Shape of Water

Isn't this a nice poster?

Plot: In a magical version of the 1960's Elisa (Sally Hawkins), a mute cleaning lady at a defense base meets an amphibious man (Doug Jones) being held captive, and grows to love him. Elisa's friend & fellow cleaner, Zelda (Octavia Spencer) helps interpret Elisa's sign language and covers for her visits to the man. Elisa's room mate is a gay man, Giles (Richard Jenkins), whose career struggles help create the films magical and distopic mood. Villainous military official Richard (Michael Shannon) tramples on everyone trying stay ahead of the Russians and later to foil Elisa. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: It's a magical fantasy delivering romance, sitcom humor, and social satire. It is a creative balance of all three. I like magical fantasy so it was easy for me to like it. While it has a monster and some sci-fi elements, it is not a horror or an action movie.

Symbolically, the creature is The Other, and he represents other Others in mid-20th Century America, from disabled people like mute Elisa, black people like Zelda, gay people like Giles, poor people, and women. The Russian scientist represents those whose search for knowledge is crushed by  bureaucracy.

I liked the performances especially Sally Hawkins, who is so evocative without speaking at all. Villain Michael Shannon is such dramatic, over-heated, morally-challenged striver. He creates so much threat and menace with his face. Octavia Spencer's role was more comic and so her performance was less nuanced.

Despite the obvious morality play, it doesn't feel that way. It feels like an thriller with Michael Shannon's Richard scaring everyone.

Cast: Sally Hawkins, Doug Jones, Richard Jenkins, Michael Shannon, Octavia Spencer

Directed by: Guillermo Del Toro

Written by: Guillermo Del Toro and Vanessa Taylor

The Music: Aquatic orchestral music and lounge music by Alexandre Desplat intercut with show tunes from old movies. Elisa's theme is pretty nice. 

The Visuals: Full of great images including early images of the amphibian man, but less so when he gets into the human world.  The art direction of the science lab is great with sickly colors and menacing metal equipment. The underwater scenes are graceful and artistic. 

Rating: 4.0 stars: Fun to watch in the theater and fun to talk about afterward

 

More: Del Toro says he says: “I wanted to do a movie about an amphibian creature who changes the life of whoever rescues it, in a magical way.”  It is loosely inspired by the Grimm brother's story about a flounder that grants wishes for a fisherman. 

Even More {SPOILER}: One reason sea creature romance worked for me is the Elisa's connection to the sea is foreshadowed early, first she was found on the beach as orphan child, and second is that Elisa has orgasms in the bathtub.



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Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Plot: This is a complex, multifaceted story. Rey (Daisy Ridley) talks with Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) but leaves unsatisfied. Rey and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) begin telepathically communicating and eventually meet. Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) meets Rey and Kylo. Poe blows up stuff from his fighter and causes trouble when with the rebel leadership. New character Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) and Fin sneak on to the enemy ship. Through-out the rebels are in retreat, similar to The Empire Strikes Back. [imdb]   [photos]

Review: In the second installment, the good guys are getting their asses kicked. In one case a victory over an enemy ship turns out to be a defeat because the rebel fleet loses the resources to retreat properly, and Poe learns this, so that later in the film he is wiser. Last Jedi is darker, more mystical, and melancholy, leaving the rebellion in crisis going in to the third film.

Because the plot is about retreat, there are few crowd pleasing victories. Victories are tempered by defeat and loss of familiar characters. 

On the bright side, the pluckiness of Rey was still there. Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker returns but not the savior we expected. As a crusty old man, he is troubled by his internal demons and the past. There was an interesting scene we see in three ways where Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren part ways. 

While Rey and Luke are together we get a view into the dark side and an interesting visual effect of Daisy in a metaphysical mirror hall.

Adam Driver's Kylo Ren is powerful and interesting. I enjoyed his scenes with Domhnall Gleeson's General Hux. The facial acting between Ridley and Driver is tops. 

 Oscar Isaac and Kelly Marie Tran were also excellent. I liked Benicio Del Toro's codebreaker. He established a character in just a few lines.

When Carrie Fischer's Leah is on the screen, she always looks tired and weak, perhaps sincere, inspiring and determined too. This is a strength and a weakness. We want a last hurrah from our familiar characters, but the dramatic structure of the film needs to force the old generation to the exits so the young characters can save the galaxy in the next film. The final scene with Leah and Rey is the  emotional closure to the film, and can be seen as a torch passing; especially since actress Carrie Fisher is physically dead. 

Overall, it is a good middle installment. Not a crowd-pleaser, nor a cliff-hanger but entertaining in places, and hopefully setting up a dynamite final chapter. 

Cast: Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Kelly Marie Tran, Laura Dern, Benicio Del Toro

Directed by: Rian Johnson

Written by: Rian Johnson, George Lucas; Interesting to see that there are only two writers. I tend to think the storyline is all Lucas, and this was written years ago. 

The Music: Good orchestral music

The Visuals: A highlight was the multiple Rey's in the case. Leader Snoke was cool. I loved the crystal foxes, which I find are called vulptex. These were both puppet and CGI. See this video.

Rating: 2.5 stars. It is not that satisfying, but after viewing I can see it needed to be "darkest before the dawn."

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More: I am disappointed Disney is not having any crystal fox/"vulptex", stuffed animals made. More on them here.

Even More: Mark Hamill also credited as Dobbu Scay. Speculation is that he was the voice of space leprechaun in the casino.

Yet More (minor spoiler): Online fans are whining about disrupting the Star Wars canon. I don't care about that at all. I like the idea of blowing up the Jedi temple. The prophecy said Luke's function was to unify the dark side and the light. Hard to see how he did that, except by destroying the old structures and burning the old books.

It Keeps Coming (minor spoiler): .

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Alien Covenant

Plot: Covenant is a space ship that encounters the monster from Alien. It takes time to realize the seriousness of the threat, and that not everyone is on the same side.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: It starts as a Sci-Fi, and a pretty good one. About half way through we meet the monster, and it gets creepy and scary. 

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup

Directed by: Ridley Scott

Written by: Jack Paglen, Michael Green, John Logan, Dante Harper, based on characters from the other Alien movies. 

The Visuals: .Good special effects throughout. I liked some of the spaceship shots. The monster shots are creepy too. 

Rating: 2.0 stars: .

More: I saw it on a plane. It might have been better on a big screen. Certainly scarier.

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The Wizard of Lies

Plot: The Wizard of Lies is a docudrama about Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme that defrauded 65 million from investors.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Fine acting by DeNiro and a straight-forward cut presentation of the story make this easy to follow and constantly interesting. 

Cast: Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer, 

Directed by: Berry Levinson

Written by: Same Levinson, John Burnham Schwartz, Samuel Baum based on the book by Diana Henriques

The Visuals: . 

Rating: 2.5 stars: 

More: .

Even More: .

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The Disaster Artist

Plot: The Disaster Artist shows the real story of the making of The Room. All the cast and actors are portrayed. The film highlights the strangeness of writer/producer Tommy Wiseau(James Franco). It highlights his friendship wiht actor Mark Sestero (Dave Franco), and shows the entire film making process. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: The Disaster Movie is surprisingly interesting despite the unlikely story. It is animated by James Franco's larger than life portrait of Wiseau. In all the good scenes Bissell is doing something weird. Mark enables Bissell's excesses and represents the audience perspective.

I have never seen The Room. I am sure I'd have enjoyed The Disaster Artist  more if I had. 

Cast: Dave Franco, James Franco, Seth Rogen, Ari Graynor

Directed by: James Franco

Written by: Scott Neustadter, Michael Weber; based on the book by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell, The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made

Rating: 2.5 stars: 

More: Dave Franco is the brother of James Franco

Even More: The closing credits compare the film's version of the movie with the original. They worked hard to be exact.

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Murder on the Orient Express

Plot: Detective Hercule Perot (Kenneth Branagh) is on a train across Europe in the 1940's when there is a murder. Someone on the train must have done it, and Hercule interviews everyone. It turns out people are not quite who they seemed. Of course Perot solves it in the end.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: The characters are colorful, and the visual are cool. The plot was a little too twisted for me. I think it would have helped to read the book.

Kenneth Branagh's Perot is not that likable, but he his acting is excellent. It is fun to see so many other big actors playing small parts. 

Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer

Directed by: Kenneth Branagh

Written by: Michael Green based on the novel by Agatha Christie

The Visuals: Nothing special, except for Hercule Perot's mustache which is occasionally cool and always distracting

Rating: 2.0 stars: I was satisfied by my experience because of the weird characters, but overall it was just OK. 

Justice League

Plot: Evil demon Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds) comes to earth and steal a magic mother box from the Amazons. Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) and Batman (Ben Affleck) realize this might be the end of world, and try to assemble superheroes to fight back. This includes Aquaman (Jason Momoa) who also had their magic mother box stolen from Atlantis, and Flash (Ezra Miller) who is an unemployed twenty something, and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) who was turned into a cyborg by his Dad (Joe Morton) using yet another magic mother box. Once they get the band back together, they fight Steppenwolf, but they are not strong enough, so decide to raise Superman (Henry Cavill) from the dead. Since Superman is in the movie poster, it is not a spoiler that shows up. The whole group undertakes the final battle.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Justice League is spotty. It has cool parts and cheesy parts. Somethings make sense, but there is a lot of mumbo-jumbo magic. Too much magic can be boring. The villain, Steppenwolf, is monotonous and has a generic backstory. He is also too cartoony.

With the exception of Batman, the villain and superheroes have inexplicable, over-the-top powers. Powers so great that they are not interesting. However, director Snyder kept the fights interesting with some variety.

The movie is worst when Superman is on the screen. Can't stand Henry Cavill. It's best when the Flash is there. We need more Ezra Miller.

Gal Gadot is OK, but her part is smaller and less interesting than in Wonder Woman. Ben Affleck is the cornerstone of the movie. He is not the coolest Batman. (I liked Val Kilmer best.) Aquaman/Momoa provided some one liners, but was barely in the plot. 

Cast: Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Joe Morton

Directed by: Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon for the reshoots

Written by: Eleven people!

The Music: Mostly orchestral music by Danny Elfman -- good music. I loved and then bought the opening song, "Everybody Knows" song by Sigrid; originally by Leonard Cohen. Director Snyder had a Leonard Cohen song in Watchman too.  

The Visuals: I like the scenes of Batman and Gotham City. These had some style. I liked the Amazons riding on horses too. I did not care for the final battle, which seemed too animated. 

Rating: 2.0 stars: Spotty, but worth watching

More: Josh Whedon was writing for the movie, and then was tapped to finish the movie in post production. Josh supposedly is responsible for lighter tone.

Even More: Below is a drawing of Steppenwolf from the comic. A steppenwolf is German for  "plateau wolf," that is, a coyote.

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Thor: Ragnarok

Plot: Thor (Chris Hemsworth) wakes up trapped by evil giant Surtur, after he escapes he goes to Asgard and finds Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Loki is impersonating Odin (Anthony Hopkins) who is now on Earth. Thor goes to earth and (after a scene with Dr Strange) finds Oden, who tells him his older sister Hela (Cate Blanchett) is returning to Asgard to take over, and then Oden turns to smoke & floats away. Thor tries to return to Asgard but is captured by Scraper 142  (Tessa Thompson) and fights in gladiator games where he meets Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). They steal a ship and go to Asgard where they face a final battle with Hela.  [imdb]   [photos]

Review: Very entertaining. Familiar and likable characters are in new situations that are dramatic and still humorous. The light tone makes this easy-to-watch and fun. The light tone did not subtracted from seriousness, because the tone is so light. Seriously, there was no message or satire here, only escapist entertainment.

I liked how they kept some of the apocalyptic elements of the Ragnarok story. I once read a book of Norse mythology, and I liked the Ragnarok story about how the gods knew their world was going to end, but had to let it play out. 

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Cate Blanchett, Tessa Thompson, Mark Ruffalo. 

Directed by: Taika Waititi

Written by: Eric Pearson, Craig Kule and Chrisopher Yost

The Music: Orchestrial music by Mark Mothersbaugh; generally pretty good, but I'm not going to down load any. 

The Visuals: I liked Cate Blanchett's headpiece, especially when it fanned out. I thought the Hulk was well animated too, especially Mark Ruffalo's expressions. I did not like the flaming giant Surtur. 

Rating: 3.5 stars: Fun to watch. The tone of the movie is the winning aspect. Not too serious, but still keeps moving. 

More: Director Waititi, who made indie movies and directed several Flight of the Concord's episodes said the movie:

It's about a guy trying to get home because there's someone in his house, and he's got to sort that out. And along the way he's got his annoying brother, a drunk chick, and some bipolar kid with him.

Even More: There are two Easter Eggs in the end credits, so stay 'til the end.

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Only the Brave

Plot: Eric Marsh (Josh Brolin) is the supervisor of the Granite Mountain Hot Shots who fight fires near Prescott Arizona and the rest of the west. Opening scene show him recruiting new firefighters and getting certified as Hot Shots. We follow the Hot Shots home and meet their wives including Amada Marsh (Jennifer Connelly). As the season progresses, we get fire fighter action scenes, and this leads to the ending twist.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Fire fighting movies have natural tension, and the fire scenes are the best in the film. Most of the movie is sleepy slow, and the dialog sucks.

I liked Miles Teller as the new guy, and Jennifer Connelly as Eric's wife. Jeff Bridges was laughable as the old guy fire chief.

The twist ending elevates the movie, and after it happens, I could see several of the other scenes were there to set it up. 

Cast: Josh Brolin, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Jeff Bridges

Directed by: Joseph Kosinski

Written by: Ken Nolan and Eric Warren Singer

The Music: There was a lot of silence and the music was low key strings and synthesizers. Kind of like the music at a wake.

The Visuals: The fire scenes were realistic. I hated the flaming bear. The bears was way cooler when Josh Brolin described it then when they actually showed it. I still don't understand what happened when the burning trees fell into the Grand Canyon. 

Rating: 1.5 stars: While parts deserved 2 stars, I am disgruntled as I write this. 

More: The real Granite Mountain Hot Shots

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Marshall

Plot: Rich Bridgeport (CT) native Eleanor Strubing (Kate Hudson) accuses her black chauffeur Joseph Spell (Sterling K Brown) of raping her and throwing her off a bridge afterward. NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall (Chadwick Boseman) partners with local attorney Sam Friedman (Josh Gad) to defend Joseph. Thurgood and Sam investigate the case, and take it to court. The plot twists as evidence comes out and witnesses change their stories. The movie ends with a dramatic jury announcement.   [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Forget this is a biopic of a supreme court justice; Marshall is different than and more than that.

It is an underdog story overlaid with 1950's era racism plus an upstairs/downstairs relationship with a lonely woman and her manly driver.  It's got the young scrappy lawyer and his bumbling partner as underdogs against the evil district attorney and the stone-age judge.

With a winning story, and its historic setting in the early days of the civil rights movement, plus the excellent acting from everyone especially Sterling Brown, Chadwick Boseman and Josh Gad, this was interesting, entertaining and enjoyable.

Legal dramas have many conversations about evidence that could have been dull, but it wasn't. The script and the performances were always strong enough to keep the action flowing.  

Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Josh Gad, Sterling K Brown, Kate Hudson

Directed by: Reginald Hudlin

Written by: Michael and Jacob Koskoff

The Music: Slow jazz by Marcus Miller, with two old-fashioned soul songs by Andra Day. There were some great saxophone riffs, including in Marshall V. Friedman which is on the soundtrack.

The Visuals: I loved the jazz club scene; it was rich and stylish. There were a number of artsy tableaus. They did not skimp on the production value.

Rating: 4.0 stars: Good story, good acting, great looking art direction, good social message

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Blade Runner 2049

Plot: . [imdb]    [photos] K (Ryan Gosling) is a Blade Runner, which is an LA Cop who specializes in killing rogue "Replicants, who is a genetically engineered race of sterile slaves. In a more bleak and depopulated Los Angeles than in the original movie, the people are subsisting on worms. Most of the Replicants come from Niander Wallace (Jerad Leto)  and they are much more docile, or so the humans think. 

K, who is also a replicant, comes to believe that he once was a child rather than being born in a factory. He goes to find his mother and father, and after a long time he meets Deckard (Harrison Ford) from the first movie. They join forces to fight the evil Niander Wallace and his cute body guard Luv (Sylvia Hoeks.)

Review: Blade Runner 2049 picks up two themes from the first movie, the replicant rebellion and the lone lawman against crazed evil doers. They dropped the questions about whether replicants have a soul, and the geeky fascination with synthetic biology, which is too bad. 

Like the first movie the visual looks are striking. Here they are clean & cool, where as in the old movie they were complex and cosmopolitan. 

I liked K's relationship with his holographic girlfriend, Joi (Ana de Armas). It brings up the same issues from Her. Joi loves K, and there is a very cool love scene. Later when Joe and Joi are parted, we see giant video ads for Joi, and we see that she is a mass market product. The whole notion of personal romance and individual experience in a consumer society is in question.

I just rewatched the 1982 original, and it was pretty unconventional, and so it this movie. It is not your typical action movie. It is will be too slow for most people and while it has a happy ending, most of the likable people die. 

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Jerad Leto, Harrison Ford, Sylvia Hoeks, Ana de Armas

Directed by: Denis Villeneuve

Written by: Hampton Francher, Michael Green,  and Hampton Fancher, based on the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" by Philip K Dick

The Music: Some great spare & quiet electronica like Sapper's tree and Joi, and some awful noisy drum heavy Han Zimmer music. I am sick of Han Zimmer's pounding drums. 

The Visuals: Strong Visuals. Often spare and simple. There are several striking giant human figures which are striking. Some nude women which were gratuitous. 

Rating: 2.5 stars: Disappointing because I expected more, but still pretty good. Not so fun to watch, but with some fun ideas. I was glad I saw it. 

 

More: Director Villeneuve felt the slow pace was needed to keep the feeling of immersion that the original had.

Even More: SPOILER Joe's fate at the end of the movie is ambiguous. Always the optimist, I believe he lives on for the next sequel.

Yet More: Not sure why it was snowing in LA. I think it is because Villeneuve liked the silver-blue colors and the soft light.

It Keeps Coming: The architecture in the film was designed by concept artist Syd Mead, who did the original movie.
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American Made

Plot: Pilot Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) gets a job flying for the CIA in Central America and Columbia; he takes aerial pictures, smuggles guns, and also smuggles drugs back into the US on the side. Meanwhile he is raising his kids at home in Arkansas, and trying to find a place to stash all the cash. He gets involved with Reagan's war against Nicaragua's General Noriega, and a complicated deal to help the Contra's while smuggle cocaine into the US for the Medellin drug cartel. Soon the DEA track him down, but the CIA gets him off. This goes on for a while until it all comes crashing down.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: American Made is a fun. It has a light-hearted and Tom Cruise is cheerful and likable as the anti-hero Barry Seal. The story is unlikely, but the most unbelievable parts are completely true.

Good performance by Tom Cruise. The script is well written and the direction has a keeps it light. 

Cast: Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Sara Wright

Directed by: Doug Liman

Written by: Gary Spinelli

The Music: .A spectrum of 80's music from pop classical to country, backstopped by zippy orchestral music from Christophe Beck

The Visuals: Good flying shots. 

Rating: 3.0 stars: Fun to watch, and a true story. Kinda glorifies crime

More: They really shot those jungle scenes in the jungle. Sadly,someone died during the shooting in a plane crash.

Even More: .Director Liman's father was an investigator in the Iran-Contra Affair.

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Wind River

Plot: Wind River is a who-dun-it on an Arapahoe reservation, where a barefoot young woman Natalie (Kelsy Asbille) is found frozen to death by Fish and Wildlife Service Officer Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner). Murders on the reservations are federal crimes, and FBI agent Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) shows up to investigate. Jane is a city girl who grew up in Fort Lauderdale. Cory shows Jane around because his daughter was also found frozen to death. The trail leads to a drilling camp populated by 2017's most depraved cinema characters.[imdb]    [photos]

Review: Wind River is a detective story overlaid with commentary on Native American life. It is a deluxe version of a Longmire episode, which also solves crimes on a Wyoming reservation. Jeremy Renner is a great actor, and he makes the movie worthwhile. Elizabeth Olsen's character, Jane, starts out comic -- ditzy, hopelessly unprepared arriving on the wintery scene without gloves, and later she enacts familiar girl-in-man's-world themes, but happily in the third act she delivers some good lines and good acting. By the end of the movie, we see and feel the depth crime through these performances, and that is the best part.

The movie has a slow pace presumably to suit wintery geography and dignify the Native American themes. Detective movie fans might not like that. 

Cast: .Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Graham Green

Written and directed by: Taylor Sheridan (Taylor is a male; which is relevant because of the feminist themes of the movie.) Taylor also wrote Sicario which I loved, and Hell or High Water which was decent. 

The Music: No music until the very end, and then just a few orchestral instruments

The Visuals: Some great pictures of the mountains

Rating: 3.0 stars: Great performances. A story that stays with you. Now that I have spent time with it, I like it better. It contends for 3.5 stars. 

[SPOILER] More: Movies need bad guys, sure, but these guys in the drilling camp are some of the most evil people. This tiny camp had a small army of security guys who were rapists, and had no issue with shooting a half dozen cops.

It is strange how movie script writers set these terrible crimes in peaceful places like the Wyoming mountains.

Even More: Wind River closes with a statistic about missing native American women. I didn't know this was an issue. More here.

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