by the Alabama authorities to stop it and it is one of his legislative legacies.  the problem was very complex and this film focuses on the infighting of the different supporters of the legislation in the Civil Rights movement and an occasional appearance by intransigent  Governor George Wallace. The performances by Tom Wilkinson as Johnson and Tim Roth as Wallace are good side lights to the story but the main focus of course deserves to be on Dr. King.

David Oyelowo plays King with a great deal of dignity and authenticity. His cadence and voice range seem to fit the part perfectly. He has several opportunities to channel Dr.  King at the pulpit or the podium, and he comes off effectively at both. If there is a weakness to the film it is that it is so dependent on exposition that it seems as if it is a series of endless conversations. Sometimes they take place in the Oval Office, while others are in a bedroom or in jail. Regardless, there is a lot of talking going on and it seems like it is all written as a history lesson rather than a drama. The most compelling parts of the film are the recreations of the racial confrontations with police and state troopers. These are the events that manage to spark some life into the movie.

"Selma" was the longest film we saw today, and unfortunately it felt like it. The movie loses it's pacing every time another meeting takes place and there are a lot of meetings in this story. Still it is a compelling story because of the events that it depicts if not the scenes that dominate the film. The set design and costuming are effective at evoking the time and place for these events. Right up until the unfortunate rap tune that is used over the closing credits, the movie felt authentic. When that tune started, it felt like the film became polemic instead of enlightening, and that was a turn off for me.

Next Week Part Two: The Final Four Best Picture Nominees.

Fifty Shades of Grey

OK, this is clearly not a film made for me, but I do know some of the people it is made for and they will mostly be happy to have it to go with their copies of the book. You know , the one that started off as fan fiction porn inspired by "Twilight" and then pulled from on-line and published in traditional form so that all the Moms who don't have access to the internet can perv out on it as well. After all the hype about the percentage of time the film spends with the leads naked, I'm afraid I found it a lot less enticing than I expected. I also found it less laughable than most of the reviews and comments from skeptics make it out to be. This is not an endorsement, just a recognition that this film works pretty much the way most "romance" films do, only with an over-hyped sense of kink.

There is not really much point in belaboring the issue, the reason people are going to see this is the BDSM angle the film has on the story. The rest of what you get is standard romance novel plotting about a girl from modest means falling for a rich guy who is really good looking. That's it. They have the usual slow build up to sharing their feelings, the one where we see them meet, do a little social tangle, push back against the feelings, and then give in to them. This is the stuff of a thousand books and movies. It is sprinkled here with the elaborate lifestyle that a billionaire can lead, so the wooing includes helicopter flights, luxury cars and the freedom that comes from being able to buy whatever you want. Sometimes that includes trying to buy the attention (not love) of the girl you are smitten with.

People who are deriding the film as amateurish and the dialogue as laughable , are simply taking a position. The movie is competently made with some very standard scenes of budding romance and some deliberately silly humor. It does not rise to any great levels but it is certainly not the steaming pile that it is accused of being. I thought it felt over long and I was surprised at how long it took to get to the "good stuff". When the sex scenes show up, there is barely a sense of eroticism in the start and by the end of the film, it was sort of dull that we get another round of whipping, this time destined to create a cliff hanger for the next film in the series.

I don't want to get into the sexual politics that a story like this invites. I just saw a rant from my daughter on tumblr concerning Anne Rice's defense of the film, and I really don't want to get involved. My kid is smarter than I am and very articulate and also full of opinions that I don't agree with. Instead of spending time discussing a piece of pop ephemera, I'd rather just avoid the subject and let those with passion on the subject have their say. I don't feel passionate about this film one way or the other, that should be enough for anyone to make a judgement about whether they want to see it.

SPECTRE Vlog

Just Sharing some stuff you all might want to see.

Seventh Son

Fifty or sixty years ago, this movie would have featured the stop motion animation of Ray Harryhaussen. It would have been made with elegant sets made on a limited budget and it would feature actors not entirely familiar to American audiences. Times have clearly changed. This movie is packed with CGI creatures and sets, it has a cast headed by well known Academy Award winners and nominees. Marketing and production priorities have clearly evolved. There is one thing though that has not altered in all the time passed between "Jason and the Argonauts" and "Seventh Son", fantasy adventure movies still work based on simple story premises and the right attitude by the film makers. The people behind this movie have exactly the right attitude.

This film is a throwback to weekend afternoon matinees and more innocent adventure films of the past. This is not a reinvention of a well know story like "Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters" from a couple of years ago. That film turned CGI into the main reason for seeing a film. It was loaded with violent destruction and blood delivered in 3D. "Seventh Son" also features the destruction of witches, but not by decapitation or Rube Goldberg weapons. This is old fashioned hero magic against the dark forces of the world. With the exception of relatively mild conflagration of witches, the violence here is on the PG level. You could safely take a couple of bright eight to twelve year olds and not have to worry about nightmares or turning them into gore hounds.

I hope that doesn't sound like a knock on the movie because it is far from it. This is a recommendation for people who are looking for a movie with tradition adventure elements featuring monsters and brave men fighting the odds, but can do without the viscera flying off the screen in their faces. There are five or six witches featured in the story and they all turn into some kind of monster. All of those monsters are of the 50s flavor, they are inventive, dangerous and unlikely to rip people into small pieces just for fun. The sensibility of this picture is light and fun in spite of the dark themes and characters.  Julianne Moore is a witch who turns into a dragon but was caged and banished for many years by a knight with special gifts. That knight must be the seventh son of a seventh son, who becomes what is referred to as a spook, a wandering hero who tames all sorts of dark magic and evil in the world. Jeff Bridges is Master Gregory, the knight who contained her and he is training an apprentice to take over his job. When she finally manages to escape, complications arise and we get a another young hero emerging from the shadow of an older master, the hero with a thousand faces has returned. The Lebowski reunion of Moore and Bridges has none of the knowing self satisfaction of that Coen classic. This movie plays all the characters straight.

When I first saw the teaser for this movie it was almost two years ago. Jeff Bridges had made a similar film that was pretty sad called R.I.P.D., where he is mentor to a dead Ryan Reynolds. I did not hold out much hope for this movie, it looked like just another CGI crapfest that would be as disposable as this morning's diapers. Imagine my surprise when it turns out to be a simple popcorn story with a fun sensibility that could have been written five decades ago. The look of the monsters is fun rather than gross and the story is pretty easy to follow and includes a little romance, a little revenge and a few secrets along the way.

The very first thing that grabbed my attention and made me have hope for the film was the score by Marco Beltrami. The sound is swashbuckling light at the start. It does not try to overwhelm us with brooding power. Instead it builds the characters and sets a tone that suggests something fun rather than something solemn. While there is a lot of CGI, it did not feel like it was constantly used just to make us gasp, rather it brings the world of the story to life but never ignores the characters. The work is also stylized enough to make it seem like a movie rather than absolutely real. That may sound like another criticism but fantasy films need to be a bit unreal at times to help us suspend our disbelief in the right way. There are nearly a billion people living in India, and from the credits, nearly half of them worked on the special effects for this movie.



If I have negatives they are limited. Bridges is channeling the same character voice he used in R.I.P.D and it sounds too garbled at times. Young star Ben Barnes has a haircut straight from 2015, which seems at odds with the dark ages settings and costumes. Other than those minor quibbles, I found this to be a delightful surprise. What could have been a total waste of time turned out to be a fun time at the movies. If your kids are too old for Sponge Bob, this is the one to take them to this month.