The Lady in the Van

Veteran actress Maggie Smith is The Lady in the Van, which is a film that is noted to be a “mostly true story” in the opening credits. The playwright Alan Bennett (The History Boys) wrote this screenplay about the odd woman who parked her van in his driveway. He expected her residence to be only for about three months, and instead, she ended up staying there for 15 years. The film is rated PG-13 for a brief unsettling image.

The homeless Miss Mary Shepherd, (or is it Margaret? the neighbors ask as they soon discover that she has many secrets) is a cantankerous eccentric who stretches the good people of Camden to the ends of their compassion. (The film was shot at the same house on the same street where the real events took place.)

The screenplay took plenty of liberties with the character of Alan, a somewhat reclusive writer played by Alex Jennings, who we see as two people, the playwright typing the story out, and the compassionate man who allows Miss Shepherd to reside in his driveway. He talks to himself seemingly having no one else close to listen to him.

Bit by bit, Miss Shepherd’s tragic life is revealed to us, in part explaining how she ended up homeless, living out of her van. The homeless don’t get that way for no good reason; often they are plagued by mental illness, and substance abuse. Ms. Shepherd is no exception in that there are reasons for her present state.

The neighborhood portrayed was a shining example of how more people should accept and help those in need. This took place beginning in the 1970’s, and perhaps there was more tolerance in England then or even today (I can’t speak to England’s moral values), but in America, the media portray the homeless as if there is something morally wrong with them, and do not paint them in a sympathetic light for who they really are. Facebook is filled with tirades against helping the homeless or those out of work, showing little understanding of the emotional issues that helped them get that way. Poverty seems to be interpreted as a moral failing which informs the ignorant statements I see from time to time. I can only hope that anyone seeing this film will find their conscience and compassion activated by the story, and be more tolerant and giving to those in need.

Interestingly, in 1999, Maggie Smith played the same character in Bennett’s play of the same name on stage. Maggie Smith was nominated for a Golden Globe award for her performance in this film. Jim Broadbent has a role in the film as well, a mysterious character till the end when all is revealed.

If you’re an anglophile, you will love this film. If you are a fan of Maggie Smith, you will love this film. And if neither of those applies, you might like it just for the quiet, compassionate little mystery that it is.

Amy

Amy was the fourth Academy Award nominated documentary feature that I watched this awards season. It is also the documentary that took home the prize. The film is rated R for language and drug material.

I remembered hearing Amy Winehouse for the first time when a coworker had purchased her CD and played the song Rehab for me. He said he liked it because it was so raw. I liked it too, but I now have a greater understanding of her music and I really, really like it. I love jazz and blues and this was her forte.

Amy was a British singer/songwriter with an incredible voice. Interestingly her idols were Tony Bennett and Sarah Vaughn. She came from a “broken” family, her parents separating early in her life. She seems to blame this for her subsequent alcoholism, substance abuse and mental health issues.

No doubt exacerbating her addictions was her meteoric rise to fame at a very early age. Barely out of her teens, Amy had a style all her own. I loved the way she did her hair in a beehive, her cat eyes mascara and eyeliner. She spoke what she thought and she wrote her life’s trials and tribulations into songs. The way she delivered a tune, her voice reminded me of Billie Holiday, another woman who had a troubled life and struggled with addiction.

Unlike the documentary about Nina Simone I reviewed earlier, where most visual details were from photos, Amy was filled with video footage, home videos and scenes of her everyday life taken off of her friends’ phones no doubt. It gave a very real and immediate feeling to the film, as did seeing her poems that became songs. I appreciated the visual aspect of this documentary, how it was pieced together, like piecing together the fabric of Amy’s short life, and I wholeheartedly agree with it being voted Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards. It’s worth your time.

Interesting that this year, 2016, two of the nominated documentaries had as subject matter, two very gifted female singers, and the two others I watched were about fighting for freedom, freedom from government control in the case of the Ukraine, and freedom from the drug cartels of Mexico in the other. This was a good year for documentary features.

Amy was a wounded young lady starved for love, starving her own body, betrayed by the disease of alcoholism, and finally used by those closest to her who didn’t want the cash flow to end. She lived on the edge until her heart gave out.  

She was a Grammy award winner, and I both recommend Amy's music and this documentary. Her poetry shines through in her lyrics, sharing the pain and joy that all humans share. I am reminded of Jim Morrison, another victim of alcoholism, who also died at the age of 27. He was a poet too. Perhaps all the best songwriters are. Rest in Peace and in song, Amy, wherever you've gone. 

Cartel Land

The third Academy Award nominated documentary I’ve seen this year, Cartel Land held me riveted from the opening sequence. The drug cartels of Mexico are feared on both sides of the border, and this documentary focuses on a group of vigilantes along the border in Arizona, as well as a citizen group in the Mexican state of Michoacán, some thousand miles away, where the cartels murder indiscriminately, and cause much grief and suffering to the good people in the cities. Rated R for violent disturbing images, language, drug content and brief sexual material, it is not for the faint of heart.

I wondered how this footage was obtained. Granted, the meth cooks all wore masks or bandannas on their faces, but they were speaking to the filmmakers about why they cook meth, and why they will continue to do so. Sales are mainly to the United States, which makes the U. S. a part of the problem. Mexico is a land of poverty, another reason given for why some choose to cook drugs.

As the film progressed, it was clear there is evil in the hearts of those in the gangs of the cartels. It also became clear that even the ones who profess to do good and help, like Dr. Jose Mireles “El Doctor” are not the saints they were initially made out to be.

The politics of the situation were also shown as being complicated. The people are frustrated that the Mexican government does not arrest the members of the cartel, and turn a blind eye to their crimes. Taking justice into their own hands, the AutoDefensas was formed, and they systematically take over the cartel village by village, cleaning up the streets.

Meanwhile, back in America, the leader of the group in Arizona feels it is his duty to protect the border from smuggled aliens being led in. He believes he lost his job in construction to illegal immigrants who work for less money, and he reports, do a sloppy job of constructing houses. How much does this have to do with the housing boom and subsequent crash, when houses were initially reasonable to purchase and then with the turn of the economy, people lost their jobs and their cheaply made homes? This group turns the illegals over to border patrol to be taken where? Directly back across the border I am guessing.

I got the feeling having watched this documentary that it is an issue that cannot be solved just on one side of the border. As long as there is demand for the drugs, there will be a ready supply. And these cartels are likened to the mafia, where police are corrupt and can be bought.

It is a worthy film to watch, if for no other reason than to be informed of why the State Department warns US citizens about traveling in Mexico. It may also leave you questioning politicians who lamely talk about the “war on drugs” with no understanding of what’s involved in the solution.

The Revenant

A revenant is a visible ghost or an animated corpse that has returned from the grave to terrorize the living. The Revenant is thus an apt title for a film where Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) just keeps on living and moving towards revenge on John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) who has left him for dead and killed his only son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck). I knew all this from trailers I saw prior to going to the movie. I anticipated a violent film, but it was nominated for a staggering 12 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, Actor and Supporting Actor.

I saw it just before the Oscars and was glad I did. It brought Leo his first Academy Award for Best Actor, Best Director for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, and Best Achievement in Cinematography.

This film is one that will keep you alert for the entire two hours and 36 minutes it’s on the screen. Not once did I think about the time that had elapsed or had yet to pass. This drama is rated R for strong frontier combat and violence, including gory images, a sexual assault, language and brief nudity.

The time period is the 1820’s and the setting is the northern regions of mountains, with freezing temperatures and danger at every turn, from nature and from humans, the French, the white Americans, the Native Americans. What we go to see as tourists today, the mountain vistas, rivers and waterfalls, and the vast expanse of sky, was a forbidding environment that frontiersmen and women and tribal people had to survive back then.

It is an incredible film to watch. It has made me deathly afraid to hike in any area where there are bears. The suffering Hugh Glass goes through when the mama bear attacks him is depicted in excruciating detail. They must have researched what grizzly bears do when they attack a human, as it was surprising to me and had me squirming and vocalizing at the long incident just as much as the rest of the audience was.

21 Grams, and Amores Perros, are two other films directed by Inarritu I have seen. Both are riveting tales, and hard to watch at times, as he really goes for the jugular, sparing no gruesome details. Birdman, Inarritu’s other award winning film, is an excellent film too.

According to IMDb, there were 16 filming locations, most in Canada and some in Argentina, Mexico, and a few in the United States. Leonardo gave a great acceptance speech at the Oscars, asking for us to pay attention to global warming and do something before more damage is done to the planet. They had to travel to the ends of the earth just to get the amount of snow they needed for filming.

The Revenant is still playing in Albuquerque theaters, and may still be in your community. If it is and you’d like to see it, I’d recommend going to the theater. The landscape you’ll be seeing is best viewed on the big screen.

Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom

Freedom and human dignity. That’s what Ukrainians were fighting for in 2013-2014 when their president betrayed them by choosing to align with Russia over the European Union. Winter on Fire:  Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom is a documentary feature that alternates between film footage of the actual protests, and interviews with some of the participants who were there.

The people of Ukraine see themselves as European. When President Yanukovich sided with Russia, students spontaneously gathered in Independence Square in Kiev. When the police, heavily shielded in protective gear, came to disperse the group and began beating them with iron sticks, other citizens joined in. They were outraged that the government would harm their children, so people from all over Ukraine, many religions, many languages, many ages, came to support them.

This reminded me of Vietnam War protests in the 1960’s. It was chilling. Months and months passed with no movement by the government to give the Ukrainian people what was requested. Former military leaders helped the protestors organize and protect themselves, building barricades and providing support. Those who had cars formed a circle around the protestors camping out, and were an integral part of the protest.

The protestors were non-violent, and it was only when the police started shooting them with rubber bullets and then mixed live ammunition in, that the violence really escalated. I found myself thinking, this is real life, these are real people being injured and killed, standing up for their beliefs and against a dictator who lied to them again and again. This is not fiction, like some other violence addled fictional movies out there. If people want to watch violence, at least watch the real thing, people putting themselves on the line every day, not some stupid action movie with super heroes. All the people who protested are heroes; average young men and women, mothers and fathers, religious leaders, who all set aside their lives for this cause.

I highly recommend this film. It is a reminder that every nation is built on individuals who speak up for what is right, and put their lives on the line until justice prevails.

As I sat and watched the days tick by for the Ukrainian citizens in this struggle, I thought about what I was doing on that particular day; how could I have not known about this fight? We are so consumed with our day-to-day lives, we forget that this planet is filled with individual souls also dealing with their own personal struggles in the world. Everywhere there are real life dramas being played out. For the Ukrainians, some of their hopes were fulfilled, for others, the struggle continues.

I don’t pretend to know much about the politics of that region, but I can sympathize with the protestors. I think you will find this a moving documentary film. It was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at this year’s Academy Awards, but the documentary film Amy won that honor instead. Stay tuned for a review of that documentary as well.

Leap Year

With 2016 being a leap year, I decided to watch the romantic comedy Leap Year, partially for the plot, and partially because it stars actress Amy Adams. I have been a fan of hers since her performance in Catch Me If You Can, and decided if she was in the movie, it was worth a go. My other favorite films of hers are American Hustle, Julie and Julia, Sunshine Cleaning and Enchanted. Leap Year is rated PG for sensuality and language, and now ranks up there as another of my favorite Amy Adams movies.

Anna Brady (Amy Adams) stages homes for real estate agents. She is meticulous, cultured, sophisticated, everything her boyfriend Jeremy (Adam Scott), who is an up and coming cardiologist, would want in the woman in his life. Except for he hasn’t yet proposed and it’s been going on four years.

With a tale by her father (John Lithgow) inspiring her, she travels to Ireland to propose marriage to Jeremy on February 29^th, leap day, a time when women can successfully propose marriage to the lucky man of their choice.

Every travel delay imaginable happens to poor Anna, and she ends up having to make a cross-country trip through Ireland in order to arrive in Dublin in time to propose to Jeremy on the 29^th. She meets up with an innkeeper, Declan (Matthew Goode), and he agrees to get her to Dublin. A series of further misadventures occurs, mostly due to Anna being a total klutz. The two grate on each other because of their annoying idiosyncrasies, even while they attempt to ignore a growing attraction between them.

At one point, the two of them crash a wedding. My favorite quote from the film is spoken by the bride to her groom:  “May you never steal, lie, or cheat, but if you must steal, then steal away my sorrows, and if you must lie, lie with me all the nights of my life, and if you must cheat, then please cheat death because I couldn’t live a day without you.” It is moments like this that make the movie sing.

I know there were negative reviews about this film, and when my sister and I first began watching it, I had my doubts. If I can predict what’s going to happen next, that’s not a good sign for the movie. But that ability soon disappeared, and it turned out to be a sweet love story about how you sometimes find your way to your one true love when you’re not really looking for it. We both really liked it.

An added plus to the film was that the landscape the two travel through is simply breathtaking. They traverse the gorgeous countryside of Ireland, sometimes barren, mountainous, or filled with rushing water. In each case, it may make you want to have your plane diverted in order to travel by train or car across the Irish countryside.

Rent Leap Year if you're searching for a romantic comedy to enjoy.

What Happened, Miss Simone?

I have long been a fan of singer Nina Simone. Her distinctive voice and the way she sings the blues are a favorite of mine. In fact, one of my stations on Pandora Internet Radio is “Nina Simone.” If you are not familiar with her, she is an African-American singer, pianist, and civil rights activist, a legend of her time (she is now deceased).

But I didn’t really know that much about her as a person, other than that she was born in the United States, and had moved to France at some point in her life. That’s about it.

So it was with interest I watched What Happened, Miss Simone? on streaming Netflix. The film has been nominated for Best Documentary Feature at this year’s Academy Awards. It is not rated.

The film by Liz Garbus paints a portrait of Nina over the course of her life from being a gifted child on the piano, to her adulthood as a troubled woman trying to find her way. The turbulent sixties were a prominent time for her, and is a time I remember well having lived through them during my formative years as a pre-teen and teen, observing the civil rights movement and Vietnam from the comfort and safety of my home in the country with my family. At that time, Nina was an activist in her 30’s, daring to write songs that highlighted the struggle for equal rights in America. She moved among circles of people who were high profile in those years, and I was amazed at whom she knew, as well as about her radical nature concerning civil rights. She was a woman with a voice, and I don’t mean just in music.

Featuring archival footage from Nina’s public appearances, interviews with her daughter and her ex-husband, as well as musician friends she worked with, it is an honest and open glimpse into her life. It didn’t disappoint in the area of her music either, allowing us to hear several of her songs from start to finish.

If you don’t normally watch documentaries, I encourage you to do so. They can be entertaining, illuminating as to the history of a region or a person, as well as thought provoking. Documentaries probably don’t cover the things you’d learn in school. They are a way to continue your education about life on earth, how people think, what impact culture has on someone, learn about history not covered on the evening news, or in the newspapers. In the process, what you see may impart an understanding about others, developing a sense of empathy for humanity, animals, and nature, whatever it is you’re learning about.

This documentary allowed us to see Nina’s life unfold as it did for her, and as she struggled to find purpose and meaning and answers to her life’s experiences. As she discovered life, so do we. I highly recommend you watch it. It illuminates not just her life, but also America and all its troubles with race and inequality.

Spotlight

I’ve found my favorite film of the Academy Award season. Spotlight is based on the true story of how a team of investigative journalists at the Boston Globe brought to light the cover-up by the Catholic Archdiocese of decades of pedophilia perpetrated by priests. It is a film that will move you, perhaps to tears. It will draw you along with the Spotlight team as they discover the truth of the injustice done to the victims, all within the shortest couple of hours I’ve spent in a movie theater in recent weeks.

The film boasts an all-star cast including Michael Keaton, Liev Schreiber, Stanley Tucci, Billy Crudup, and the Best Supporting Actor and Actress noms, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams. Also nominated were director Tom McCarthy, the film itself for Best Picture, and for Film Editing.

This drama (biography/history) is rated R for some language, including sexual references.

I remember hearing about priests molesting young boys sometime during the 1970’s. I wasn’t much out of high school, and not being raised Catholic, didn’t know what to think about that disclosure. But as I recall, the person sharing this information made a joke of it, laughed it off, happy it hadn’t happened to him (or had it?).

“If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse them,” is a quote from the film. Personal responsibility is brought into question for all who knew about the abuse and did not loudly protest what was happening. Instead it was ignored, and at its worst, involved attorneys taking money to pay off the families and victims. Where was their personal responsibility? It is time we all vow to break the silence where any abuse is concerned.

This is a film I’d recommend be first on your list to jog out and see while still in the theaters, prior to the Oscars. There are scenes where victims tell their stories to the journalists, both moving and revealing. It didn’t make me uncomfortable to hear since I have a background in counseling and therapy. These types of disclosures don’t set me off into a bout of PTSD, although I still empathize. There appeared to be some people in the theater having a hard time with it because I heard talking and someone asking them if they just wanted to leave. I can’t stand people talking during the movie so that was distracting and rude. But I could sympathize if that’s what was going on with them.

I have a couple more films to see this year that were nominated, but as of this point, I doubt that anything else will live up to Spotlight. In my opinion, a movie that wins Best Picture should be the greatest film of the year for future generations of movie watchers to seek out. It should be of the highest caliber, with an inspirational message, and I can’t imagine some violence filled picture fitting that standard at all.

This is the one.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Star Wars. It’s a film experience that started for me in 1977. I have seen every installment in the theater, all six of them (see my review of Star Wars Episode III:  Revenge of the Sith on this blog). It had me hooked. So it is no surprise I went to see Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

A coworker of mine who took annual leave on the day of the premiere said I would love this movie. I would meet old friends, be introduced to new friends, and that it was everything she’d hoped for and more.

With that recommendation, and her constant pestering me about why I hadn’t seen it yet, I finally went with my husband to a matinee after the crowds had thinned somewhat. The film is rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence.

Sitting through all of the previews before the movie, I was getting kind of down. There were several previews clearly intended for teenage boys, who are the vast majority of the theater going public. This is something studios know, thus the constant action films, superhero movies, and violence spewing trash I was getting glimpses of. I said to myself, please don’t let Star Wars be like these awful films. Please. Give me the old Star Wars with good character development, characters we can root for, and a story where the Force is central.

It was good, much to my relief. I can’t say too much here, but the media has broadcasted it around so much that I knew we’d see our old friends in the characters of Han Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker.

We are introduced to new characters:  Kylo Ren, of the dark side (Adam Driver), Rey, an independent and resourceful young woman (Daisy Ridley), Finn, a stormtrooper who has deserted his post (John Boyega), and Poe Dameron, daring pilot (Oscar Isaac). One thing I really enjoyed was that the main characters are shown struggling between the pull towards evil and the centering of the Force. It makes for some suspenseful moments.

My husband said that seeing the film served to remind him of just how special the earth we live on is with all of its stunning nature, and amazing animals. We stayed for all of the credits to see where this Star Wars was filmed; it featured the stark landscapes of Abu Dhabi, Iceland, and Ireland. All of earth is thankfully not like those landscapes. He said that science fiction films always seem to depict devastated, unwelcoming planets, and that part of the film is disappointing. The violence is overwhelming, and the pace caters to a world of people who seek constant stimulation, rapid sound bites, twittering, and I phone-using fools who can’t look up and around them to see the beauty that is the earth.

That said, if you haven’t seen Star Wars yet, what are you waiting for? I’m looking forward to the next installment and hope it has more Yoda and fewer machine guns.

Brooklyn

My maternal grandparents immigrated to America in the late 1800’s from Denmark and Norway. My interest in Brooklyn stemmed from having such close relatives make that trip across the Atlantic with the hope of an opportunity for a better life.

Brooklyn tells the tale of Eilis, a young Irish immigrant (Saoirse Ronan in an Academy Award nominated performance) coming to America fully a half century later than my ancestors immigrated, but I figured some of the same issues they faced would be depicted.

Brooklyn has also been nominated for Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay at this year’s Academy Awards. It is rated PG-13 for a scene of sexuality and brief strong language.

It wasn’t until after I had seen the film and began to do research for my review that I found I had seen Saoirse Ronan in three other films:  The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Host (previously reviewed on my blog; search for it by entering the name of the movie in the search engine above on this page), and The Way Back. I enjoyed her characters in all of those other films, and since I never connected any of these four performances to the same woman, I would say she is adept at taking on different characters without being recognizable as herself. Of course, that may change as her list of movies grows and then she may become as easily recognizable as other accomplished actresses.

Back to Brooklyn. Another quiet film, set in the 1950’s where one’s personal conduct is always proper, especially for young ladies.  Father Flood (Jim Broadbent) is a kindly priest who helps Eilis adjust to life in America. She meets Tony Fiorello (Emory Cohen) of Italian descent, and begins to blossom and not be as homesick as their friendship and love develops. This relationship seemed very natural as that’s what happened here; the children of immigrants from different countries meet and fall in love and we get the melting pot we are today in America.

Eilis needs to return to Ireland suddenly, and finds that things have changed. Or is it that she has changed? Once in Ireland, Eilis begins to realize who she is:  a good worker, educated in her trade as a bookkeeper, and a confident and ultimately loyal young woman. The suspense grows as we wonder along with Eilis about returning to America versus remaining in Ireland.

Seeing the city of Brooklyn portrayed from a 1950’s point of view made the movie charming and interesting, particularly the scenes in the department store where Eilis has her first job.  I recommend this film. It’s visually appealing, and a good story from a woman’s point of view, something we don’t get that often in films. Take your daughters or your mothers with you for an afternoon matinee and then go have a nice leisurely dinner to talk about it.

Let me know what you think of the films you see and about my reviews. You can leave your comments below. Happy movie going!

Joy

Joy. The name of a woman I had never heard of, and upon watching her story, will never forget. This film by David O. Russell is based on the story of Joy Mangano, doyenne of QVC. I was hoping the film would be joyful, and was pleased that it had a happy ending. It moved slowly at first, very slowly, and is told partially from the perspective of Mimi, Joy’s devoted maternal grandmother (Diane Ladd). The film is rated PG-13 for brief strong language.

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Robert de Niro, Isabella Rossellini, and Bradley Cooper, the film held a promise of greatness. I would call it a quiet film, however, with subtle performances, especially from Jennifer Lawrence who plays Joy, and Bradley Cooper as Neil Walker. Even dialogue is delivered in whispers at times, and it serves up the message of a woman who would not give up.

Having just seen this the day after The Big Short, a film that just left me angry (see previous review), I was once again inspired. Good things do happen to people providing they don’t give up, don’t allow themselves to be walked on, and believe in themselves.

It helps to be smart, finish high school, and be determined. How many women who could go on to college don’t, because they fall for a singing, dancing lothario who sweeps them off their feet, and before they know it, they have kids and a nowhere life. Joy didn’t let that stop her. Her role models weren’t very positive, like her mother who has given up and does nothing all day long but watch soap operas.

For all of you complainers out there saying, “If only I had (fill in the blank), then things would be different.” Don’t wait for a role model, be your own role model. Seek out those who can help you fulfill that dream you’ve buried deep within thinking you can’t have it now that you’re a mom, caretaker, breadwinner, you name it.

I saw Jennifer Lawrence in her two other Golden Globe winning roles with David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook (for which she also won the Academy Award) and American Hustle. But I was her fan beginning with Winter’s Bone, where she played a strong teenager caring for her two younger siblings, taking on that responsibility from her absent parents. She displayed a quiet intensity for that role, as she does for this Academy Award nominated performance. In this film as Joy, she is so consistent in playing the character, that we see glimmers of who she will become, we watch the integrity with which she approaches her life, all leading us on to the older, wiser Joy.

But she was wise all along. Go see this film (and be patient; remember I said it is slow in the beginning), especially if you are a woman who has a dream longing to burst out. Joy may be just the inspiration you need to push you to take that first step.

The Big Short

The Big Short was a film I was hoping would be understandable and entertaining, despite its subject: the housing crisis and fraud that transpired over the last years of the decade ending in 2010. It has been nominated for several Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Christian Bale), Best Director for Adam McKay, as well as Best Adapted Screenplay from the book by Michael Lewis (who also wrote the screenplay for Moneyball), and for Film Editing. It is rated R for pervasive language and some sexuality/nudity. All the nominations are well deserved.

I admit that even as early as high school, when one of my classes touched on the subject of the stock market, it confused me. I have since come to understand it a little better, but wouldn’t feel comfortable explaining it to anyone else. I saw the films Margin Call and Moneyball, and enjoyed both. The way these stories were developed made difficult mathematical subjects easier to understand. So it is for The Big Short.

The truth is, you don’t have to understand the financial crisis completely to get that the average American was screwed over in a big way in those years. This film has a stellar cast including Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Steve Carrell and Brad Pitt, who was also a producer. Lesser roles went to Marisa Tomei, and Melissa Leo. The film cleverly tried to make clear the situations that transpired and what the big short was. Basically, a few investors realized the housing bubble would burst and placed bets with the big banks that it would. If they were right, they stood to make a great deal of money. Essentially they were betting that the American economy would fail due to the practices of the big banks on the housing markets.

The film is based on the true stories of these investors. The market is explained in the film in ways even I could follow, via what looks like a Jenga game (pull one block at the base and it all comes tumbling down), and a cameo by Selena Gomez in Las Vegas. She places a bet, then someone behind her places a bet on her winning, then someone behind them places a bet on him winning when she wins, etc. It all falls apart when Selena doesn’t win, as it did for the housing market. The going to Las Vegas and explaining it at the gaming tables is an apt way to show that it’s all a game to the big banks and investors, a game where the public always loses.

We know that despite the fraud perpetrated by the big banks, it was the American people, who stay poor while the wealth of the few skyrockets, bailed them all out, while losing their homes, their jobs, and their hope.

This is a film everyone should see. It’s entertaining, illuminating, and will inform you of an issue that should influence the way you vote in upcoming elections. Enough is enough.

Beasts of No Nation

Beasts of No Nation is a film about the experiences of Agu, a young West African boy recruited into a rebel militia after his family is murdered or disappears. The name of the country is never disclosed, thus the name of the film. The actor Idris Elba, portraying the commandant, was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor award at this year’s Golden Globes. I watched the film streaming on Netflix, so it is easy to find right now. This drama is not rated, although I would suspect it would be an R rating if it was, due to the violence.

Some may ask why I’d watch a movie sure to be violent and depressing. This is Africa, a place on the planet I have never visited.  Africa is the Dark Continent, not called that due to the color of its people’s skin, but because it is a hard continent to live on; disease, extreme conditions, and dangers abound whether in the desert, jungle or oceanside. I like to be reminded that there are other people on the planet living very different lives from that of privileged Americans. It could be another planet for all we are aware of what goes on there.

The town portrayed is in a jungle, resources are unequally distributed, poverty is endemic, and yet the people have families, love fiercely, and just want to be able to enjoy their lives like we all do. Care for their babies, get the pretty girl in school to fall in love with you, learn and grow, and most importantly, enjoy life on planet earth.

But when there is civil unrest, and warring parties with machine guns try to get their way through force, all those desires and needs are left unfulfilled.

It was a captivating tale, and yes, there was violence. The part of me interested in human behavior found it fascinating how the young scared recruits become hardened soldiers, capable of committing heinous crimes against their fellow humans. Brainwashing at its most effective, preying on the vulnerability of the young.

I was spellbound throughout the whole film, which led to a surprising ending. I got to thinking about where the weapons come from. Where are the factories for the production of guns and ammunition, and who by working there contributes to the deaths of fellow human beings and the destruction of earth? With gun issues at a breaking point in America, what about broadening the discussion to the armed nature of this entire planet?

Every spirit that comes to earth wants the same things, to experience this world, and to be safe and loved. Breaking the cycle of the willingness to use violence as a means to settle disputes is a concept whose time has come and is long overdue. Violence is not a solution to a multi-faceted problem that encompasses lack of education for women leading to a higher birth rate, subsequent poverty, and despair. War does not bring peace for the children forced to fight or for the nations involved.

Jingle All The Way

Jingle All The Way is a 1996, comedy/family film, rated PG for action violence, mild language and some thematic elements.

The movie stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rita Wilson, and Sinbad, with cameos by Robert Conrad, Phil Hartman, Martin Mull, James Belushi, and Harvey Korman and Laraine Newman. (See if you can spot them as you watch.)

I admit that I enjoyed watching Arnold’s movies back in the day. There is something really funny about a big body builder playing comedic roles, like in Twins, and Kindergarten Cop (I liked the sci-fi films he did too, particularly The Terminator films), and then there’s True Lies. I didn’t doubt that Jingle All The Way would be a funny film I’d like.

Howard Langston (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a successful, driven businessman, overworking to the point that he neglects his son Jamie, and is seldom there for his wife Liz (Rita Wilson). All comes to a head when he realizes he did not get the one thing in the entire world his son wants for Christmas, a Turbo Man action figure.

With mere hours to spare, he sets out to find this elusive action figure doll that has sold out in every store. He meets another late shopper, postal worker Myron Larabee (Sinbad), and they proceed to travel their way around the city in search of Turbo Man.

Meanwhile, Ted (Phil Hartman), a divorced single father, is putting the moves on Liz, eating Howard’s cookies, and ingratiating himself with his neighbors by somehow getting a real live reindeer for his yard.

It is a fight to the end as to who will nab the last of the Turbo Man action figures. Lots of slapstick comedy ensues, and Howard gets to come to the rescue as he stumbles upon the Wintertainment parade float featuring Turbo Man. Here Arnold gets to do a turn in a bigger than life role reminiscent of other action heroes he has portrayed, redeeming himself with his son and wife in the process.

I liked the film, it was funny and made me laugh, sometimes just at Arnold delivering his lines in his famous Austrian accent. It was fun seeing all the actors from 20 years ago, and how the world has changed (no cell phones around; Howard has to use a pay phone). In a world where commercialism runs rampart around Christmas time and in fact begins much earlier, pre-Thanksgiving and then with Black Friday, these scenes of mad, desperate shoppers should not be foreign to anyone tuning in. There is a poignant sadness to the distance between father and son and husband and wife brought on by materialism and a disregard for the important (do not allow the urgent to displace the important).

The soundtrack features plenty of familiar Christmas songs you’ll like. If you let the credits roll while you’re cleaning up the popcorn you spilled, you will see a final scene with Howard and Liz at the Christmas tree. A priceless moment after all Howard has been through.

Four Christmases

This is a hilarious holiday movie from 2008 starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn. It’s light entertainment (comedy, drama, romance) with a twist on most holiday films, and is rated PG-13 for some sexual humor and language.

Kate (Reese Witherspoon) and Brad (Vince Vaughn) are a young couple in love, unmarried, with no intentions of tying the knot. Normally they avoid their families, but when their plane out of San Francisco to Fiji is grounded due to fog, they reluctantly end up visiting all four of their divorced parents’ homes in one day. Having never met one another’s families previously, they are in for the revelation of family and personal secrets that are sure to stress their relationship, not only with each other, but also within themselves.

Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek play Brad’s parents, and Mary Steenburgen and Jon Voight play Kate’s parents. Their characters add to the charm of the story (and incidentally, all four are Oscar winners). That is quite a lot of talent as Reese is an Academy Award winning actress herself.

I have not seen that many Vince Vaughn movies, just Wedding Crashers and Couples Retreat, and enjoyed both of those films as well. He is a very good comedic actor and plays well opposite Reese’s more prim and proper lady. (I also recall him in a Sex and the City episode as one of Carrie’s beaus.) He will make you laugh!

Reese, as you know, starred in Walk the Line, her Academy Award winning turn as June Carter Cash. I like some of her other perhaps lesser known films, notably Pleasantville, Election, the more well known Legally Blonde, and just recently, Wild, the true story of Cheryl Strayed who walked the Pacific Crest Trail. Reese is an accomplished actress, equally adept at comedy as she is in her forays into drama.

Reese’s barely 5 feet 2 inch frame teetering after Vince’s 6 feet 5 inches in her extremely high heels is quite a contrast. The graphic on the DVD plays on this as Reese stands on four boxes wearing stilettos to be the same height as Vince.

These four families are so different, and the circumstances they encounter during the visits are exaggerated for humor. Often slapstick in nature, and always inventive in terms of dialogue and witty repartee, it is a movie that kept a smile on my face from beginning to end.

Kate and Brad are a likable couple, and realistic in that all couples try to hide those embarrassing moments and questionable events from the past in order to continue the relationship, for fear when they are found out, they will get dumped. Also similar is the apprehension at introducing the one they love to their family members. What will they think of a family who is less than perfect, and perhaps even a little crazy? Is there any future between us given the idiosyncrasies of parents and siblings? 

All these questions and more are answered in Four Christmases.

The Shift

I had the good fortune to hear Dr. Wayne Dyer speak at a conference I attended in Portland some 15+ years ago. I was initially not that interested to hear him speak as I thought he was just someone who had cashed in on a financially lucrative career publishing self-help books. I was wrong.

I was completely won over by Dr. Dyer, his sincerity, humbleness and wisdom. After he passed away, Facebook and the Internet blossomed with his lectures and videos, and I ordered on Netflix and watched a DVD called The Shift.

Cleverly designed, the film features interviews with Dr. Dyer as himself, alternating with fictional tales of three individuals/families at a crossroads in their lives. The setting is at a retreat center in Monterey, California. The fictional stories worked to illustrate the spiritual truths that Dr. Dyer talked about during his interviews with his fictional film crew. Better than perhaps watching a couple of hours of Dr. Dyer speaking to a PBS audience, it was filled with ideas about the shift, transitioning from the morning of one’s life to the afternoon, a metaphor for an awakening to a life of meaning, a unique soul purpose unfolding for each of us.

A couple of better known actors were featured including Portia de Rossi, and Michael DeLuise, with Louise Hay, matriarch of Hay House, appearing in a cameo. Also available are extra features, which included music videos (Song Inside is charming!), additional scenes and interviews with Dr. Dyer and the film’s director, Michael Goorjian. I watched all these features and enjoyed learning about how the film came to be made, and appreciated Dr. Dyer’s humor as he speaks candidly to the film crew.

The film is visually stunning, the views of the ocean waves and the gnarled trees at the windswept shore helping to create a sense of calmness amidst the characters’ crises. I didn’t care for the music very much, but I am not a fan of classical music and that’s what the score reminded me of. The music felt morose and kind of depressing to me. I learned to ignore it and focused instead on the visuals and the characters’ journeys. You may not have the same reaction to the music as I did.

Dr. Dyer was himself, as I remembered him from hearing him speak those many years ago, a little older, and just as sage. The three people at a crossroads in this story were believable:  a driven businessman and his wife struggling to create a shared life; a young mother who gives first to her husband and children, leaving little time for her own creative expression; and a film director hungry to make a name for himself at any cost.

The Shift is inspiring, and provided many ideas that my husband and I discussed after viewing it. I highly recommend this film; it’s entertaining and insightful, and may be just what you need for the place you are in your life right now.

Aloha

When I first saw Aloha advertised, I thought it had several things going for it:  Cameron Crowe, screenwriter and director; actors Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, and Rachel McAdams; and the gorgeous scenery of Hawaii.

So I put it in my Netflix queue. The film is rated PG-13 for some language including suggestive comments. Though it didn’t do well at the box office, this romantic-comedy-drama is well worth a night at home with popcorn.

I have been a fan of Cameron Crowe since Say Anything, and Jerry McGuire. It is well written, although top heavy on the musical selections. Cameron is into music (see Almost Famous for a semi-autobiographical take on his life on the road with bands), and the almost ever-present music interfered at times with the flow of the movie.

The main characters are Brian Gilcrest (Bradley Cooper) and Allison (Emma Stone). (I have enjoyed both their careers since The Hangover and Easy A, the first two films I saw them in.) Brian has a job to do while in Hawaii, and is sweet, vulnerable, and a really great guy. Allison is a total air force military woman with a sharp salute and a mouth that fires at machine gun speed. She is charged with shadowing Brian, ostensibly to keep him out of trouble.

Complicating Brian’s life at this point is an old girlfriend, Tracey Woodside (Rachel McAdams), married to a strong, silent military man. They have two kids, Grace and Mitchell. Will Bradley and Rachel rekindle their love affair, or will he fall for Allison? What will happen with the space launch Brian is charged with completing for eccentric billionaire Carson Welch (Bill Murray)?

I enjoyed the emphasis on Native Hawaiians. We in the continental U.S. may forget that Hawaii was taken by force and coercion, just as it was for the many Native American tribes on the mainland. There is a deep connection to nature that European invaders did not bring with them from their own native peoples when North America and then Hawaii was conquered. The film touches on this connection to nature and spirituality, especially from Allison, who is one-quarter Hawaiian.

Issues no doubt still surface in Hawaii today between natives and the military, and I thought the film did a good job bringing this dynamic into perspective with a fictional, but plausible, story about the military throwing its weight around, along with rich, eccentric space junkie Carson Welch.

The word aloha translates from Hawaiian to “affection, peace, compassion and mercy,” an apt way to describe the characters’ journeys in this story.

The ending is really, really sweet, beautiful and unexpected. There are moments in the film where words are not used to express thoughts and feelings; Cameron allowed the actors to show what they were thinking through subtle expressions and body language, and nowhere is this more evident than in the ending.

I recommend this film. I liked the romance, the focus on the native Hawaiians, and the happy ending. (Next time though, Cameron, go easy with the music, please.)

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

After watching Abraham Lincoln:  Vampire Hunter, my husband commented that I shouldn’t post a review, rather to save my reviews for good films that I can recommend viewing. But a reviewer doesn’t have that option. Roger Ebert wrote reviews for bad films. There was that whole thumbs up, thumbs down routine for him and Gene Siskel, so I feel I have a responsibility to post reviews even about films that don’t live up to expectations.

We had this film delivered from Netflix for some Halloween fun, and just got around to seeing it the other night. A film from 2012, it is rated R for violence throughout and brief sexuality. I was not familiar with any of the actors, director or writers (sorry!), although noticed that Tim Burton (The Nightmare Before Christmas and various off beat Johnny Depp films) was one of the producers. Obviously, it is pure fiction; vampires don’t exist, and Lincoln was not a sworn enemy of vampires.

But I appreciated the film for a few reasons. As a screenwriter, I admired how snippets of historical information that were true served as the starting point for fictional situations involving vampires. There seemed to be a comparison in the film with vampires and Confederates. Vampires, if they did exist, are pure evil (unless you’ve watched True Blood, then not so much). And one could say that the Confederates, in favor of slavery, and who used and abused people through slavery, are evil too.

In this story, vampires were paired with the Confederates, even meeting with Jefferson Davis, and of course Lincoln and his aides were with the Union. My husband said that he feared that younger people, given what we’ve heard is a sad state of affairs these days in school with not enough history being taught, might not even know that much about Lincoln and the period of the Civil War, and what it meant to the United States. A good place to begin would be to read A. Lincoln:  A Biography by Ronald C. White, Jr.

There are some action packed sequences, with some kung fu type fighting, and a tension producing train ride, all very well executed on screen. The film held our attention right from the very beginning, and we never once suggested turning it off, which we have done when a movie is so bad we just can’t waste our time.

My favorite quote from the film: “Until every man is free, we are all slaves.” And a clever graphic at the end may remind you of the bloodshed that brought the country together to the 50 states it is today.

I think teenage boys would like this story. And it is said that most Hollywood produced movies are for that teen boys group. Basically, if you like vampires, really well choreographed fight scenes, and spectacular chase scenes, yes to this film. But if you are offended by the thought of Abraham Lincoln being cast as a hunter of vampires, don’t rent it.

Hector and the Search for Happiness

Hector and the Search for Happiness is an interesting and enjoyable film about one man’s journey around the world to find what makes for true happiness. A comedy-drama film from 2014, it is rated R for language and some brief nudity.

Simon Pegg (Hector) is a psychiatrist, and the narrator of the film. Rosamund Pike plays Clara, Hector’s girlfriend. You may remember her from the recent film Gone Girl. (If that is the only film you’ve seen her in, you may be surprised to know that she is British, and nailed that American accent for her role in Gone Girl.)

Hector leads quite a predictably ordered life, and begins to wonder about happiness. Is he or any of his patients truly happy? Will his patients ever find the key to happiness, and can he help them if he is similarly clueless about finding it for himself?

I really empathized with Hector, as I’ve been a counselor and I know how draining it can get listening to other peoples’ problems. In fact, that’s why after several years, I moved into administrative positions for my jobs. You can only hear so much without it beginning to affect you and your own happiness in life.

But, back to Hector. To figure out what is happiness, he treks across the planet, his journey of self-discovery taking him to three continents, and a variety of emotional encounters. Stellan Skarsgard  (Edward) is one of the first strangers Hector meets, with surprising results.

Hector’s musings are shown to us through his drawings and the questions he poses in his journal. I enjoyed this aspect of the film. We are let in on the workings of Hector’s mind through the recording of his thoughts on happiness in his travel journal. He poses a question to people he encounters along the way: What makes you happy? He creates a list about happiness as revealed to him, and I enjoyed thinking about which ones I liked the best.

The film also features Christopher Plummer (Professor Coreman), who studies the effects of happiness on the brain, and enlists Hector to take part in one of his experiments. Toni Collette (Agnes) is one of Hector’s past loves.

Hector finds the humanity in people again, has a series of epiphanies about life, and experiences the growth he would want for his patients in himself. Grateful and in the present, Hector finds happiness in himself.

The film is very entertaining, and I applaud that director and writer took risks by having a narrator, which is looked on as not such a wise decision in order to have a successful movie. They also have Hector’s doodling in his journal come alive on the page and thus on the screen throughout the film. It was creative and effective in bringing this story to life (and contributes to our happiness as movie lovers).

John Lennon said, “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.” Hector might add that happiness can only happen when you’re truly alive.