Sully

Plot: Sully (Tom Hanks) is the captain of a US Air flight that crash lands in the Hudson River, an event that actually happened. Early on there are flashbacks setting up the characters, and afterwards Sully and co-pilot Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart) have a combative accident-investigation hearing with the NTSB. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Twenty-five minutes of top entertainment mixed with 55 minutes of filler with 10 minutes of melodrama floating on top.

The good scenes are great. I loved the flight reenactment, the crash, and especially the rescue. I enjoyed seeing to ferry boat crews and the helicopter cops. Heroic. Awe inspiring.

The slow parts are slow. There is a sequence when Hanks, breathes twice, then walks through door, down an aisle past people, and then sits in a chair. Really drawn out and sleepy. Earlier there are scenes of Sully with his father cropdusting and in the Air Force landing a plane: equally sleepy. Slow-pacing does not make a movie more Oscar-worthy.

Hanks is a good actor, and he becomes Capt Sullenberger. Hanks is as good as ever. It never feels like he is actor playing Sully, despite how recognizable Hanks is. The dialog with his wife and with co-pilot Jeff is also nicely done.

I was glad I saw Sully, but there were parts where wish I could I turn on my phone and look at Facebook, or read my Kindle. The quantity of filler material wrecked my enjoyment; I guess they needed to bulk up the movie to 96 minutes to make people feel they got their money's worth.

I accept Hollywood movies have some melodramatic sappiness and the temporal reshuffling. This was distracting, but not a problem -- at least to me. I question whether an NTSC hearing was the appropriate structure for a movie. Maybe putting the accident in the center would have been a better idea.

Cast: Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart

Directed by: Clint Eastwood

Written by: Todd Komarnicki based on the book Highest Duty by Chesley Sully Sullenberger

The Music: Not memorable or even noticeable. No soundtrack album available. 

The Visuals: Solid reenactment of the disaster. It looked just like the news footage. Lots of talking. Lots of conference rooms.

Rating: 2.0 stars: I was glad I saw it, but I also felt like leaving during the middle. Don't leave though, because the end is good.

More: Hanks' version of Sully is heroic and humble. Good attributes for anyone to copy. Sully is frequently on the CBS Morning News talking about the aviation industry, and he seems sensible and intelligent.

Even More: "Upon the film's release, NTSB investigators objected to the film's portrayal of them as inaccurate. After reviewing the factual record and viewing the film, The New York Times wrote that "the film’s version of the inquiry veers from the official record in both tone and substance" and "depicts the investigators as departing from standard protocol in airline accident inquiries." NTSB lead investigator John Balzano disputed the film's depiction, saying that investigators "weren't out to embarrass anybody at all", and a former NTSB investigator also expressed concern that the depiction would be taken by moviegoers as evidence of "government incompetence"  --Wikipedia

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Light Between the Oceans

Plot:  Tough former soldier Tom (Michael Fassbender) takes up duty at a lonely lighthouse in Australia, but local girl Isabel (Alicia Vikander) thinks he's dreamy. Soon they marry and move to the lighthouse, where significantly Isabel has two miscarriages.  Soon a boat washes ashore with a living infant girl and dead father. Isabel takes the baby as her own, and that works for a while. A few years later mourning widow Hannah (Rachel Weisz) meets Isabel & Tom, and says my daughter who was lost at sea is about the age as your daughter. In time the police come and after some dramatic flourishes the movie ends. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: It starts like a drama, and ends a crime movie. Great acting all around from Fassbender, Vikander and Weisz. The images are beautiful and the music is good too. It has all the pieces. This is a drama in a lighthouse, so there is lots of talking -- good thing the dialog is clever and fun to listen to.

I was uncomfortable when they decided to keep the infant, which I viewed as kidnapping or child abduction. As the baby grows, I can't help thinking about the parents and the terrible ending when it comes. Later as their deeds become known, I don't sympathize with them. I only think about poor Hannah. My heart's tension decided early on Hannah, so the tearful drama with Isabel only seemed like her just desserts. I suspect director Clanfrance wanted us to feel torn, but I didn't and so the movie is just average.

This was not a tear-jerker, at least for me. I kept waiting for Isabel to get the justice she deserved. 

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Rachel Weisz

Directed by:  Derek Clanfrance

Written by:  Derek Clanfrance based on the novel by ML Stedman; It is not a true story. 

The Music: Pretty orchestral music by Alexandre Desplat

The Visuals: Nice nature photography and interior shots. 

Rating: 2.5 stars: Well crafted, but not fun or morally challenging. 

 

More: The book has excellent reviews.

Even More: Filmed in New Zealand

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Hell or High Water

Plot: Ex-con Tanner (Ben Foster) and his younger brother Toby (Chris Pine) rob Texas Midland bank branches to keep Texas Midland bank from foreclosing on their dead mother's ranch. Texas Ranger's Marcus (Jeff Bridges) and Alberto (Gil Birmingham) wise-crack their way through west Texas trying to catch Tanner and Toby, leading to a climatic scene with high power rifles. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: .This is a drama between brothers and between cops. There are great dialog scenes and three good action scenes, the initial bank robbery, the last bank robbery and Tanner's last stand. All of those were tense and exciting. The dialog was good too, but it takes a while to see past the Texas toughness to the people underneath.

Clearly, the Texas Midland Bank is evil doer in the eyes of the movie, and no one thinks that the family should be evicted. The boys and the bank are both evil. The Texas Rangers are only after the boys.

The movie seems to justify the killing in the name of keeping a poor family on its land, and that doesn't seen right to me. Perhaps the innocent people died by accident, but that is far worse than being evicted for not paying a bank loan back.

Cast: Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges, Gil Birminham

Directed by: English director David Mackenzie

The Music: Good music

The Visuals: Some good art direction in the various sets. I liked the trailers. There are some artsy shots of the countryside too. 

Rating: 3.0 stars: Good dialog with a thoughtful story.

More [SPOILER]: The ending between Ranger Marcus and Toby is unclear. I choose to believe that Marcus never sees Toby again, and Toby continues to try to do the right thing with his family.

Even More: This movie was filmed in two and a half weeks. Very fast.

There were no sets; all locations and little farm house.

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Cafe Society

Plot: Bobby (Jesse Eisenberg) moves to 1930's Los Angeles, and gets a job with his Uncle Phil (Steve Carell). Phil and Jesse both fall for office girl Vonnie (Kristen Stewart), and in the aftermath of this love triangle Bobby moves back to New York to work for his gangster brother (Corey Stoll) running an upscale bar & cafe catering to the rich & powerful, the so-called "Cafe Society." Time passes Bobby marries Veronica (Blake Lively), and after while Phil and Vonnie come to New York for a visit. This sets up the final scenes.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review:  Cafe Society is a dialog-driven, character drama, about love and growing up. No one makes movies like this except Woody Allen. The story is universal; it is the wonderful writing that makes it interesting.

Kristen Stewart is the beating heart of the movie, and the corner of the love triangle. She has the best performance. Eisenberg is good, but Bobby is mild-mannered and therefore less interesting to play. Phil is more dynamic; we see some of the driven Steve Carell we saw in Foxcatcher.

The dialog is so good, and even though Eisenberg and Stewart are saying the words, the rhythm and sound are  recognizable from other Allen films.

There are many minor characters including Bobby's Jewish parents and sister, and they have humorous side plots that ultimately fold into the final action. One great character is brother-in-lay Leonard (Stephe Kunken) who waxes philosophical and usually existential whenever he gets to talk. Leonard: Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.' But the examined one is no bargain."

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carell, Blake Lively, Corey Stoll

Written, directed and narrated by: Woody Allen

The Music: Old fashion and boring, except for that jazz saxophone

The Visuals: The visuals in the New York club are cool. I liked Kristen Stewart's outfit in her scenes showing Bobby around town. 

Rating: 3.0 stars: Good and fun to watch. I don't care if people found this similar to other Woody Allen movies, that is not a problem for me. 

More: Kristen Stewart had to audition to get the role.

Even More: Woody could easily modernize his style while preserving the good stuff. I suppose he doesn't want to.

Yet more: Bobby says quite accurately from his point of view that "Life is a comedy written by a sadistic comedy writer." Gotta love that.

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Jason Bourne

Plot: Memory-challenged assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is hacking the CIA to learn about his past when gets noticed by CIA Director Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) and cute but cold CIA CyberOps chief Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander). Dewey sends an agent from a previous installment called "Asset" (Vincent Cassel) along with many regular agents and battalions of police to catch Bourne. Bourne slips though their fingers in spectacular chases moving on to the next city and then the next. Meanwhile Dewey and Lee try to outmaneuver each other, like spy-masters do, while trying to control Mark-Zuckerberg-like billionaire Aaron Kalloor (Riz Ahmed).  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Jason Bourne is a wonderful, two hour blur of flashing lights, fights, and chase scenes. As you watch the chase scene or the fight scene or the next chase scene -- occasionally broken up by a computer hacking scene. You don't have to worry about remembering the story because its dead simple, and it's hasn't changed from the last movie. Jason Bourne is like a music video -- just unplug and experience it. It is kind of fun to watch.

The style Jason Bourne requires the spies to be super-professional--cold, calculating. The body count is high. Jason and "Asset" both just kill bystanders because their in the way. No moral calculation. I assume the cold-bloodedness is because of their "programming" in childhood, but it is a lot like a first-person shooter game. Our cast is good at tough-guy acting, but the characters are not very deep, and there isn't much dialog.

During the journey, the camera bounces around alot, and director Greengrass quickly cuts from view to view. It creates a great scene of movement and danger. He does it well because it never was frustrating to me, and the jerky camera work in other movies can be.

Cast: Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander

Directed by: Paul Greengrass

The Music: .The music is under-stated with the sound effects in the foreground. The orchestral music is not drum heavy, but also not very noticable. The best song is a new harder version of Moby's song Extreme Ways -- sadly not available for sale as a single. 

The Visuals: .Bouncy and colorful. Fine special effects. 

Rating: 2.0 stars: I enjoyed it as a summer, popcorn movie. 

More: . . . just unplug and experience it.

Even More: . . . it doesn't need to make sense, it is a Hollywood movie.



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Star Trek Beyond

Plot: The Enterprise gets attacked and dismantled by a bee-swarm of little ships lead by Krall (Idris Elba) hidden behind gobs of silver make-up. Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), Uhura (Zoe Saldana), McCoy (Karl Urban), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Sulu (John Cho), Chekov (Anton Yelchin) end up stranded on a wasteland planet -- all separated and many captured by Krall. Scotty meets friendly alien Jaylah (Sofia Boutella) who wants to escape on the Franklin an old earth ship that crashed a century ago. Working in small groups the crew saves themselves and the Federation too.[imdb]    [photos]

Review: The second half of the movie is far better than the first. The first half is not fun: filled with flashy visuals that were hard to follow. Lots of meaningless engineering bullshit that doesn't make sense. Lots of space explosions and flying objects that don't tell a story. The eight major characters have conversations that only make sense in retrospect.

I appreciate the need to get the heroes in a bad situation to ratchet up the tension, but I didn't like this part. The Enterprise's crash takes a long time. Krall is robotic and mechanical, plus Elba is hidden behind too much make-up to act. Krall backstory should have come out earlier to build up tension.

Eventually the action moves to the planet where in twos and threes the acting and the story get stronger.

Many of the actors are good. Chris Pine has depth and texture. Quinto has good scenes with both Urban and Saldana. Saldana is strong in her scenes with Elba and in many reaction shots. Simon Pegg is a little humorous, and Sofia Broutella has some good lines. This is a movie with eight distinct and meaningful characters, and they handle that well.

Having such a large cast lends well into the theme of the movie that unity is better than isolation. The message is timely even though it was made well before Brexit and Trump's fortress America speeches. 

Cast: Idris Elba, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Sofia Boutella 

Directed by: Justin Lin

The Music: Solid orchestral score by Michael Giacchino. Plus two hard rock songs not on the soundtrack. 

The Visuals: There are some new special effects. I like Jaylah's fighting scene with her holographic images. I liked the Yorktown spacestation's design, so angular and creative. 

Rating: 2.5 stars: The good part is the cast acting. The bad part is the battles & tech which can't followed. The real fault is the writing. The first half is unpleasant, and the second half has its moments. I don't want to see it again. 

More: Too many movies have magical ancient relics that the characters have to collect -- just like a video game quest. It was stupid to have a magic relic here. The writers should have tried harder.

Even More: I liked the Swarm bots. This was new is space battles, and the way they fought them made sense.

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Ghostbusters (2016)

Plot: In a remake of the old movie, four paranormal enthusiasts, Erin (Kristen Wiig), Abby (Melissa McCarthy), Jillian (Kate McKinnon), and Patty (Leslie Jones) run around New York fighting and capturing ghosts. When a bad guy releases tons of ghosts into the city, they are ready.   [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Ghostbusters was fun, and I loved it. Quickly, Wiig, McCarthy, and McKinnon establish new characters that enact the Ghostbusters story. It felt new and funny, and didn't repeat the old jokes. Wiig and McCarthy are always good, but Kate McKinnon was a surprise. She was so spunky and funny.

Chris Hemsworth plays a pretty but dumb receptionist in a role reversal. He was pretty funny. If the genders were reversed, it would still be funny, but politically incorrect.

I don't care about this being a remake of an old beloved movie.  Batman, Spiderman and the X-Men are always rehashing their origin stories. This version of Ghostbusters had the female twist as well as plenty of modernizations.

Cast:  Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth

Directed by: Paul Feig

The Music: Great. Uses the themes from the first movie, but updated.

The Visuals: It's a comedy. The ghosts look like humorous and occasionally creepy. The fights with the balloon people were especially good.  I liked the two ghosts driving the hearse because they were having fun too. 

Rating: 3.5 stars: It was just fun to watch. 

More: .I saw it in 2D, but I understand the 3D is worth the money.

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