Last-ish post of 2015: The Moviening...
If Seth Rogen can overshoot with a tepid, raunchy comedy, than so can Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Seemingly just switching their characters from “Baby Mama”, Poehler and Fey stars as sisters Kate Ellis (Fey) and Maura Ellis (Poehler) whose parents (Dianne Weist and James Brolin)
sell their family home and gives them a weekend to clean out their childhood bedroom.
Wistful for her carefree teen years, the still wild but driftless Kate wants to throw one last legendary bash that they were known for given herself a chance revisit that part of her life and to give the divorced, sensible Maura a chance to cut loose.
Fey and Poehler work well together and that’s not news, and while it’s an adjustment seeing Fey in the brash, belligerent role that would normally go to Poehler (who is essentially channeling her “Parks and Recs” character Leslie Knope) it’s great seeing women in a reckless and wild comedy that is usually the domain of young men.
Written by SNL former writer Paula Pell (and occasional skit guest)
and directed by “Pitch Perfect” director Jason Moore, the film works much like SNL a few funny moments surrounding by a bunch of lackluster ones. A big complaint is that it gives way too much screentime to SNL’s Bobby Moynihan as Alex, the sister’s former classmate who is known for being unfunny. Moynihan barrels into each scene with unfunny jokes where the joke is that they’re purposely unfunny but the dead horse is flogged so mercilessly that I expect PETA to storm the set. Given way too much time to Alex’s shenanigans takes away time to things that actually work like Maura’s flirtation to neighbor James (Ike Barinholtz, “The Mindy Project”)
or the classmates who are slowly, but surely, shedding their mom and dad vibes are regressing back to their wild days like couple Liz and Rob (Samantha Bee, “The Daily Show” and Matt Oberg, “Hart of Dixie”).
It’s a’ight. I have no affinity for “Star Wars” and barely remember anything from the first trilogy other than the things that have been mined in pop culture for years. It looks like the same old “Star Wars”, but you can see J.J Abrams handprints all over it because of the slight humor injected in it (it feels like a “Star Trek” film).
It’s been 30 years since the fall of the Galatic empire and Jedis and Luke Skywalker are thought to be myths. Poe (Oscar Isaac, “Ex Machina”) a member of the Resistance finds a clue that he thinks may help him find Skywalker in order to defeat the new Republic fronted by Snoke (Andy Serkis) and his minions General Huck (Domnhall Gleeson) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). Circumstances unite Finn (John Boyega, “Attack the Block”) and Rey (Daisy Ridley, “Mr. Selfridge”) as they get drawn into the Resistance’s movement spurring them on to move beyond the plans they have for themselves.
Enjoyable enough film. I think like most origins stories-and this is an origins story despite being a sequel to the first trilogy---you have to do a lot of world building for characters and that gets in the way of actually excitement or deep plotting. Boyega and Ridley are terrific: Boyega plays Finn as the hero in the making with a charming clumsy gallantry and Ridley’s Rey is the fiercely, determined but completely open (something I thought Leia was missing in the original-determined, tough but a stone wall). It’s really about these two since they are the ones ushering in the subsequent films so the film does them great justice while serving the existing characters.
And that’s, I think, all I can say without going into spoiler territory. Watch for appearances by J.J Abram’s BFF Greg Gunberg, his “Lost” star Ken Leong and Carrie Fisher’s daughter Billie Lourd.
There’s no end credit tease. I thought there was a shout-out to the Instagram war that JJ Abrams and Zak Snyder engaged in while Abrams was filming TFA and Snyder was filming Batman v Superman because the end of the John Williams Star Wars theme sounded as if it segued into the Superman theme and I wasn’t the only person in the theater to react to it, but listening to the two themes I realize they just really are that similar. John Williams, you sly hack!
There was a special screening for those who have done voiceover work on the animated series and videogames. The guests included Sam Witwer (SV, Davis Bloome/Doomsday/Chloe’s kryptonite for some damn reason), Natty Gan herself Meredith Salinger and “90210”s Matt Lanter.
*The night I went to see it the alarm went off and we had to evacuate the theater.
Some people were legitimately freaked out considering the San Bernadino shootings and other theater shootings last year and earlier this one but many stuck around. Of course that pushed back the movie so it was to start at 7:30pm, it was on for 15 minutes when the alarm went off. By the time the movie ended it was 11:30pm. Wandering into the lobby afterwards was like stumbling into Coachella because the exit pushed back everything so people who were lined up or sitting on the floor waiting for the films to end.
There’s nothing worse than a middling film. Give me a good film to enjoy or a terrible film to hate on passionately but a film that is just mediocre is painful because you have to wonder what could’ve been done to salvage it. In yet another misfire for Chris Hemsworth “In the Heart of the Sea” delves into the true story of the fateful whaling expedition that inspired Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”.
Fascinated by an article about the 1820 disastrous whaling expedition Melville (Ben Whishaw, “Spectre”) seeks out the lone survivor, Tom Nickson (Brendan Gleeson, “Calvary”) in order to get a firsthand account of the voyage. Reticent to go over the traumatic event that happened when he was a young teen (played by Tom Holland, “The Impossible”), Nickerson is urged by his wife (Michelle Fairly, “Game of Thrones”) to carry on as a path to healing.
Nickerson recounts the voyage under the inexperienced, but affluent captain George Pollard (Benjamin Walker, “The Choice”) and his rivalry with the expert first mate Owen Chase (Hemsworth) as they set out to massacre find whales for oil. Coming up short of their needed haul, the men hear rumors of a large whaling area. The rumors prove true but it puts the men on a course for disaster as they do battle with a giant whale putting their lives in peril and pitting the crew against each other.
The storm effects are terrible. Water is the hardest affect to get right but this one almost takes the cake for how abysmal it is. I think Cillian Murphy who plays Owen’s friend and second mate Matthew Joy would’ve been better as Owen only because Hemsworth just plays him as a Paul Bunyan unshakeable type, and I think Murphy’s Matthew is someone who is stalwart, capable, but also shows the real emotion behind someone who has to keep up a front in order to lead but still relay the fear behind that mask. Murphy’s few scenes are better than the entirety of the shipmates performances. Whishaw and Gleeson fare better with their scenes.
wee!Cillian on a boat with his father
*This picture was featured in a charity book of famous Irish people and their fathers. The proceeds went to an Irish hospice.
still wee!just older
Nina Gold who is the casting agent for “Game of Thrones” cast this one as well so I was happy to see Fairley (Catelyn Stark), Donald Sumpter (dearly departed Maester Luwin) and Joseph Mawle (Benjen Stark) in roles. Frank Dillane (“Fear of the Walking Dead”), son of Stephen “dirty rotten stupid Stannis”) also stars as Pollard’s cousin.
Gold was featured in UK’s ANOTHER MAN magazine and the magazine did a spread with some of the young actors she’s cast including Holland
and Game of Throner’s
Dean-Charles Chapman
Thomas Brodie-Sangster
*Gold also cast “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and Sangster appears as someone who works on the Death Star or whatever that thing was called.
And
Rickon, Art Parkinson
I guess Osha’s not carrying the little lord around anymore. No word if Rickon is back in S6 but EW released the first picture of Isaac Hempstead-Wright’s return as Bran Stark. Bran and Hodor’s adventures had to be put on hold last season because the show caught up to their storyline in the books.
S1
S6
He really is grown. He changed his Twitter handle from IsaacBranFlakes
I’m not ashamed to say I do not understand Shakespeare. The very few works that I have read have been heavily annotated so that I could make heads or tails of his dialogue. Within minutes of the film I was eyeing the door because it is SHAKESPEARE who uses 23 words when five words are needed. I think in order to enjoy his work and the film there needs to be understanding and I really don’t understand his language so the performances were pantomime to me. I wish I got the language of it because a woman next to me kept humming in understanding and would go, “Wow”. She was really into it. I was just like
The film is the Shakespearian tale of Macbeth (Michael Fassbender) who, with a push by his wife Lady Macbeth (Marion Cotillard)
decides to kill the king (David Thewlis). When the King’s heir Malcolm (Jack Reynor, “Transformers 4”)
flees it puts him under suspicion by the King’s ledge Macduff (Sean Harris, “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation”).
When Macbeth assumes the crown madness and paranoia follows him.
The performances were great except for Jack Reynor who looks too modern for the film. Each time he was onscreen I was waiting for him to whip out his cellphone. The direction under Justin Kurtzel even better. Kurtzel gives gloriously shot and beautifully brutal battle scenes.
*It was a Q&A with Marion Cotillard.
Tidbits
*She’s always wanted to play Lady Macbeth but she expected to play her onstage and in French. She assumed Kurtzel asked her to do the film because she thought it had French financing. She says Kurtzel thought it would be a good idea to have a Lady Macbeth with a foreign flavor to her.
*She said Kurtzel can find humanity in a chair so his vision was for her to find the humanity in Lady Macbeth something she says she seeks in all of her character.
*She got the role because Natalie Portman passed on it in order to direct “Jane Gets a Gun” (a film Fassbender had to drop out of because of his commitment to X-Men).
*They rehearsed for a month and a half. She says it was like a theatre rehearsal process in which they worked with a Shakespeare expert who helped with the dialect and also the choices to make since there are so many interpretations with the same words. She says she was under more pressure on this role than “La Vie en Rose” because she didn’t know any better to be nervous then.
*She says Kurtzel is one of the best directors she’s worked with because it’s very rare to have a great director who is really good with actors. She said she was disappointed by working with a director she respected but realized he wasn’t good with giving actors what they needed. She says the job working before “Macbeth” she had such a wonderful, collaborative experience that was like osmosis and she thought she’d never get that feeling again but then she got the call for “Macbeth”.
*The moderator asked her about doing a film back to back was she prepared for that and she joked that she was tired, depressed and was taking pills and thinking of suicide and the audience awkwardly chuckled like, “Wait..is she serious?”.
*She says the winds were so ferocious in Scotland that she would fall down and needed to find a proper way to stand in order to not be knocked down.
*She said the rehearsal process took away a lot of nervousness for Michael, “not for me.” She says Fassbender surprises her in the best ways and that he’s a “very, very smart actor. Some actors try to be very clever but it’s not connective to the story or the whole, but Michael was so into it that all of his ideas were amazing and surprising.”
A fun film. Not the best, but nowt as bad as the reviews made it out to be. Written by Max Landis who cried a river of Twitter tears when his film “American Ultra” arrived DOA at the box office, “Victor Frankenstein” is the story of how Dr. Victor Von Frankenstein partnership with Igor.
Dr. Frankenstein (James McAvoy) befriends a clown owned by the circus. Discerning his intellect, Frankenstein rescues the clown. Naming him Igor (Daniel Radcliffe) Frankenstein tasks Igor with helping him with his creation. Unbeknownst to them they’re on the radar of a detective (Andrew Scott, “Sherlock”) after Frankenstein’s calamitous rescue of Igor. Thankfully for the new life he’s been given, Igor grows wary of Frankenstein’s dubious experiments and the secretive nature surrounding his ultimate goal.
If you like BBC’s “Sherlock” and Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes” films you’ll like “Victor Frankenstein”. It’s the exact same energy (it was directed by BBC’s “Sherlock” director Paul McGuigan who have directed the most superlative episodes of that series). Radcliffe is always game for whatever a script asks him to do so he’s high energy and quite good, but McAvoy is outstanding. I think he can play drama and comedy with equal aplomb. He’s someone who treats every script equally and gives his all whether it’s a prestige film or a comic book film or a barely above sub-par film as “Victor Frankenstein”.
Adapted from the Patricia Highsmith novel, “Carol” is the tale of the budding May/December romance between a shopgirl Therese (Rooney Mara) and divorcee Carol (Cate Blanchett).
Attempting to duck commitment from her admiring boyfriend Richard (Jake Lacey, “Girls”) Therese keeps him at arms-length as she goes about her day-to-day. A chance meeting of the glamorous, mysterious Carol jolts them both out of their lives into a tentative romance. The age difference isn’t the biggest hurdle for Therese and Carol but Carol’s impending divorce to Harge (Kyle Chandler) whose anger and jealousy over Carol’s friendship and past relationship with her best friend Abby (Sarah Paulson) coupled with her closeness with Therese gives him leverage in their divorce.
It almost feels that when Todd Haynes picks a project he’s seeking something in which he can present a visual pastiche (the lush Douglas Sirk look and feel of “Carol” and “Far from Heaven”, the 70s rock-agraphy of “Velvet Goldmine”) but he doesn’t seem to care much about the stories. Everything about “Carol” is tentative-the romance, the conflict, the performances. With the exception of Chandler’s Harge, everyone seems to be so mannered. Blanchett just has to smirk and give simmering looks; Mara mousey and subdued. For some this screams sexual tension, to me it barks dull.
I went to a Q&A with Blanchett, Mara, Lacey and Haynes. Blanchett’s a pip, Mara is more introverted.
I found it amusing that Mara looked as if she just came back from playing basketball. She rocked 3 straggly braids in her pulled back hair.
*I loved Blanchett’s shoes.
Haynes
**Meanwhile, Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor…who saw that coming? I guess Taylor is a minx like her character on “Bosom Buddies”.
I thought Sarah and Cherry Jones had a big age difference, but damn
I’ve never seen the Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swazye film so I was able to judge this on its own meager merits. This remake stars Luke Bracey (who was quite good in the Pierce Brosnan film “The November Man”) as extreme athlete Johnny Utah who after a tragic accident becomes a FBI Trainee (like one does…a typical career path for an extreme athlete). Recognizing the techniques of the gang of thrill criminals the Feds are chasing,
Johnny is placed undercover by his instructor Hall (Delroy Lindo) to infiltrate and get intel on the gang in order to take them down. Paired with an UK agent Pappas (Ray Winstone), Johnny quickly falls in with the gang’s charismatic leader Bodhi (Edgar Ramirez, “Joy”).
And his accomplice Samsara (Teresa Palmer).
As Johnny works to get enough evidence to take Bodhi’s gang down his objectivity is threatened by his entrancement to Bodhi’s gang’s philosophical views that those who work against the disenfranchised and who poison the planet are justifiable targets.
B-grade film with great stunt sequences that are more impressive than the actual storyline and the acting. More disappointing is the fact that despite the trashy tattoos and heated looks between each other none of the men began jacking each other off. Usually when I watch movies of men with trashy tats and hipster scruff that’s what the scene devolves into.
Ramirez, Palmer and Bracey
Palmer will be next seen in “The Choice”, a film where we have to all suspend our belief and our eyesights and imagine a reality in which she would pick Benjamin Walker over Tom Welling. And because I can find a SV connection in anything, Teresa is best friends with Phoebe Tomkins of the CW’s “The Originals”. Phoebe is the girlfriend of Lucas Luthor himself, Paul Wesley.
Paul with Teresa’s son Bodhi
Also costarring in “The Choice” is Alexandra Daddario (“San Andreas”, “AHS: Hotel”) whose brother Matthew stars in MTV’s upcoming “Mortal Instruments” based series ‘Shadowhunter” which Ari Cohen (Regan aka The Best Luthor Security Detail Ever) makes an appearance and Michael Rosenbaum’s other bestie Isaiah Mustafa costars.
Bro and sis
Despite a cracking cast and fine performances I can’t say I was transported by Trumbo. Seeing videos of Trumbo I can attest that Cranston’s whipsmart performance was on point, but it just had a sheen of a great film but not any of the merits behind it.
The film should’ve/could’ve hit harder upon the hypocrisy of those who let their comrades flail in the wind (John Wayne (portrayed by “JAG” star David James Elliott and Hedda Hopper (blisteringly portrayed by Helen Mirren) were anti-Semitic jackoffs, but former Trumbo friend Edward G. Robinson (played by the great Michael Stuhlbarg) and his ilk deserved more acrimony). Instead the film turns into a father/daughter tale as the film spotlights how Trumbo’s activism affected his relation with his daughter Niki (Elle Fanning).
Also in the film are Louis CK who plays a Arlen Hird, a composite character that incorporates the men and women who lost their careers to the Blacklist and Roger Bart
whose alleged mistress, a Youtube “star” posted about their breakup LOLZ
Click to view
Kidnapped and confined to a shed for seven years Joy (Brie Larson, “The United States of Tara”) works to make her prison into a normal life for her son Jack (Jacob Tremblay, “Motive”).
As Jack turns five and he has a greater capacity to learn the reality of their situation Joy is driven to find a way to escape from her kidnapper Old Nick (played to creepy perfection by Sean Bridgers who is creepily perfect in “Rectify”).
After a harrowing escape Joy has to now contend with seeing how her family’s life has moved on in her absence and Jack has to adapt to a world that he believed only existed on television. Larson has been getting all the accolades and she is truly excellent in it but I think Tremblay’s performance needs more attention. A very tough film to watch as it not only deals with her imprisonment by Old Nick and trying to shield her child from it, but when the trauma of returning to a life that has passed her by. The film also stars William H. Macy and Joan Allen as Larson’s parents.
Sir Michael Caine is such an icon that I can’t really tell if he’s a good actor or he’s just lauded because he’s such a charming figure. Although Caine is never not working I don’t feel he’s had a substantial role in a substantial film since 2009’s “Harry Brown”. But as substantial films go it’s definitely something that can be respected more than voiceover work in “Cars 2”, but it’s a film that doesn’t fully rise to the occasion. Beautifully directed by Sorrentino, though.
“Youth” is about friends Fred Ballinger (Michael Caine) and Mick Boyle (Harvey Keitel). The pair are on their annual holiday together this time to a resort in the Alps.
Fred, a former composer/conductor is using it to relax despite his daughter/manager Lena (Rachel Weisz) pushing him to fulfill press and work requests;
Mick is there workshopping his comeback script for a film he wants to make with his longtime muse Brenda Morel (Jane Fonda). The two ruminate on aging and memories as they encounter the denizens of the hotel such as the young character actor Jimmy Tree (Paul Dano) who is working on a character for a new film.
Out of all the performances, including Fonda who has received a Golden Globe nomination for her two scenes, my favorite performance was by Dano who gives a lovely, soulful turn. I don’t know where in my mind he switched from weirdo actor to a fave but he has.
and he’s makes a cute couple with Zoe Kazan
I saw this at AFI with a Q&A with Sir Michael Caine (who said he hadn’t been at that theater-The Egyptian-since the premiere of “Lawrence of Arabia”.
snippet
Caine
Sorrentino and his translator
Tidbits
*Caine really loved “Simple Song” the piece that moves the film (and is nominated for a Golden Globe). He trained with a conductor for six weeks.
*There was no rehearsal process.
*Harvey and he met and become what they were in the film (close friends). “We met once briefly but we immediately became great friends because we were both soldiers at one time in our lives. He was in the American Marines and I was a solider in the Infantry in Korea. Infantryman and soldiers are a little different from other soldiers and they have a bond-it’s inexplicable, but it’s just a bond. And the minute he said he was a Marine and I said I was a soldier we both knew a great deal about each other and it seemed like we had known each other forever. If you had seen us together you’d say, “They’ve known each other for fifty years, those two.” We only met on this movie. It’s natural life taking over and when you find those things as an actor you grab onto them and you go, “Oh, I’m lucky to get this because I don’t have to work on it.”
*There’s a scene where a nude lady gets into the spa with he and Keitel’s character and Sorrentino told them to get into the pool and just enjoy the warmth and the actress came in “Magdalena is stunning with clothes on…it was such a shock to us..he didn’t tell us, so our reactions…once again, quite lazy we weren’t acting. Our reactions were real.” He admitted to a bit of snobbery because she’s actually a model but she had dialogue and they thought she’d be terrible and they were floored that she’s an excellent actress.
*He says he hears all the time that he plays himself but he says he never plays himself. He says the closest he got to playing himself is playing Alfred in the Nolan Batman films because he’s a grandfather and plays the butler to his grandchildren.
*Caine says he feels the tide is turning in American cinema in that they’re hiring more older people in roles thanks to the success of “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”.
Like “Spotlight” and “Trumbo”, well made, well acted film but really lacks punch. Will Smith gives a formidable performance in this true story as Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist who uncovers that a respected football player’s mental incapability stemmed from brain damage. Digging further he uncovers that the NFL and its hired doctors hid the risks from players and underplayed the damage on the field. When Dr. Omalu writes a paper underscoring his finds he becomes a hated figure.
Great turns by Albert Brooks as Smith’s boss and supporter Dr. Cyril Wecht, and surprisingly I wasn’t annoyed by idiot Alec Baldwin as NFL doctor turned supporter of Dr. Omalu Dr. Julian Bailes. Gugu Mbatha-Raw is there just to be the female supportive figure as Dr. Bennet’s wife, but to me the best performance was by Arliss Howard who just like in the turgid “Moneyball” comes in for one scene and just blew me away. And it was his scene that to me underscored the insidious nature of this coverup and the NFL and organized sports as a whole as his character Dr. Joseph Maroon tries to guilt Dr. Bennet into given up the fight by proclaiming that if they took away football from kids how would poor kids get into college. And to me it’s just like the military-sure there are some who come from wealthy backgrounds and choose to fight but usually it’s those who feel that they have no other means but to go into the military. Seeing that scene just shows that they’re banking on inner-city kids to fund this gigantic organization to their detriment because yes, star football players make millions but you’re likely only looking at 3 years in the league at most. Add to that the damage to your body. Not every football player is a Richard Sherman who is a star player but actually has an esteemed education so when his career is over he can have something to fall back on. Most players have teachers in high school or college who don’t care if they pull their grades and even conspire to fudge their grades in order for the player to stay on the team because they’re a star player.
Sony recently invited NFL players to watch the film for free and D’Brickashaw Ferguson wrote an open letter afterwards saying how disappointed he feels in the league.
It was a premiere. I say “A” premiere because the real premiere was held during AFI so when I got the invite for this it was just a screening. I got there and saw the set-up and thought maybe the studio was doing it to make people feel glamorous because I thought no way would this film have 2 premieres. And apparently no one else knew it was a premiere either because everyone was dressed down and I just kept hearing people say, “Had I known I would’ve dressed up.” A woman lamented that she was wearing a jersey and someone said, “At least it goes with the theme of the film.” I saw Neil Flynn of “The Middle” and other people saw Alfonso Ribero. Someone from Sony introduced the film explaining that Dr. Omalu didn’t want to end football blah, blah, blah then threw it to Will who introduced the film and spoke on how nervous he was to actually watch it in the room with Dr. Omalu.
Will, Dr. Omalu and director on set
Will in the wings
Will in motion
*He decided to go up the aisle because it was closer to where he was sitting versus from the sides from which he came down he kept the mic and said, “I’m going to give a live replay of the movie while we watch. I’m going to tell you all the things I was supposed to say but didn’t, all the lines I said I made up but didn’t.”
Saw this at AFI. It won’t be released until summer of 2016. Standard indie fare but one of the most heartfelt performances Ewan has done in a while (I love him enough to forget his involvement in “Mortedcai” and “August Osage County”). Steering clear of actually spelling it out, “The Last Days in the Desert” is a the take of Jesus’ (who isn’t called Jesus in this) last days before the crucifixion as he struggles with the doubt and temptation from the demon (who isn’t called satan in this). He gets moments of respite from his turmoil when he gets involved in the inner struggle of a family where Son (Tye Sheridan, “Stanford Prison Experiment”) is bristling under Father’s (Ciairn Hinds) expectations that he remains on their land with him after the ailing Mother (Ayelet Zuyer (“Daredevil”) passes away. As Jesus tries to mediate their relationship the demon tries to use the family struggle to deepen Jesus’ doubt.
I’ve seen Sheridan do better, but I think there wasn’t much for him to give but petulant boy vibes. Hinds’ stature does a lot of work for him. He cuts a hulking figure and the shape of his face screams displeasure. It’s McGregor’s dual turn as Jesus and the demon and Zuyer’s performances that truly resonates. During the Q&A writer/director Rodrigo Garcia says that after watching a take of McGregor as the demon he thought, “That son of a b*tch stole my movie!” Instead of playing satan as evil McGregor plays him as both beguiling and bullying, trickster and wide-eyed. Zuyer, however has the least to work with since her character can barely speak due to her illness but there is just something so powerful about Zuyer that it emanates through her. I saw it in her one scene as Lara El in “Man of Steel”.
The cinematographer was Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki who won an Oscar for “Birdman” and may very well win one for his work on “The Revenant”.
Snippet of Q&A
*I *think* that’s me coughing and rustling for cough drops. So embarrassing.
Loved “The Big Short”
an impressive and heady undertaking spotlighting the economic and housing crisis in 2007 through 2010. Based on the book of the same name the film stars Christian Bale as Michael Burry a hedge fund manager who predicts the housing crisis by looking at the faulty subprime loans. He decides to “bet against the banks” by doing a credit swap with the bank by buying those loans so that when it does default the bank will have to pay him. Investor Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling) finds out about Burry’s plan and does his own research, realizing that a fall is nigh, he gets funds from trader Mark Baum (Steve Carell). Also finding out are newbie investors Charlie Geller (John Magaro, “Carol”) and Jaime Shipley (Finn Wittrock, “American Horror Story: Freak Show”) who reach out to their mentor, former banker Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt) to get them entre into the stock world. What unfolds is a lesson in hubris and economics as the men individually realize how corrupt the system is.
I think, like “The Revenant” it’s a polarizing film: you’ll either love it or hate it-no in between. Adapted and directed by Adam McKay who does comedies (“Talladega Nights”, “Anchorman”, “Stepbrothers”) the film is billed as a comedy-drama (and the actors have been nominated in the comedy category for the Golden Globes) but I think it falls more on the drama side with humorous touches provided by Gosling and Carell’s screen mates my beloved Rafe Spall (“Prometheous”, Hamish Linklater (“The New Adventures of Old Christine” and the great, underappreciated Jeremy Strong (“The Judge”).
To help overcome the economic verbiage and concepts McKay uses other entertainers to provide exposition via cutaways (Anthony Bourdain, Margot Robbie and Selena Gomez).
I can’t say I enjoyed this film considering the subject matter but it was engrossing. A very important film about corruption and cover-up and people’s inability to separate their faith from the church.
The film is very dry, it’s like a PBS “Frontline” story just dramatized. Fine performances all around though I loved Liev Schreiber more than Mark Ruffalo who has been getting the most attention. If there were an awards category for “Best Performance by Someone Running Their Hands Through Their Hands” then Ruffalo would win hands down. Maybe that’s a real trait of his real-life counterpart but to me it was an affection that grew annoying real fast.
Marty Baron’s (Liev Schreiber) the new editor for the Boston Globe arrival ruffles more than a few feathers. New to Boston he’s already under scrutiny by being Jewish in a predominantly Catholic city and raises even more eyebrows when he tasks the investigative team: Spotlight with looking into a story that the Globe buried years earlier about a priest abusing a kid. The team led by Walter “Robby” Robinson (Michael Keaton) and his cohorts Sacha (Rachel McAdams), Matt (Brian D’Arcy James) and Mike (Mark Ruffalo) start their search thinking it won’t pan out or at the very least root out one pedophile priest. Instead their investigation uncovers a massive coverup that spans the globe.
Like a real, true journalistic piece I think the film was very even in how it represented Catholics. It didn’t try to take down the faith but the corruption within organized religion. It took great pains I think to show that there are people of faith who condemn the acts of the church and these priests while not letting that affect their faith.
While not graphic at all it did leave me literally nauseous over the predatory ways in which these priests groomed these children.
*Total aside: News to me. Liev’s half-brother is Pablo Schreiber formerly of “Orange is the New Black”.
While I can appreciate the audacious style of Tarantino (a 3 hour plus film with a 12-minute encore with a full on overture) this Agatha Christie-esque whodunit is too misogynistic to truly enjoy.
Stranded with an impending storm coming Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson) implores John Ruth (Kurt Russell) for a ride in his coach as he transports Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to her date with the noose. Along the way they pick up Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins) who claims to be the new sheriff of the very town Daisy is being taken too. Wary of his passengers, John Ruth and his driver OB (James Park, “True Blood”) stop off at Minnie's Haberdashery, a lodge in which to stay while the storm blows over. There, they meet Bob (Demian Bechir) who is holding down the lodge while Minnie’s away and patrons Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth), Joe Gage (Michael Madsen) and General Smithers (Bruce Dern) in-house.
I saw this at a screening where most of the core cast was on hand
Jackson, Russell, Leigh, Goggins, Madsen, Roth and Dern
someone uploaded the video (spoilers)
Tidbits
*They obviously like each other. Jackson says that while he’s worked on films where he likes people, they walk away and only get to see each other when it’s time for promotion but they’ve (with the exception of Bruce Dern who he says doesn’t text) kept up by way of group texting so they always know what the other is up to.
*Just as the cast of “The Revenant” discussed, global warming is real. It just wouldn’t snow and they had to wait it out for five weeks.They had Native Americans come up and shoot arrows in the sky and do snow ceremonies and the next day it finally snowed.
*The moderator asked Russell how it felt to be in a film similar to the environment of “The Thing” and he tried to demure from answering and Jackson chimed in that Tarantino made them watch it. Roth shouted, “With trailers!”
*I love Tim Roth, tiny, wee Tim Roth. The moderator asked him about his posh accent in the film, he says. “It was Tarantino’s invention. He knows the utter contempt for the upperclass is in England. It is very strong in me. It’s *fcuking* strong in me.” He thinks it only works the way he does it because if someone who actually had a received pronunciation accent did the role it wouldn’t capture the sarcasm.
*Jackson was talking about doing theatre and taking gigs based on his love for them despite if other people don’t like them. He feels that if he doesn’t follow that excitement then this becomes just a job. Dern then said, “I’m trying to find out what made you take “Snakes on a Plane!”
Roth: Mic drop.
Madsen: I’ve had enough of these snakes on the muthafcking plane!
Jackson defends himself saying he loved the script and that when the studio considered changing the title he wouldn’t have it because he purposely signed on to “Snakes on a Plane”.
*Dern reflected on how the cameras used were the same ones-not the same brand, but the same ones-used to shoot classic films from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
*Madsen is a bit of a space cadet. Roth was very charmed by Dern and would squeeze his arm or his leg almost as if thinking, “Oh, you!!”
*Afterwards Russell, Madsen and Goggins stayed behind signing autographs and taking pictures. Goggins was talking acting and giving insight.
While the theater was still admitting people I got in the concessions line and I was behind Michael Chiklis. The Egyptian is a single theater that shows old and/or indie films so it’s not fully staffed so the line was long and it was taking forever because they had to keep making popcorn. The event coordinator came into the lobby and asked everyone to take their seats so they can get an accurate count on how many seats were available in order to let more people in. When I was there for “Youth” someone left a program on their seat, to me, the universal sign meaning “this seat is taken” but an event coordinator took it off saying that if no one was in it the seat was available so I knew these people didn’t play around, and I guess other people knew that too because some people ducked out of line to get to their seats. Chiklis began calling out to the coordinator and I thought, “Great, he’s going to pull the “I’m celebrity” card and tell them we need to get our concessions. Instead he pulled the guy aside to ask if Walton Goggins (his costar on “The Shield”) was going to be here. The coordinator told him he’d check into it. The guy in front of Chiklis turned to him and said, “I’m sure they’ll hold your seat.” And Chiklis just did the half shrug, like “eh, I’m just a regular Joe.” Still waiting, Marilyn Manson (who doesn’t look as hideous without his pancake makeup on, but he’s skinny/fat-he needs some toning in this torso) came out and surveyed the crowd as if looking for someone and went back inside.
I love that critics are awarding “Mad Max: Fury Road” as it is an unusually entertaining crowd pleasing film. I wish the same love would be shown to “Creed”. With the exception of at least two award nominations for Sylvester Stallone and nominations from Black critic circles, the film has largely been ignored; however the critics and audiences alike have sung it praises.
Incredible on every level, “Creed” follows Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis, the son of Rocky’s former nemesis turned friend Apollo Creed. Having never known Apollo, who died while Adonis’ mother was pregnant with him, Adonis has a longstanding affinity for boxing to the annoyance of his adopted mother, Apollo’s widow Mary Ann (Phylicia Rashad). Needing to follow his dream to become a legitimate competitive boxer Adonis quits his lucrative deskjob and moves to Philadelphia to seek out Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) for training. With no intention of trying to follow in the footsteps of a man he never knew, Adonis fights to build a name for himself outside of the Creed name.
The film gives space both to Jordan and Stallone and melds the past and the present perfectly. While there are numerous callbacks to the previous Rocky films, “Creed” makes sure to not just make Adonis Rocky redux. A cheesier director woud’ve just recreated every Rocky moment and given it to Adonis but instead Ryan Coogler (“Fruitvale Station” and newly announced director of Marvel’s “Black Panther”) puts a twist on it to create a new iconic image for this character. He gives Adonis his own take on the Rocky running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Arts and the scene was so powerful that I had to force myself to stay in my seat. I wanted to cheer. In another scene someone in the audience couldn’t refrain from jumping up and clapping-it really puts you in the mindset of “I can do anything!!!!!!”.
Coogler, who also wrote the script, gives Stallone room to show Rocky as a mere mortal and not just a legend; and Tessa Thompson as Adonis’ love interest Bianca gets to exists to be more than just supportive girlfriend. Thompson and Jordan’s scenes as a couple are beautiful and depicts relationships like I haven’t seen in a while.
There’s a scene where they’re sitting in bed and he’s helping her tighten up the twists in her hair. I mean, I haven’t seen something like that since “Beyond the Lights” where Nate Parker character helps Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s character take her weave out. It’s the smallest of things but that type of realism is groundbreaking.
It was the premiere and Coogler, Jordan, Stallone and Thompson did the introductions.
Snippet of their opening remarks
I was too busy videoing it to take a good look at Coogler so afterwards I was in the lobby watching director Ava Duvernay taking pictures with fans when she was done a man took her by the arm and said, “We have to get you to the party.” And she laughed and said, “This isn’t even your job.” When I looked at my video I realized it was Coogler. I saw Miles Teller, Jordan’s costar in the terrible “Fantastic Four” and “That Awkward Moment”. He was almost to the front door when someone stopped him for a picture and I thought he’d keep going but he stopped and did it. I came out into the lobby from the farthest door so I was wading against traffic to make it to the restroom and the lobby was packed, one person even said, annoyed, “you’re going the wrong way.” I was nearly at the landing that leads to the restroom when Arnold Schwarzenegger was coming down from the mens’ room. By the time I made it a bit further I was still a bit a ways from the restroom and now in front of him, so I just gave up, turned around. He was grumbling aloud to no one in general, not with any real heat behind it, “Get moving. Keep going. Keep going.”
Once the lobby cleared out more, I attempted the restroom again this time opting for the single stall one in the lobby and there was a line of nine women and Scott Porter, my dude from “Hart of Dixie” but also Jordan’s “Friday Night Lights” costar (and who seemingly goes to every WB film premiere). He was in line with his wife. And it was the first time where the men’s line was small-only 3 men, but each guy took 3 times as long as 1 woman so it was moving about the same pace (I think the guys were crying after such an exhilarating and emotional film). And like I’ve done there in the past I was going to use the men’s single stall bathroom but each time I would think it was fine to make a move another guy would come. After a while Scott had the same idea and suggested it to his wife but she said it would be too weird. Finally I just threw in the towel.