The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Plot: Bard (Luke Evans) dispatches Smaug (a dragon) at the beginning, and then the five armies show up to battle for the dragon's treasure for the duration of the movie. That is the whole plot -- aside from "reimagined material" to link up to the sequels.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review:  The Five Armies makes me sad. The Hobbit could have been a wonderful movie, because it is the best book: charming and kid-friendly.*  Instead, we get a nice dragon battle followed by endless scenes of dwarves arguing & fighting and an hour-long battle scene.  Once Smaug died, the movie dragged and dragged. The biggest emotion I got was disappointment, so disappointed with the lost opportunity that I was sad.

The cinematography sucked. The close-ups, the slow scenes and the landscapes looked like a cheap TV show. The dwarves looked like stuffed animals. Jackson obviously put his money in the CGI fighting scenes were on-target.

There were a few good scenes. I liked the (reimagined) Wizard battle with Sauron though it was not integrated with the plot at all. Luke Evans' Bard was a character with emotion and feeling, and a more contemporary attitude about family and war. The CGI battle scenes are as good as any, and some of the fighting was clever. There were so many orcs that I couldn't keep track of who was where and why. It didn't help that Dwarve King Thorean (Richard Ermitage) was such a jerk, because he was hard to sympathize with.

Cast: Martin Freeman (He does a great job), Richard Armitage (Lots of screen time, but he never seemed like a real madman), Evangeline Lilly (Tauriel's is a reimagined story that worked), Luke Evans (Bard is good throughout -- a highlight), Lee Pace (Doesn't he show up everywhere? He plays a selfish elf with subtly). Many other actors including some big names.

Directed by: Peter Jackson: he is wrecking his reputation with this crap.

Soundtrack by: Howard Shore: it was top notch. Billy Boyd's closing credits ballad, which give voice to Bilbo's thoughts on completing the journey, is a highlight.

Rating: 1.5 stars: Not recommended. It is so bad, that it makes me appreciate how hard it is for Marvel to crank out their comic book films.  

 

More: In the 21st Century, people don't bleed when they are cut by swords -- although in Five Armies, heroes do get blood spots on their faces, but not their clothes. Also, men do not rescue women in the 21st Century because the women rescue themselves -- in the 20th Century the women weren't so competent. In both centuries, one hero/ine can kill hundreds of nameless baddies.

*Even More: Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books is not kid-friendly unlike The Hobbit. The former is a mediation on WWII like a lot of 1960's British literature and art: it is all about war. You see some of that post-war mentality in the uncalculable high body count of Five Armies. All the characters kill as many bad guys as possible, quickly and with great skill, without an remorse or regard for the personal stories of their dead victims. (With the exception of Bard, mentioned above.) In the post WWII period, Britain was feeling guilty about the industrialized killing of millions of people,  -- these fairytales about mythic heroes killing legions is part of processing that. 

Into the Woods

Plot: It's a musical mashup of Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, and Rupunzel, woven together with plot line involving a witch and an infertility spell. After Cinderella's blissful wedding, there is a dark plot twist and the character's struggle together to survive. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Into the Woods is a lot of fun. The lyrics are clever, and the plot is fast moving. I had not seen the stage play, and I thought it was clever and enjoyable.

I liked how the familiar fairy tale stories were adapted for a single plot, because they were familiar and still fresh.

This is an adaptation of a beloved Broadway musical, so the songs are in the Broadway style.

They were developed for the stage to be witty, flirty, to advance the story. I liked the music, so I really enjoyed the movie. Someone who did not enjoy the music would not have been kept interested by the plot or the action. Some of the scenes is deliberately campy or self-satirical to be funny, especially in the fairy tale, first half.

Some of the actors were fun. I liked Anna Kendrick as Cinderella. Cinderella is a sympathetic underdog. Emily Blunt & James Corden, as the Baker & his wife, are the heart of the movie because they link the stories together. They have married-couple banter that is asynchronistically from the 21st century. Chris Pine's Prince Charming is deliberately campy and full-of-himself in a funny way. He says, "I was raised to be Charming, not sincere." I was not a fan of Meryl Streep, so always looked like Meryl Streep playing a witch. Young Daniel Huttlestone as Jack was great.

I liked the movie after the plot twist because is shows that "Happily Ever After," isn't real, and that there are still problems. It also shows that people continue to die, get hungry, and fight wars. I liked how they abandoned their fairy tale goals to work together.

Low lights were places where the scenes were made for a stage rather than freshly reimagined for the movie screen. For some reason I did not like Lillia Crawford's Red Riding Hood -- she was a kleptomaniac zombie.

Cast: Anna Kendrick, James Corden, Emily Blunt, Meryl Streep, Lilla Crawford, Chris Pine, Johnny Depp

Directed by: Rob Marshall

Written by:  James Lapine; composed by Stephen Sondheim

Rating:3.5 4.0 stars:. I enjoyed watching it a lot. Whether you like it depends on whether you like Broadway-style songs and the stage-play style.

More: Red Riding Hood: "It is nice to know a lot,  . . . and a little bit not."

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Big Eyes

Plot: Margaret (Amy Adams) is a starving artist in LA, and she meets fellow artist Walter Keen (Larry Kraszewski) who she promptly marries. Walter takes Margaret's paintings of waifs with BIG EYES  to shows claiming to be the artist. Walter is a great promoter and salesman, and soon the paintings are popular and they get rich.

Margaret is resentful that the world thinks that Walter is the artist while she is unnoticed, so after while they divorce. [MILD SPOILERS FOLLOW] In time, she goes public saying that she is the real artist. Ultimately this is decided in a court in the final scene.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Big Eyes  play on two levels -- on one level it is a situation comedy with funny scenes created by Walter's outrageous promotions and Margarets fuming rage. On the other level, it is a feminist fable that reminds us how primitive life was as recently as the 1950s.  (The Imitation Game was similar in that the primitiveness of 1940s Britain was a main theme.) 

Waltz's Keene is a consumate salesman, and he is grossly over promoting himself from the beginning. This makes him insincere and phony, and this was a desired effect because this was a comedy. A problem with the film is that Walter is the only character playing a comedy, and the others are in a light drama. I could have used more sincerity from Walter so we understood him better. 

Amy Adams is serious thoughout, and we get to see some solid dramatic acting from her -- a lot of bemused frowns and a little stern resolve. I would have liked her to be less subdued, but her passive nature was probably needed to advance the story believably. 

It has a good sound track with songs by Lana Del Rey and Danny Elfman, and a few clever images especially as the relationship breaks up. 

Art fraud has been with us for centuries, but his movie also pays as a husband who systematically took advantage of his wife. In this case, Walter may have been a life-long grifter, but Big Eyes has a broader theme about the exploration of women in pre-feminist society; although working class women are probably more exploited after all  Margaret does end up with a house in Hawaii. 

Cast: Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz

Directed by: Tim Burton, who is a collector of Margaret Burton's art

Rating: 3.0 stars -- a well made picture with a message and a story. Not funny enough as a comedy, with too few deep characters for a drama. 

More: Here is a Bing image search for more paintings. They used actual Margaret Keene images in the movie. 

Even More: Here is the real Margaret Keene at 87 years old. 

The Imitation Game

Plot: British Mathematician Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) volunteers to crack the German coding machine called Enigma. He is hopelessly arrogant and anti-social, and the other code-breakers hate him. He hires cute mathematician Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley), and she helps him socially as well as on the project. The team battles to complete the machine under pressure from the Navy to finish quickly. There is a parallel story line about Turing's post-war prosecution as a homosexual, which was illegal in 1950's Britain.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: This is an engaging movie with strong characters, a point-of-view, and a life-and-death conflict. They make the codebreaking game understandable, and we feel the tension of the war effort. Even if we don't understand the codebreaking mechanics, we can feel the importance of it from the dynamics of the characters.

Cumberbatch's Turing is socially handicapped as if he had Aspergers, and this makes his performance tougher. (More on whether the real-life Turing had Asperger's here.) Cumberbatch's Turing is socially engaging when he needs to be, in the service of keeping the story going. Turing is engaging even if not always likable.  Cumberbatch is the motor that drives the movie, and I understand the Oscar buzz.

Joan Clarke is an interesting character (biography here). Knightley's Clarke finds herself in almost sitcom settings with unfamiliar power dynamics, and she gets of opportunity for some excellent subtle acting. The real life Clarke was one of three female cryptographers at the site, and she really was engaged to Turing for a time.

Most of the action takes place indoors, and the photography is simple. The soundtrack is typical orchestral music. 

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear

Directed by: Moren Tyldum

Based on the book by:  Andrew Hodges

Written by:  Graham Moore

Rating: 3.5 stars: Dramatic, suspenseful. Some good performances.

More: Here is a video where Joan Clarke talks about her relationship with Alan Turing.

Even More: Here are the real life Alan Turing and Joan Clarke

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Whiplash

Here is the Spanish poster, because the photo is better.
Don't worry the move is in English.

Plot: Andrew (Miles Teller) is a freshman at an elite music school, and big time Professor Fletcher (JK Simmons) invites him to join the seniors in the Studio Band. Fletcher is exceptionally tough on the band members, swearing at them, provoking them, and insulting them. Andrew gets fed up, which leads to escalating confrontation with Fletcher.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Some coaches and teachers push for excellence, and sometimes they push too hard. Whiplash is about that balance -- Fletcher's students achieve excellence, but he treats them inhumanly along the route. 

Every scene with JK Simmons is a highlight. Every word Simmons' Fletcher says is calculated to build up his band members and then tear them down, so they work ever harder. The dialog is punchy and interesting.

The best scene is a three-way challenge to play the drums in a competition; it was intense watching each boy play for just a few seconds with Fletcher stopping them suddenly and flinging insults. 

When Simmons was off-screen the story dragged, because the plot is simple and one-note. Some of the maltreatment of students is unpleasant enough to be hard to watch. The love story subplot with Nicole (Melissa Benoist) never went anywhere. Teller has a few good moments, but he was primarily a blank-faced enigma. Teller was supposedly motivated by competition with his brothers for his father's approval, but the dinner scene that set that up seemed inauthentic.

Simmons is nominated for a supporting actor Golden Globe & SAG Award, but he should have been a lead actor. 

Cast: Miles Teller, JK Simmons

Directed by: Damien Chazelle

Rating: 2.5 stars: Recommended. A little uneven. The good parts are very good, but the plot is simple and Teller doesn't deliver.

 

More: 60 year old Simmons must be on steroids because his muscly physique makes him look like a tough guy.

Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

Plot: Katniss's (Jennifer Lawerence) escape in the last movie has created protests around her country of Panam. Katniss has taken refuge in the barren district 13, where its President Coin (Julianne Moore) and Plutarch (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) have her making commercials. Later enemy President Snow puts Katniss's crush Peeta on TV to taunt her. Katniss wants him rescued, and this leads to the final act of this 1st installment. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Too much politics and an improbable plot sink the third installment of Hunger Games, which is based on the weakest of the three novels. Here Katniss, who is supposed to be inspiring the revolution, is also willing to settle for a peaceful life with Prim at home. The whole notion that a mascot like Katniss is critical to success of a revolution is hard to believe. Worse the relationships between Katness, Gale, Prim and Finnick don't seem that strong or believable. The Katniss/Peeta/Gale love triangle has its lost energy too.

The best part is the war of videos that Presidents Snow and Coin wage. In this world, the videos are the new bombs and bayonets, which is interesting social commentary. In many ways Putin's assault on Ukraine is being battled on TV.  The middle of the movie where Katnis is making inspiring videos was the best part, and the videos in the film even felt inspirational and emotional. 

The politics are far less interesting that the commercial and social themes of the first movie. 

Cast: Jennifer Lawerence, Liam Helmsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Elizabeth Banks

Directed by: Frances Lawrence

Rating: 1.5 stars: This is based on half of the weakest book. The politics is just not that interesting. 

More: The fun lifestyle satire of the first movies is gone, with just militarism in its place. 

Even More: Elizabeth Bank's Effy is still funny. 

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Birdman

Plot: Actor Riggan (Michael Keaton) played the superhero Birdman in Hollywood blockbusters, but to be taken seriously, he is writing, directing, and staring in a Broadway drama. As the movie begins, they are starting rehearsals. The play's plot mimick the real life conflicts in Riggan's life.

Complicating this, Riggan believes that he has superpowers like levitation and telekinesis. It is unclear whether these powers are real or mental illness. Riggan argues with a voice inside his head like a madman, but it's Birdman's voice.

The plot has many threads, and one is the on-going fight about how to stage each scene of the play, especially with replacement actor Mike (Edward Norton). Debris from the past with his ex-wife and daughter surface too. The pressure increases on Riggan until the climatic and surreal opening night. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Birdman was a lot of fun because there are so many different levels. The characters are vivid and quirky.

Michael Keaton's Riggan is always is on the edge of breakdown. Unlike every other movie with Zach Galifianakis, Galifianakis is the sane one who calms the crazy people down, and helps them cope. Ed Norton and Naomi Watts should get supporting actor nominations -- strong, emotional performances of damaged people.

Emma Stone plays daughter Sam, and she floats around backstage. Her character is used to get the other characters to talk, but she is also tragic, fragile, and on the edge of self-destruction.

The soundtrack by Antonio Sanchez is distinctive with a lot of jazz drumming. During key scenes, the drummer appears in the scene -- in a magic-reality way.

Only see Birdman if you are OK with a fuzzy, abstract story that is both magic and real. At the end of the movie, there is a symbolic victory as well as sick person recovering, as well as Birdman flying around. People who want a logical resolution should go see Interstellar. 

Cast: Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Zach Galifianakis, Naomi Watts, Andrea Riseborough, Edward Norton

Directed by: Anejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Rating: 4 stars: There should be more movies like this. 

 

More: At one point Riggin is arguing with Birdman's voice in his head saying, "You are just a mental concept" --just like a contemporary pop-psychologist. The audience is unsure how real Birdman really is -- maybe he is more than a mental concept. This reminds me how people in the grip of their affliction believe the voices that they hear are real too. 

Even More: Birdman is filmed to look like one long take. I noticed this at the beginning, but lost track of that as the action progressed. Now I'd like to see it again.

There is one funny scene where Riggan get's locked outside in his bathrobe, and for a contrived reason, he has to run around the theater in his underwear past the waiting audience who is filing in. The single camera action makes the action more immediate here. (This has a symbolic level too, with Riggan bearing his soul and so on. )

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