Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Plot: TV journalist Kim Baker goes to Kabul, Afghanistan during the war with the Taliban. It shows her struggling in Kabul with the people, the war, and the restrictions of women with the help of fixer Ali (Alfred Molina). She meets reporters Tanya (Margot Robbie) and Iain (Martin Freeman) and they talk about stories and drink too much. It's based on a memoir with a series of incidents rather than a traditional dramatic structure with a climatic conclusion. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: The best part is Kim's character who faces improbable challenges one ofter another. The drama is her growth and development.  I am told the original book is funny. The humor arises for the weird situations like a sitcom.

It's based on a memoir, so it's based on a series of incidents in chronological order. This means there is no overarching plot with its climatic ending, and this makes it less satisfying somehow. People complain that all movies are the same, but when a movie isn't the same -- people say something is the matter with it.

Aside from Tina Fey's performance, Margot Robbie and Martin Freeman are fine, perhaps a little too "large" and comedic for a drama. They don't get any dramatic lines.

Now that I've seen it, I can't name any favorite scenes. 

Cast: Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Alfred Molina

Directed by: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

Based on the book by: Kim Barker called The Taliban Shuffle

The Visuals: The scenes of Kabul and the countryside were spectacular. 

Rating: 2.0 stars: Sort of the definition of a two star movie with high spot and low spots. It was OK. I thought it was fun to see. 

More: At right is the real Kim Baker" (actually Barker), who was a newspaper correspondent for the Chicago Tribune in Kabul during the aughts. She is a Metro reporter for the NY Times now. 

Even More: None of the filming was in the Middle East. Kabul scenes were in shot in Albuquerque.

Yet More: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is a dumb name for a movie.

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Trumbo

Plot: Galton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) was a communist Hollywood writer who was blacklisted for studio work during the 1950's anti-Soviet Cold War, along with many others. It shows his early activism with Arlen Hird (Louis CK), studio politics with John Wayne (David James Elliott), Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) & Edward G Robinson (Michael Stuhlbarg) and his struggle to make money while blacklisted by using a series of pseudonyms. While blacklisted Trumbo worked maniacally at home creating drama with wife Cleo (Diane Lane), daughter Nika (Elle Fanning) and his other kids. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Trumbo shows how 1950's America was another world from today: a world where post-war fear created government oppression seemingly greater than that found today. (See Even More below.) Alan Cranston's dramatic acting and scriptwriter McNamara's powerful dialog provide weightness to the Hollywood blacklisting events. The dialog often sounds like quotes from real events with the stilted voice and elevated word choice of a master writer. 

Having said all this good stuff, Trumbo is about the political establishment trying to limit the movie industry's influence on the populous. Politicians did not understand the expanding mass entertainment industry, but they knew the writers controlled the message, and they put their thumb down on them.

Trumbo was sent to jail, and was a political prisoner. Certainly there is less overt political imprisonment today, though some terrorism suspects probably qualify.  Trumbo begins with a political struggle, but it is more free speech, and an Occupy Wall Street or Bernie Sanders redistribution theme. In the end Trumbo loses his politics in order to pay his bills and also to get an Oscar. Getting an Oscar seems sold out to me.  In the end Trumbo pulls its punches, and pushes a message of individual civil liberty especially free speech.

Cast: Bryan Cranston, Helen Mirren, Louis CK, Diane Lane, Michael Stuhlbarg, 

Directed by: Jay Roach

Written by: John McNamara, based on the book by Bruce Cook

The Music: Never noticed it.

The Visuals: As mentioned, there is old footage of hearings and of movies in which the films actors are inserted in a way that they match the color and texture of the original. Difficult technically, and fun to watch. I especially liked how Dean O'Gorman was inserted into a fight scene in Spartacus. 

Rating: 4.0 stars: .

More: I liked the photos at the end of the real Dalton Trumbo. Working in the bathtub is pretty strange.

Even More: In the fear-filled 1950's political oppression was heavy on communist scriptwriters, but is it really different from today's talk of Muslim bans, border walls, and bars against refugees. Was the oppression in Hollywood as bad as being shot by police in Ferguson?

My feeling during the film was that the 50's were another era, and also "How thin the distance between us and the barbarian past?" As I think about this later, many people were killed during the cold war in Vietnam or Korea or countless smaller conflicts.

How much of the cold war battle against communism was the 1% trying to hang on to their goods? I still think that the battle against Castro's Cuba was caused by the now Florida-resident former landowners trying to get their land back. They are trying to assert rights under a Feudal system in the 21st Century.

Yet More: Writer John McNamara is also the script writer for one my favorite series, The Magicians based on the books by Lev Grossman.

It doesn't stop: The Louis CK character, Arlin, wasn't real. He was a composite of five characters. The drama about cancer: not real.

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Deadpool

Deadpool's girlish finger on his chin pose
is typical of the 4th wall popping humor
 in the film.

Plot: Hitman tough guy Wade (Ryan Reynolds) falls in love with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), and then gets a terminal disease. Doctor Ajax (Ed Skrein) heals him, and gives him X-Man style mutant powers as a side effect. Turns out becoming a mutant is painful and disfiguring, and that Ajax is a sadistic jerk. Wade renames himself Deadpool, and the rest of the movie is about how he tries to get revenge on Ajax for making him ugly.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Deadpool is a self-parody with continuous dialog between Wade and the audience: a lot of "fourth wall popping" jokes and snarkiness. If you like snark and self-parody, then this movie will work for you. It is pretty funny. A big dose of action, a little love story, and some jokes. What is the matter with that? If you don't like Wade's wise-cracking asshole personality, you won't like the movie.

This is not your usual Marvel movie because the self-aware monolog, and because the R-rated nudity and bawdy jokes. There were an endless number of punches to the balls.

Ryan Reynolds is a good actor, both in the comic parts and in the tragic parts. Likeable and engaging. He makes the movie. Villain Ed Skrein is great too.

The writing is the real star. The snarky jokes, clever dialog, and the visual humor break up the violence. 

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Ed Skrein, Morena Baccarin 

Directed by: Tim Miller

Written by: Rhett Resse, Paul Wernick

The Music: Fast-paced electronic music by DJ XL, whose done many action movie songs. It is spaced out by pop songs, most notably Careless Whisper by Wham! Gotta love the saxophone. 

The Visuals: Solid special effects like you expect from Marvel; nothing special. The fights are shot in-close and tight, as seems to be the style in the 2010's.  

Rating: 2.5 stars: Fun to watch. Deadpool is pure entertainment: no positive moral message here. Actually it has a negative message about how your facial appearance is more important than getting cured of cancer and revenge with high collateral damage. See MAJOR SPOILER below. 

 

More: There is a little scene at the end of the credits. A little funny. Maybe not worth waiting for.

MAJOR SPOILER: Deadpool chases down Ajax because he made Deadpool ugly, but of course, his girl friend loved him anyway. In 21st century America, people are valued for the character not their appearance, so there was not reason for Deadpool to want revenge on Ajax and then kill him. Ajax did save his life after all. (Well OK, he was sadist too, but still.) Deadpool kills many other people as a means of finding Ajax on his quest. Hard to justify this.

I want to try to tie the amoral hero's disillusioned, anti-society motivation to the political environment and the economic unease arising from the Great Recession. Maybe this is overblown. I think that angry, outsider politicians finds their twin in the angry, anti-intellectual hero Deadpool.



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Hail Caesar

Plot: Hail Caesar is a spoof of 1950's movie studios. It tells the story of Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), the busy head of movie studio, and it has three subplots; star Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) getting kidnapped off the set and being held for ransom; Western star Bert Gurney (Alden Ehrenreich) making a high society picture badly; and DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson), a clone of Ester Williams, who is pregnant and between husbands.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Hail Caesar mocks life in 50's America with absurdities and with a cleverly ironic plot. It is about a one day in Mannix's life and how insane it is. He need to deal with his crazy stars who are kidnapped, pregnant or way out-of-his element. Josh Brolin plays Mannix as if he were the real Caesar of the title.

George Clooney is all over the trailer, and he has a few great reaction shots. His part is not that large.

A highlight is the dialog between Mannix and his priest where he talks about his job, and how it is hard but he feels a calling. He compares that to taking a higher paying job at Lockheed. The movie seems to think making movies is more important, and this may be the real message of the film from the Coens.

As I left the movie, I said 2 stars, not so fun, only a little funny, and what was the point? As I write about it, I see it has a message from our celebrity writer/producer/directors justifying their life work. In that sense it is autobiograpical, and a love note to their industry. 

Cast: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Scarlatte Johansson, Channing Tatum

Written and directed by: Joel and Ethan Coen

The Music: Not so good. Mostly tinny period music played for effect. There was one great saxophone number that I loved. 

The Visuals: It looks like a Fifties movie made on a set. 

Rating: 2.5 stars: Not so fun to watch, but clever and ironic. I enjoyed seeing it. An extra half star for the autobiographical stamp. 

 

More: A highlight is an all-male sailors dance scene featuring Channing Tatum, which seen from 2016 is obviously gay. Too easy a gag to skip.

Even More: Mannix is the Caesar of the title. He has a map of the studio on the wall as if it were a country. He wins a few of his battles, but mostly he just lives to fight another day, and he enjoys the fight.

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Room

Plot: Joy (Brie Larson) has been imprisoned by a sexual pervert, and lives in a small "Room" with with her five year old boy, Jack (Jacob Tremblay), fathered by the pervert. After years of nightly rape, Joy struggles to raise Jack as best she can although he has lived his whole life in the room. After a plot twist, Joy and Jack come to grips with their lengthy abuse.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Room is an expression of suffering, and in seeing the suffering we also see what is essential to people. Room is tightly crafted to let us meet these damaged people. The story, the visuals, for example the view out of the skylight, combine seamlessly to help us understand Joy's experience. While the story focuses on the positive adaptations to imprisonment, the violence and depravity is always underneath: I left the movie thoughtful and a little down.

[SPOILER in these two paragraphs only]  In the second act, Joy and Jack plot a tension-filled escape attempt. The whole time I am thinking this will never work, and hoping that it does. Finally Jack is out, but he has never been outside before, and how can he help the police find Joy? I loved the scene with the police woman in the car: so clever, so compassionate. When Joy is outside, there is happiness as she sees her parents, but now they are divorced, and soon we see brave Joy has post-traumatic stress symptoms. A whole second story of recovery begins; one that is just as emotional and painful.]

Room is a fictionalized version of the Jaycee Lee Dugard story (http://bit.ly/1QDLkl1.) She was abducted as a teen, and was imprisoned for years.  By fictionalizing the story, the writer Donoghue could remove the weirdness of Dugard's kidnapper, skip the critique of the parole system, and add the Hollywood escape scene. Dugard's story is even more wretching though less cinematic.

[End Spoiler]

Brie Larson and the child actor, Jacob Tremblay are both excellent. When a young child actor is good, usually it means the director is outstanding, so kudos to Lenny Abrahamson.



Now I have seen all the Oscar best picture movies. This one belongs in there because of its emotional intensity and because of its craftmanship. 

Cast: Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Joan Allen

Directed by: Lenny Abrahamson

Written by: Emma Donoghue who also wrote the novel.

The Music: NO MUSIC. The quietness is part of the movie.

The Visuals:  Lot of thought went into the set and props. This is a well constructed movie. Obviously there are not breath-taking vistas. There are many clever scenes of people doing things.  

Rating: 3.5 stars: An intense story that is well-told. 

More: Joy: You're gonna love it. 

            Jack: What? 

            Joy: The world. 

Even More: Room is emotional, and it is staying with me as I write this the next day.

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Brooklyn

Plot: In 1951 Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) can't find work in rural WWII Ireland, so she takes a ship to Brooklyn. At first she is homesick and quiet, but gradually she meets people including a boyfriend Tony (Emory Cohen.) Soon, she is torn between her life in Brooklyn and her family in Ireland, and after a plot twist the pull between Ireland & Brooklyn lead to the final scene.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Brooklyn may have been made for people of my age and background. My parents were Catholics form immigrant families: she was Polish and he was Italian. They have recently passed away, and it is good time to tell their stories. The immigrant experience involves saying good-bye to everything in the old country, and that was a fundamental experience for all of them.

[BIG SPOILERS, but only in this paragraph. The rest of the review is safe] Brooklyn is a coming to America story with a romantic triangle. Eilis falls in love and then goes to Ireland to comfort her mother, where she falls in love again. She mourns for having left and she mourns for what she loses in leaving too. By going to Ireland the audience sees played out what her life might have been if she stayed. At the end she makes her choice, and you know what she chose because of the title.

[No spoilers from this point] Ronan plays Eilis cooly, and director Crowley often shows  tight close-ups of Ronan face which both emphasizes the stillness, and also shows the subtle acting that there is. Ronan is controlled and hides her emotions because Elias is shy and afraid of being embarrassed or being improper. I don't know, but I tend think that 1950's social structure was more strait-laced.

Both the script-writing and Emory Cohen's portrayal makes Tony engaging and likable: everyone needs to see why Eilis can't help but fall in love. This works well, and they have engaging banter.

The script is cleverly builds characters and sets up the final drama without being obvious. In the end, I can see why it had to be that way, and I was impressed how ever scene had a purpose.

Brooklyn is primarily a period drama, and it shows something of mid-20th Century America. I enjoyed seeing old-time scene like watch a Mad Man episode.

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen, Domhnall Gleason

Directed by: John Crowley

Based on the book by: Colm Toibin (link)

The Music: Michael Brook composed a variety of melodies that are arranged simply. The music set the mood and was not distracting, sometimes not noticeable.

The Visuals: Occasionally the colors and the composition of the shot were so evocative of the mood, especially the Coney Island sequence was so light and happy. 

Rating: 3.5 stars: This romantic drama is not ambitious enough for 4 stars, but it is a well-made story with good characters and a historical background that I identify with. 

More: Tony's 8-year old brother has many funny lines. Including this sequence at dinner with Eilis:

Frankie: So first of all I should say that we don't like Irish people.

[General cries of outrage around the table]

Frankie: We don't! That is a well known fact! A big gang of Irish beat Maurizio up and he had to have stitches. And because he cops round here are Irish, nobody did anything about it.

Mauizio: There are probably two sides to it. I might have said something I shouldn't, I can't remember now.

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The Revenant

Plot: The Revenant is the story of 1820's Montana fur trader Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio), who was mauled by a bear. The other traders are unable to carry him back to safety, and they are fearful of attacks from the Native American Ree (more properly called Arikara), so they leave Glass with Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) and two boys. After a few days Glass is abandoned to die, the rest of the movie is about how he survived. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: The bear attack is incredible. I have never seen anything like it. Truly horrible.  I watched it with one eye through my fingers.

Life was hard for the trappers and Mountain men in Montana, especially for Hugh Glass. The movie is never boring because terrible things keep happening. The vast majority of the movie is stressful because of the suffering and death. So many things go wrong, that it seems like The Martian. It improves when Glass becomes ambulatory again.

There are a meteors, avalanches, buffalo stampedes, and prayerful chanting that director Inarritu uses to create a sense of magical reality. While it suggests that the native gods are watching, it is also how Inarritu is acknowledging larger-than-life exaggerations in Glass's legend.  (see Even More, below.) 

One great scene was when Hugh Glass is floating in the freezing river to avoid the Ree, and ends up in rapids and then going over a waterfall: great pictures and very tense.

The action scene that "jumped the shark" was when Hugh was being chased by the Ree though the forest on horseback. Suddenly the horse runs off a cliff, and they fall directly into a fir tree. The Ree can't follow, and the tree breaks Hugh's fall. It sets up another clever/outrageous scene about keeping warm at night that I'm not going to spoil.

I didn't find DiCaprio's performance engaging or interesting. No doubt DiCaprio's performance was technically difficult, but so what? I am not a fan of DiCaprio.

Tom Hardy's performance as the bad guy Fitzgerald is more interesting and realistic.

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnail Gleeson

Directed by: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Based on the novel by: Michael Punke and inspired by the life of Hugh Glass

The Music by Ryuichi Sakamoto was slow and discordant; it added a lot to the movie. 

The Visuals: Generally dreary forest scenes befitting the mood, but there are some spectacular views of tree tops, mountains and river rapids. They did a nice job with the wounds on DiCaprio.

Rating: 2.5 stars: There are a few good scenes -- like that bear scene. It was fun to watch in a horror movie way, but mostly it was hard to watch in a documentary way. The few highlights are too spread out. I was looking at my watch regularly. 

 

More: Revenant - means someone who returns, especially back from the dead, according to the dictionary.

Even More: Hugh Glass is a legendary folk hero whose story is certainly embellished, just like Paul Bunyan. He has other interesting chapters in his bio, for example he was a pirate.

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