February 2016

February was a pretty full month, with back-to-back trips (first to Miami for the boat show, then to Catalina and Ensenada on the identical Carnival cruise I took last November). On the cruise, I watched the three-part TV miniseries Childhood’s End, which wasn’t particularly good, although it did satisfy a lot of curiosity I had about the original Arthur C. Clarke novel. Here are the movies I saw in February:

THE BOY WHO COULD FLY (1986)—My dear friend Merf strongly recommended this movie to me. It’s one of her favorites, and in her defense, it does appear that anybody who has seen it really loves it. It’s about a mother (Bonnie Bedelia) who, still grieving over the loss of her husband, moves her family into a new house—right next door to where a strangely silent and possibly autistic boy lives. The boy, Eric (Jay Underwood) is the same age as the grieving woman’s daughter, Milly (Lucy Deakins); in fact, they go to high school together. Almost from the start, the film teases us that Eric has the ability to fly—we see implied hints and so on, but never actually see him take flight. Much of the film plays out as a typical family drama (i.e., Bedelia has problems in her new job; her younger son is bullied by neighbors, etc.). Milly attempts to connect with the silent Eric, and he seems to respond. Finally, we come to see that he really does have the ability to fly. No explanation, not even a gimcrack one. He just flies. And if he holds your hand, you can fly too. Try as I might, I could not force myself to overcome the “suspension of disbelief” necessary to swallow this aspect of the story. Another problem is that is has way too much in common with the movie E.T. The Extraterrestrial, especially the way Bruce Broughton’s music tries to simulate a John Williams soundtrack. Too often, the score is just distracting and bombastic. Anyway, Merf, I am sorry I didn’t like it, but Lucy Deakins’ performance was outstanding, and she’s absolutely adorable in the picture. (5)

HAIL, CAESAR! (2016)—As I have mentioned before in my blog, I run hot and cold with the Coen brothers. Fargo is one of my all-time favorite movies, but 2009’s A Serious Man was practically unwatchable. And they’ve created a bunch of other films that fall somewhere in between fantastic and horrible. Hail, Caesar!, described as a love letter to Hollywood, is among their best—a consistently funny sendup of 1950s genre films (westerns, musicals, Biblical epics, Esther Williams pictures, dramas based on hit plays) with a little bit of Communism thrown in for good measure. I don’t think I stopped smiling from beginning to end. (10)

THE DANISH GIRL (2015)—Eddie Redmayne, so convincing as scientist Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, plays Einar Wegener, a man living in the 1920s who comes to embrace the more feminine side of his personality. In fact, persuaded to put on a dress so his wife can finish a sketch, he finds he can’t and won’t stop wearing it. Eventually he develops an entirely new persona, Lili, and becomes one of the first men to undergo a sex-change operation. While the performances are decent, I had two major problems with this movie. The first is that although Eddie Redmayne makes a completely unconvincing woman, all of the film’s major characters are fooled into thinking he’s a woman. He doesn’t even look like a very unattractive woman—he’s a man wearing a dress and a wig. It’s preposterous. The other problem is that the movie is exceptionally boring. I really wanted to like this, but it was fairly tortuous to sit through. I also find that I’m pretty squeamish about listening to the surgical details of genital removal—not fun for me. (6)

JOY (2015)—Literally the night after seeing The Danish Girl (a 2015 biopic that I’d missed), I got to see another major biopic from last year that somehow escaped me. What a difference! Joy, about a woman who invents a new kind of mop, is as suspenseful and dramatic as any sports movie I’ve ever seen. The true-life story of businesswoman Joy Mangano unfolds with intelligence, humor and nail-biting intensity; it’s a winner, and star Jennifer Lawrence is absolutely astonishing in the role. The pacing is a little haphazard in the first half, and the movie is a little bit longer than it perhaps needs to be, but those are minor quibbles. I’m so glad Paramount had a screening of this one…I can’t believe I allowed some mediocre reviews to keep me away last year! (9)

DEADPOOL (2016)—The funniest Marvel comic-book adaptation is also the first to be R-rated, and it’s fourth-wall breaking, mega-meta fun. The opening credits (“Directed by an Overpaid Tool”) are worth the price of admission alone, as is the post-credit bonus scene. Very funny, with star Ryan Reynolds chalking up many yuks as a real anti-superhero. (9)

January 2016

My movie viewing got off to a shaky start in the new year—only one new feature film and two oldies (and I wasn’t really crazy about any of them). As always, there have been distractions, mostly TV-related. I finished binge-watching Jimmy McGovern’s Accused, started on Angie Tribeca (a Merf recommendation) and continued with my regular shows, which were—howsoever briefly—back from winter vacation. This was the month I dog-sat for the Newmans while they were in Mexico; my newly acquired Jeep had to be serviced; I made plans for a four-night cruise in February; and I flew to San Jose to see South Bay Musical Theatre’s production of Forever Plaid, as well as a wretched non-musical play called Tigers Be Still. Jay introduced me to Midsomer Murders, and I forced him to watch my favorite episode of Black Mirror. This was also the month I started to “drill and grade” the entire discography of 1970s rock group America. To be fair, January wasn’t a great month for new movies. Here’s hoping better entertainment options appear in February. Always the cockeyed optimist!

LAMB (2015)—Even at a mere 13 years old, Oona Laurence is a revelation. I’ve seen her in several TV shows (including Orange Is the New Black, Louie and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit) and movies (I Smile Back, Southpaw). She has been excellent in each one. When I heard she was starring in a new film, I rushed to see it. It’s about a troubled guy in his 40s (Ross Partridge) who meets a little girl (Laurence) and invites her to his cabin in the mountains for a couple of weeks to show her the beauty of the great outdoors. If this sounds like a kidnapping, well, it is. Partridge uses his charms to ingratiate himself to the girl, whose parents are rather neglectful and who craves adult approval. Although Partridge’s intentions aren’t sexual, it’s still a massively creepy movie, and really makes you feel uncomfortable. As usual, though Laurence gives a first-rate performance. Based on Bonnie Nadzam’s novel. (6)

THE INN OF THE SIXTH HAPPINESS (1958)—Another recommendation from Merf. This is a biographical movie about Gladys Aylward, a missionary who traveled to China to spread the word of God to the Chinese, and ended up doing a lot of good work for them during World War II. Though entertaining and well made, the story has been heavily fictionalized by Hollywood, with many liberties taken with the real story. The real Aylward was a tiny Cockney woman, and not very attractive. So who do they cast? Who else—stunning Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman! She falls in love with a half-Chinese guy. Who do they cast? White German actor Curd Jürgens! The local mayor is an old Chinese dude. Who do they cast? White British actor Robert Donat! Of course, the idea of a British woman rushing to educate Chinese people about the ways of Jesus reminds me of the American who rushed to teach malnourished Africans about proper nutrition by bringing them McDonalds. "I think this is why God wanted me to go to China!" she squeals when the bombs start dropping. Oh, brother! Still, Bergman's performance was great; she deserved her nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. (8)

THE WICKER MAN (1973)—For many years, I have been reading rave reviews of this British horror movie, which is supposed to be unique in various ways. It’s very highly regarded, and allegedly quite frightening and creepy. A police sergeant receives an anonymous letter that a girl living on a remote Scottish island village has been murdered. The cop (Edward Woodward), a devout Christian, is troubled when the villagers at first deny knowing anything about the girl. Then he observes them engaging in some alarming pagan-type behavior. Slowly he comes to suspect that the girl has been sacrificed, but I figured out what was really going on about halfway through. The film, which is easily 30 minutes too long, is loaded with colorful but mostly unnecessary musical numbers; many scenes seem to be bad rushes, so crisply filmed passages alternate with blurry, hard-to-see ones. There are also a lot of plot holes and lapses of logic—so many, in fact, that this movie is basically idiotic. But Christopher Lee, as the local leader of the village, does a good job with his character, and beautiful Britt Ekland (though dubbed and with an occasional body double) is gorgeous and often topless. Remade in 2006 with Nicholas Cage. (4)

 

 

 

December 2015

A lot of “prestige” films come out in December, which is also the time I go on vacation and don’t see any movies for at least a week. I was, however, able to watch TV shows on my iPad, and this month I finished binge-watching Jimmy McGovern’s amazing show The Street—and burned through most of his follow-up series Accused as well. (Up next will be two more McGovern shows: Moving On and Banished.) This was also the month I got a new car (a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee) and finished converting all of Cindy’s old camcorder tapes to DVD and digital media. Hurray! Meanwhile, here are the movies I saw in December:

CREED (2015)—A guy named Michael Jordan playing a guy named Don Johnson? That’s just the beginning of his identity crisis. More accurately, he’s Michael B. Jordan playing a guy named Adonis (aka Donny) Johnson (aka Creed), the illegitimate son of the late Apollo Creed, who once fought (and later trained) Rocky Balboa. Confused? Well, poor Donny sure seems to be, but one thing’s for sure—he wants to be a fighter, and he wants to do it on his terms, without letting on that he’s Apollo’s kid. (Yes, it’s that old trope.) He asks Rocky to train him, which he eventually agrees to do, albeit begrudgingly. Although neither written nor directed by Sylvester Stallone, Creed steals all of the best plot points from the first Rocky movie and enhances it with enough fresh material to make it successful on its own terms—much like the Creed movie treats its own lineage. One reference to a boxer needing help wiping his ass is one too many for my liking, and this movie has two such references; the trade-off is that sexy Tessa Thompson is cast as Creed’s love interest. Not the best boxing movie of the year—Southpaw was better—but thoroughly entertaining overall. (8)

THE LADY IN THE VAN (2015)—"If I write about this, people will say there's too much about shit," muses Alan Bennett, referring to the ancient homeless woman living in his driveway. Mary (Maggie Smith) is, in his words, is a “bigoted, blinkered, cantankerous, devious, unforgiving, self-serving, rank, rude, car-mad cow—which is to say nothing of her flying feces and her ability to extrude from her withered buttocks turds of such force that they land a yard from the back of the van and their presumed point of exit.” As Mary, Maggie Smith is, as always, peerless. But this film—based on Bennett’s memoir—is too much about shit, and the foul odor emanating from Mary, a smell that is constantly alluded to. So little happens that Bennett (played here by Alex Jennings) is actually written as two different roles (the housebound writer and the liver of life) so he has somebody to interact with. It’s a device that wears real thin, real fast. (5)

TRUMBO (2015)—Fortunately, the bad experience of the previous biopic about a real-life writer was quickly offset by this biopic about another real-life writer (and an infinitely better one). Dalton Trumbo, blacklisted in the 1950s for belonging to the Communist party, managed to survive by ghostwriting movies, some of which went on to critical acclaim and Oscar wins. It’s a familiar story (The Front covered blacklisting in a fictionalized way), but still an outstanding one—it’s both entertaining and educational, and the entire cast, especially Bryan Cranston as Trumbo and Elle Fanning as his young daughter, are exceptional. One of the best movies of the year, if not the best. (10)

THE BIG SHORT (2015)—Four years ago, writer/director J.C. Chandor gave us Margin Call, a drama about events leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. That film, starring Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons and Zachary Quinto, was the story from the perspective of investment bankers and brokerage houses. Directed by Adam McKay, this new movie—presents the same crisis from the point of view of four Wall Street analysts who successfully predicted that the housing market was going to collapse, and how they made a fortune betting against the U.S. economy. Most of the machinations are way over the head of the common moviegoer (me included), but that’s not necessarily a drawback, because McKay comedically breaks the fourth wall to help us understand what’s going on. As a result, the viewer is simultaneously amused and horrified by this particular history lesson. Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Christian Bale are standouts; based on the book by Michael Lewis, whose 1996 volume Trail Fever single-handedly turned me into a political junkie. (7)

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015)—Director J.J. Abrams and his co-screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan don’t add a lot of twists to the original Star Wars formula, choosing to stick with what works (and in fact plundering so much of the original recipe that it’s practically a remake of the 1977 film). Still, it’s awfully nice to see the old faces again, and the new ones—particularly Daisy Ridley, sure to be catapulted into stardom virtually overnight—will make fine performers in the inevitable sequels. Loaded with action, shooting, killing, explosions…and it has BB-8, that adorable new droid. (9)

YOUTH (2015)—This wasn’t the best movie of the year, but it definitely has the best poster of this year or any year! Writer-director Paolo Sorrentino’s comedy-drama about rich guests staying at a fancy Swiss hotel, including Michael Caine as a retired composer/conductor, Harvey Keitel as a washed-up film director, Paul Dano as an actor, and numerous others in smaller roles. The movie is about life’s regrets and failures—and the dangers of giving up on life when you’ve still got a few hours left on the clock. Although the movie moves at an agonizingly slow pace, I was willing to go on its rather ponderous journey, due to the excellent performances and intriguing conversations. Jane Fonda is wasted in what amounts to a cameo, but poster girl Madalina Diana Ghenea (as Miss Universe) really gets everybody’s hearts pumping. (8)

THE HATEFUL EIGHT (2015)—Quentin Tarantino’s latest is a Western set largely inside a snowed-in Civil War-era haberdashery. It’s like a long, talky play with sudden explosions of violence. At times I was reminded of Death Proof, another Tarantino film that spent an awfully long time on meandering dialogue before the slow burn finally resulted in some action. Approximately 20 minutes of H8 are spent showing various characters having to hammer up a door without a latch, every time somebody enters or exits; I found this annoying diversion to be positively excruciating, and points have to be taken away from a movie that might’ve been watchable had it not been so needlessly long—there is a much better movie in here waiting to be edited down to a reasonable 100 minutes. (6)

SUFFRAGETTE (2015)—Carey Mulligan stars in a film about women in 1912 Great Britain who are seeking the right to vote. Mulligan’s character, Maud Watts, does not start out as a radical, but slowly gets sucked into the cause by others around her. It’s an interesting period piece, not quite electrifying, but well acted and a decent history lesson. (7)

WHERE TO INVADE NEXT? (2015)—Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has made his best movie yet, a moving and hilarious piece that strives to show how much better foreign countries tackle issues like education, health care, the prison system, drug abuse, etc. Can we as Americans borrow these proven ideas and put them into action? Don’t be ridiculous! Still, Moore relentlessly proves what a backward country we live in. This movie is a masterpiece that had me laughing and crying, often during the same scene. (10)

THE REVENANT (2015)—Another long Western picture, but a much more episodic one than Tarantino gave us. Leonardo DiCaprio is a hunter attacked by a grizzly bear and left for dead by his fellow hunters—but only after one of them murders his son. On the brink of death, DiCaprio must pull himself together, battling severe weather conditions and unfriendly Native Americans, and find the killer of his son. It’s long but never boring; at times, hard to watch some of the more gory and repulsive scenes. But it’s quite a yarn. DiCaprio really makes us feel every throb of agony his character endures. (9)

November 2015

In early November, I took a four-night Carnival cruise to Catalina Island (which I’ve never visited in my 20 years as a Los Angeleno) and Ensenada, Mexico. During the cruise, I binged-watched the first season of The Affair and began watching the current season afterwards. I also discovered the three-season British TV show The Street, which ran from 2006-2009 on the BBC. I also began to put feelers out for a new (used) car. Hopefully I’ll have a replacement set of wheels soon, as my 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee seems to be on its last legs. Here are the movies I saw:

CONTAINMENT (2015)—Not sure why I selected this apocalyptic sci-fi flick—possibly because it reminded me of 2011’s similarly titled Contagion, which is also about a mysterious epidemic that kills masses of people, and which I quite enjoyed. The plot of this (very) low-budget flick is that people in a large apartment building find themselves sealed in with no apparent way of escaping; they receive messages that help is on the way…but do the government medics plan to inoculate them or kill them? This is one of those “And then there were none” flicks—all of the major characters are bumped off in one fashion or another until practically nobody is left. Seen it all before. (5)

I SMILE BACK (2015)—I have always enjoyed books and movies (The Morning After, Requiem for a Dream) about addiction and dependency, so when one of my favorite performers, Sarah Silverman, was cast in an adaptation of Amy Koppelman’s novel about a housewife and mother of two who sinks into a pit of booze- and drug-fueled despair, I was stoked. The frosting on the cake: Her co-star is Josh Charles, formerly the star of my favorite TV series (Sports Night). Early reviews prepared me for a very somber, downbeat picture, and it’s nothing if not depressing. Here Silverman is the polar opposite of her hilarious standup persona—her character is being treated for bipolar disorder, anxiety and depression, and she has some major daddy issues that are confronted in the course of the movie. It’s basically a tour-de-force for Silverman; if you like your drama as dark as night, this one might just be for you. (8)

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION (2015)—Poor reviews (11% on the Tomatometer) were enough to keep me away from this latest installment in the series that I have thoroughly enjoyed, at least until now. But Joan, who is loath to start something and not finish it, was curious to see how it all wound up (this is allegedly the final PA). Sure enough, this one is the least inspired—and least scary—of the bunch. (5)

CAROL (2015)—In this universally praised adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s second novel, well-to-do mother Cate Blanchette, who is going through a divorce, meets an attractive young sales clerk (Rooney Mara) at a Manhattan department store and begins having an affair with her. When the dalliance is discovered by Blanchette’s husband, he tries to use that as a way of gaining custody of the kids. This is a two-hour movie in which precious little happens; chopping 20 minutes out of the running time could improve it immeasurably. It’s one of those rare films that Joan liked more than I did (“It’s all about feelings!” she gushed). I could definitely have used a bit more action—a nice sex scene and a few heated arguments the female protagonists have with their respective male companions were memorable, but this mostly boring movie screams out for trimming. Sarah Paulson, remarkable as the conjoined twins on American Horror Story: Freak Show, has a small role as a former lover of Blanchette. Performances are first-rate throughout, especially the always magnetic Blanchette. Another debit: there was way, way too much smoking in the movie for me. I was impressed by Carter Burwell’s excellent musical score, which will surely be nominated for an Oscar. (6)

UNEXPECTED (2015)—The life of inner-city Chicago schoolteacher Samantha Abbott changes course dramatically when she discovers she is pregnant by her live-in boyfriend. (The film fails to explain how a woman as bright as Samantha could not know about, or at least use, birth control.) Simultaneously, Samantha learns that a very promising black student, Jasmine (Gail Bean) is also pregnant, and the two become fast friends as Samantha tries to encourage Jasmine not to give up on her dreams of college. This is a mild, gentle drama about Samantha, her lover (Anders Holm, the husband from The Intern) and her student, and the obstacles they all overcome. Sweet and mostly interesting, made all the more palatable by the fact that both Samantha and Jasmine are extremely very attractive. (8)

BROOKLYN (2015)—Irish author Colm Tóibín’s award-winning 2009 novel becomes a film directed by John Crowley and adapted for the screen by Nick Hornby (An Education, About a Boy). It tells the story of plain-Jane Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan), who emigrates to the New York City from Ireland in the early 1950s to take a job in a Brooklyn department store. Although painfully shy and incredibly homesick at first, she gradually gains confidence, experience and a romance. The movie is generally engaging, although a trifle slow in spots, but we stick with it because we like Eilis a lot and want to see her succeed. Good acting, period setting, costumes, etc., in a very familiar emigration tale documented in countless other movies. Still, pretty good. (8)

SPOTLIGHT (2015)—Thought-provoking real-life drama about how reporters from the Boston Globe broke the story of Roman Catholic priests sexually abusing kids, and the cover-up by the Boston Archdiocese. Michael Keaton, John Slattery, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams play the intrepid editors and reporters who work long and hard to get to the truth while the ever-powerful church does its best to bury the facts. Although it’s occasionally a bit draggy (reporting isn’t all that suspenseful), it’s still a riveting story of true journalism. (8)

October 2015

Despite being out of commission one week when I traveled to Lake Havasu and Las Vegas, I saw quite a few first-run movies in October. This was the month that I started watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and resumed my duties as Reading Partners tutor at John Muir Elementary School. On the music front, I “drilled and graded” new music by Janet Jackson, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez.

IRRATIONAL MAN (2015)—After learning that Woody Allen’s latest was one of his non-comedy “murder mystery” movies (i.e., Match Point), I totally lost interest—until Joan offered me a chance to see a free screening at Paramount with her. (I will see practically anything for free.) Since my expectations could not have been lower, I admit that I didn’t find the movie as worthless as I might have. Joaquin Phoenix is a college professor struggling with a personal crisis of purpose and identity when an opportunity to pull himself out of his funk presents itself. Beautiful Emma Stone lights up the screen whenever they point a camera at her, while my eye constantly goes to Phoenix’s weird lip scar whenever they show us his face. The murder part of the story won’t pass muster with even a passing fan of mysteries, since Phoenix leaves enough clues to sink a ship, but at least the movie isn’t too boring. More comedy, Woody! (7)

MIAMI CONNECTION (1987)—I was finally successful in luring Joan to accompany me to one of the RiffTrax screenings, during which they snark and mock awful movies from the past. This month’s offering was the dreadful Miami Connection, which involves a martial arts rock band battling a band of motorcycle ninjas. As usual, the commentary by Mike Nelson and his cohorts had me laughing hysterically. The movie earns a (1), while the riffing gets a (9).

THE INTERN (2015)—You can have Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Rebel Wilson—when it comes to film comedy, I will almost always choose intelligence over the lowbrow. I’m a fan of writer-director Nancy Meyer’s comedies for grownups, which include The Holiday, It’s Complicated and Something’s Gotta Give. She casts the best actors around in the leads (Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton) and has a knack for letting other familiar actors shine in smaller roles. The Intern fits beautifully into Meyers’ canon; this time she’s got Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathaway to star in her latest film, and it doesn’t disappoint—it’s very warm and fuzzy, like having your belly rubbed for two straight hours. Hathaway is the head of a big, successful Internet company; DeNiro is her senior-citizen intern, and we watch them slowly bond from employer-employee to best friends. It’s funny, old-fashioned, charming and touching. It is a genuine pleasure to watch DeNiro act. He’s the greatest. (10)

THE MARTIAN (2015)—Director Ridley Scott has transformed Andy Weir’s marvelously informative, entertaining and exciting novel into an equally entertaining movie. Matt Damon plays astronaut Mark Watney, who is marooned on Mars and must learn to survive on the barren planet. Naturally, the filmmakers have to abridge some of the action for time’s sake (Watney doesn’t get to flip his rover, for example), but what’s left is still a grand-slam of science fiction. Damon is superb. (10)

HE NAMED ME MALALA (2015)—Malala Yousafzai is the Pakistani teenager who was shot in the face in 2012 by a Taliban gunman for having the audacity for wanting an education. I followed the story of her recovery and subsequent activism with some interest—she is a true modern-day hero and an inspiration to people all around the globe, including to me. Unfortunately, this documentary film about her life is a disjointed, non-linear jumble that throws a lot of stuff into the mix with very little organization. First of all, it assumes that the viewer knows everything about the incident going in—the filmmakers don’t even bother explaining what happened to her until about halfway through, which is preposterous. Worse yet, at least a third of the movie consists of boring animated footage intended to tell pieces of Malala’s backstory, and it practically put me to sleep. All of this is extremely unfortunate, because Malala is one of the few living people who could drag me to a theater to see a documentary. I’m bummed that it had to be this one. I did enjoy scenes of Malala in her home environment, giving speeches, etc.; they save the film from being a disaster. (6)

STEVE JOBS (2015)—Danny Boyle directed Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay about the late founder of the Apple computer company, and to say that certain liberties in the story were taken is a bit of an understatement. This is a dramatization of Jobs’s life consisting of conversations and confrontations that never occurred—all of them just prior to various product launches—so if you’re looking for an accurate depiction of the man, you’d probably be better off with Alex Gibney’s Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, the documentary released a few weeks before this movie. On the bright side, Steve Jobs features excellent performances by Michael Fassbender (as Jobs), Kate Winslet as his long-suffering assistant Joanna, and Jeff Daniels as former Apple CEO John Sculley. The film is deftly assembled and at times even riveting—within, as I say, the boundaries of fiction. (8)

SICARIO (2015)—Emily Blunt is an Arizona law-enforcement specialst tapped by the FBI to help crack down on the Mexican drug trade. She answers to Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro, whose roles and goals may not be exactly what they appear to be. The film has three or four very tense and violent scenes, but the rest of the movie is murky as we often appear to be just as in the dark as Blunt seems to be. The final scenes, which involve a “big reveal” of del Toro’s character, are the highlight of the movie—if only the rest of it had been as good. (7)

CRIMSON PEAK (2015)—I saw three movies in a row one Saturday, kicking off with the Benicio del Toro movie, and followed up by one written and directed by by Guillermo del Toro. (The two aren’t related.) Peak features a great beginning and an exciting conclusion, but the middle section tends to plod along. At the end of the 19th century, the daughter (Mia Wasikowska) of a businessman marries a mysterious suitor (Tom Hiddleston, the great villain of the Thor series) who whisks her to his huge, drafty mansion, where terrible things seem to be happening. Hubby also has a troubled sister (Jessica Chastain), and their sinister motives aren’t clear until the finale. It’s a very atmospheric and occasionally bewitching gothic chiller, but it just teases us for too long. (7)

BRIDGE OF SPIES (2015)—Tom Hanks stars in Steven Spielberg’s real-life cold-war drama, about an attorney who defends a Russian spy…and eventually helps to negotiate a prisoner-of-war swap with the Kremlin. Although occasionally fascinating, at 141 minutes, it seems unnecessarily stretched out, as all three movies I saw on Saturday were. As usual, Hanks is excellent. Co-written by Joel and Ethan Coen; Alan Alda is seen fleetingly. (8)

EVEREST (2015)—I thought this real-life story of a bunch of folks to climb Mount Everest was going to be a tense, suspenseful and gripping saga, but it was more morose than anything. In 1996, a group of climbers head for the famous mountain’s peak, but extremely bad weather gets in the way, and a lot of them don’t make it. (One of folks on the expedition is Josh Brolin from Sicario.) I was excited to see Keira Knightley, but she plays the wife of one of the guys—her entire role consists of talking to people on the phone from her house. It’s a sad movie about people who take this whole “challenging the elements” deal to the limit, and pay the ultimate price for it. The movie will make you feel as uncomfortable as the climbers. (6)

ROOM (2015)—In the first half of the movie written by Emma Donoghue (based on her 2010 novel), the audience learns about a mother, Joy (Brie Larson) and her young son Jack (Jacob Tremblay), who have been held captive in some sicko’s garden shed for the boy’s entire life—in fact, he’s the product of her rape. She has told the child that nothing exists outside of their small habitat, and they are kept alive by the sicko, who brings them food and necessities in exchange for periodic rapes of the mother. When the kid turns five, Joy finally conceives of an escape plan, and the 15-minute (or so) part of the film where the plan is executed is by far the most interesting and compelling part, and one of the most exciting things I’ve ever seen in a movie. It should have ended right there. The second half of the movie is a dull mishmash that explores the aftermath of the escape, which forces the viewer to wonder if mom and son wouldn’t have been better off back in their “Room.” Despite my lukewarm reaction, Tremblay is excellent as Jack. (6)

September 2015

In September, I finished binge-watching Justified (completing the final three of six seasons), which took a huge bite out of my movie-going activities. This was also the month that all of my current TV favorites came back on the air, which also lobbied for my entertainment time. My college friend David Kiser breezed into town, and the two of us enjoyed dinner at Genghis Cohen on Fairfax, followed by a Groundlings comedy show. At the end of the month, I flew up to San Jose to see a stagings of Sweet Charity, Fiorello! (which my friend Jay produced) and Broadway by the Decade: Songs of the 1930s (hosted by Jay). A very fun month—but only two movies. Hoping to make up for it in October.

BLACK MASS (2015)—To showcase the true story of Whitey Bulger, a mob boss and frequent murderer, Johnny Depp takes off the silly pirate costume and transforms himself into Bulger. Not only that, he’s actually acting again! How cool to see him giving a shit again after accepting so many insipid roles in garbage like The Lone Ranger, Dark Shadows, Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the awful Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. He’s very good in this chilling tale of the sociopathic gangster and the FBI agent who tries to shield him from justice. (8)

THE VISIT (2015)—M. Night Shyamalan gets his umpteenth chance at a comeback, and tries to do so by tackling the “found footage” genre in this story of a couple of kids traveling to visit the grandparents they’ve never met before and encountering numerous troubling goings-on. There’s almost enough here to prevent this horror movie from becoming a total waste of time, although it’s extremely predictable and entirely too farfetched. Someday the Night man is going to give us another movie as thought-provoking and frightening as The Sixth Sense, but once again, this ain’t it. (6)

August 2015

August will be remembered as the month I tried to get my car fixed by Pep Boys, and ran afoul of the company's attempts to repeatedly defraud me. (The case in ongoing.) On the television front, I finished binge-watching American Horror Story (wrapping up the third-season's story arc, Coven) and started binging on Justified (completing three of six total seasons). Miraculously, I also got a chance to see a few movies:





SOUTHPAW (2015)—When Jake Gyllenhaal commits to a character, he goes all in. This time out, he plays a champion boxer who is challenged by competitor who is hungrier and fiercer. Sound familiar? It should. Though admittedly entertaining, Southpaw is a by-the-numbers boxing picture that gathers familiar tropes and cliches and shamelessly regurgitates them. Thankfully, Gyllenhaal is the kind of actor who can make this kind of standard boxing movie into something truly worthwhile. The always lovely Rachel McAdams costars. (9)



THE GIFT (2015)—Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall are a suburban couple menaced by a weirdo (Joel Edgerton) from his past in this Fatal Attraction-style thriller. What makes it slightly more Hitchcockian than other mystery movies is that writer/director/costar Edgerton throws the occasional twist into the tale. It may not make anybody’s “classic” list 10 years from now, but it does its job reasonably well. Bateman is outstanding, as always. (8)



ANT-MAN (2015)—The latest Marvel superhero franchise features Paul Rudd as a guy whose suit (invented by Michael Douglas) allows him to shrink down and rub elbows with the insect world. One or two of the Avengers characters make a cameo in a story that has to do with taking down a particularly insidious guy (Corey Stoll); like Iron Man, it’s one of the funniest entries in the Marvel canon, and scores greatly by not destroying major cities and jeopardizing the world’s population in the process, as tends to happen in most of these superhero flicks. Excellent popcorn entertainment. (9)



MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE—ROGUE NATION (2015)—Tom Cruise headlines the fifth big-screen outing in the franchise about missions that somehow always get completed despite their "impossibility." It’s a nonstop suspenser with plenty of action and adventure. It’s only been a few weeks since I’ve seen it, and most of the plot details have evaporated from my mind…but like a roller-coaster ride, I do remember that it was great fun while it lasted! Rebecca Ferguson, as a mysterious agent who could either be good or evil, is a true standout, and she’s set to headline the film adaptation of a great book I read recently called The Girl on the Train. (10)



MISTRESS AMERICA (2015)—Greta Gerwig stars in the second movie to be written and directed by her boyfriend, Noah Baumbach. As with their previous effort, Frances Ha—and, let’s face it, every other movie she appears in—Gerwig plays a lovably daffy young woman with big dreams. Here she plays Brooke, a woman befriending and mentoring her future sister-in-law Tracy (Lola Kirke), and the film plays on their generational and personality differences against a hipsterish NYC backdrop. Brooke is positively bursting with ideas and goals and plans, and it’s a joy to watch Gerwig explore the character. There’s a fair amount of amusing and well-written dialogue as the film careens toward a climax that throws them in a house together with Brooke’s ex-boyfriend, his new wife, and several other people, and we watch Brooke’s dreams begin to unravel. The movie’s big problem is that no other characters come close to capturing even a fraction of the affection we feel for Brooke, and the film’s interminable final third tested my patience after a delightful and promising start. (The film sat on the shelf for a couple of years before finally being released.) Still, Gerwig continues to be a truly amazing performer, and I’m already excited to see her next movie, Maggie’s Plan, set to hit the film-festival circuit in September. (8)



DARK PLACES (2015)—Gillian Flynn’s suspenseful 2009 novel (published three years before her mega-hit Gone Girl) has been adapted into a so-so movie starring Charlize Theron as a woman haunted by her family’s massacre as a child. The movie is marred by awkward direction—Gilles Paquet-Brenner throws in questionable zoom shots that feel totally inappropriate. It’s not a bad thriller; just much less effective than the book—like Gone Girl. And, like Mistress America, this one gathered dust on the shelves prior to release. (7)



GRANDMA (2015)—Lily Tomlin is the grandma and Julia Garner is her pregnant granddaughter, whom she tries to help get an abortion while acting as a better role model than mom Marcia Gay Harden. When Tomlin’s on screen, the movie is wonderful; Harden is a bit of a caricature, and Garner just looks weird, with her unsightly curly hair and ever-present scowl. But Tomlin makes this family-oriented comedy-drama worth seeing. (8)

July 2015

This month, I binge-watched the first two seasons of American Horror Story, having caught the fourth season live when it aired last year. The first season was a total bore, but things picked up magnificently in Season 2, dubbed Asylum. Meanwhile, my lunchtime breaks have been spent re-watching old Seinfeld episodes; they're just as funny the second time around. On the literature landscape, the audiobook of Finders Keepers, Stephen's King's sequel to last year's Mr. Mercedes, found its way onto my iPod, and I devoured it quickly and eagerly. I can scarcely wait for End of Watch, the third installment of the trilogy, due out next year.
Here are the movies I saw in July:



JURASSIC WORLD (2015)—Fourth entry in the Jurassic Park franchise is a sort-of reboot, since none of the performers from the earlier movies are around (many of them having been eaten) and the original theme park has long since been shuttered. In the new film, an all-new park called Jurassic World is gaining traction, but of course it’s only a matter of time—minutes, really—until the monsters get loose and it’s curtains for everybody. It’s astonishing, really, that nobody learned a lesson from the first movie, which Jurassic World is practically a remake of (dinosaur escapes from its cage and creates chaos, while evil humans with ulterior motives exacerbate the situation). All the ingredients are here: the suspense is ramped up by having some of the protagonists be kids; bad guys get their comeuppance; dinos fight each other and so on. The special effects are, as always, the main reason to see one of these movies—just turn off your brain and enjoy the amazing CGI. Casting Chris Pratt, fresh off his success with Guardians of the Galaxy, was the single shrewdest move the producers could possibly have made. (8)



BIG GAME (2015)—When Air Force One is shot down, the president (Samuel L. Jackson) crash-lands in Finland and hunted down by terrorists. Only a native boy hunter (Onni Tommila) can help save him. This is an outrageously preposterous adventure story, with a never-ending supply of plot holes and unimaginably ridiculous situations, but it zips right along and rarely drags. Some other respectable actors (Victor Garber, Felicity Huffman, Jim Broadbent) are slumming in this absurd action flick as well. Silly, escapist fun, full of comic-book violence and at times a bit campy. (7)



THE OVERNIGHT (2015)—A couple new to Los Angeles (Adam Scott and Taylor Schilling) meet some wealthy young neighbors (Jason Schwartzman and Judith Godrèche) when their kids make friends at a local park. Dinner invitations follow for the two families, and then the creepiness starts being doled out: are the rich hipster friends looking to swing? And why is water-filtration magnate Schwartzman moonlighting as an artist who only paints people’s rectums (including his own)? The action largely unfolds as the four adults get increasingly drunk and high, and although much of the film gets by on a series of occasional cringeworthy jokes, the movie’s resolution is surprising and worth waiting for. Huge debit: Schwartzman and Scott skinny-dipping and dancing around with their schlongs flopping around—I had to remove my glasses so these scenes would be perceived in blissful blurriness. (7)



TANGERINE (2015)—Shot using iPhone 5s in West Hollywood, only a few miles from my house, this extremely low-budget movie traces a day in the lives of two transgender prostitutes—we get to know all about their johns, their jobs and their jollies. One of the gals, freshly sprung from the pokey, has an immediate goal: to hunt down the hooker who has been screwing her lover/pimp, drag her to him kicking and screaming, and generate some drama. For about three-quarters of the movie, the action shambles along at a leisurely pace, but things perk up considerably during the final showdown at Donut Time (located at Santa Monica Blvd. and Highland Ave.). The movie, which tackles themes ranging from sex-trading to homophobia, is a mini-revelation, especially considering that the crew clearly didn't have two nickels to rub together. Moreover, the leads had no major acting experience, and the soundtrack seems to consist largely of classical and public-domain music. Directed by co-writer Sean Baker, with the multi-talented Shih-Ching Tsou pitching in as everything from producer and costume designer to acting as a cute but hapless donut slinger who has the cops on her speed-dial. As shoestring movies go, this is the dictionary definition of how to put one together. (9)



INFINITELY POLAR BEAR (2015)—Set in the mid 1970s, writer-director Maya Forbes’ film casts Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana as interracial Bostonian parents of two small girls. Early on, Ruffalo suffers a breakdown and is diagnosed with bipolar disorder; he then attempts to raise the kids while Saldana heads to Manhattan to study on a university scholarship for 14 months. The kids find his idiotic behavior annoying, and oh, so did I! The performances are fine, but the movie was a bit of a slog for me for two reasons. First of all, there’s practically no story in this movie—just a series of anecdotes showing how unfit Ruffalo is as a solo parent, and second, while I could barely tolerate Ruffalo’s often childish and embarrassing behavior, he chain-smokes through the entire film, and I just find that grotesque. (I grew up with dual chain-smoking parents, which has left me mentally scarred for life.) The film left me cold—I really wish there had been more story and no smoking. (5)



TRAINWRECK (2015)—Standup comedian-turned-TV-sketch-series star Amy Schumer now graduates to feature-film status with this comedy written by Schumer and directed by Judd Apatow. As usual, Apatow’s running time is unnecessarily bloated for a comedy (over 2 hours), especially for what is the merest wisp of an idea: Schumer plays a woman with the stereotypical characteristics of a slovenly male bachelor, i.e., interested only in drinking and one-night-stands. (Naturally, these values came from her pinheaded father.) So when Amy meets a nice, personable and eligible surgeon, she does everything she can to sabotage any chance of a long-term relationship. Will true love win out? What do you think? There are definitely some laughs in the film, but I found it extremely unlikely that Schumer’s boorish behavior would actually inspire Cupid’s arrows to shoot the surgeon (Bill Hader) as violently as they do. Also, after barely a couple of weeks, I have forgotten virtually every element of the movie. (7)



MR. HOLMES (2015)—This Sherlock Holmes story takes us to his twilight years, with lapses of memory and possible Alzheimer’s. Holmes (Ian McKellen), now 93, has long since hung up his deerstalker hat—actually, it’s established that he never really wore one—and is keeping bees in the countryside, his trusty housekeeper (Laura Linney) and her young son (Milo Parker) by his side. The film, in what can charitably be called a leisurely pace, concerns itself with Holmes’ struggle to remember the details of his last, unsolved case, as well as a secondary mini-mystery involving a Japanese man. (There’s another subplot involving the mystery of some dying bees in his hive.) This is a somewhat gentle movie that kept me absorbed despite its deliberately slow pace. (8)