Moonlight

Moonlight has been so highly lauded (it won Best Drama at the Golden Globes this year), I wanted to be sure I saw it before the awards on Sunday. I was not disappointed. What really made this movie shine was the acting. I have seldom seen such range of emotion from literally every major character in a film. They brought the story of a disadvantaged African-American youth to life for us with poignancy and passion.

The story of Chiron is presented in three vignettes, the first when he is just a nine-year-old boy called Little (Alex Hibbert), mercilessly bullied by his “friends” and ignored by his drug addicted single mother, Paula (Naomie Harris). With no father around, a chance meeting with Juan (Mahershala Ali) gives him a substitute father figure for a while. Juan is a drug dealer with a heart. He takes to Chiron and may be that one influence that gave some stability to Chiron’s young life when none was available.

We next see Chiron (Trevante Rhodes) as an awkward teenager, still the brunt of harassment by his schoolmates. When Kevin (Jharrel Jerome) befriends him, he finds in him a friend and someone he can open up to. Their loving encounter makes a lasting impression on Chiron.

The final part of Chiron’s story is when he is an adult. He has shaped himself into a strong, assertive man, following in the footsteps of his father figure Juan. What impresses in this final chapter we see of Chiron (Ashton Sanders), is that Kevin (Andre Holland) contacts him after several years. The interactions between the two friends are done so well by the actors, and the compassion and love between them is poignant and beautiful. They both should have been nominated for best supporting actor for their performances.

The film is rated R for some sexuality, drug use, brief violence, and language throughout. It is nominated for eight Academy Awards: Best Picture and Director, Best Supporting Actor and Actress for Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris, Best adapted screenplay, cinematography, film editing, and original score.

The score is beautifully haunting, and serves to accentuate the actions of the characters, in a way that is both noticeable and yet unobtrusive. I found it fascinating that three different actors played Chiron and Kevin. That is to be expected given the years involved. Somehow they were all believable. I found myself thinking this really could be the grown up Chiron, the teen Chiron, so sensitive and vulnerable, driven to do what he had to do to survive, to get along in the world he was born into.

Tomorrow we’ll find out how many awards Moonlight will win at the Oscars this year. My favorite is still La La Land for Best Picture. Moonlight will be remembered for a very long time by filmgoers who have the opportunity to see it. It is beautiful in its depiction of humanity, the bad as well as the good that overcomes. I highly recommend you see it.

Lion

Lion has been nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor and Actress for Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman, Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Original Score and Best Adapted Screenplay for Luke Davies. Lion is rated PG-13 for thematic material and some sensuality.

This is one film you won’t want to miss. Based on a true story, it tells the journey of Saroo (Sunny Pawar), a boy from India who is tragically separated from his family at the age of five years. He wandered the streets of Calcutta alone, meeting other children and adults, narrowly escaping those who would use him for their own private gain or perversions.

He is adopted by an Australian couple, John (David Wenham) and Sue Brierley (Nicole Kidman), and brought up in the beautiful island countryside of Tasmania, and by all appearances, adjusts well to his new family.

When he becomes older, he goes to Melbourne, Australia to continue his schooling, and there meets a diverse group of students that become his friends, including his girlfriend Lucy (Rooney Mara). This exposure to other cultures, particularly the food of India, brings back a flood of memories. When he opens up to his friends, they encourage him to search for his family, and even give helpful suggestions of how he could go about doing this.

It seems like searching for a needle in a haystack. Saroo only recalls bits and pieces of his lost five year old memories, cannot find the name of the little village he lived in on a map, and is discouraged at his lack of progress. Thank goodness for Google Maps and some accurate calculations to at least narrow down his search area, or he may never have begun his search.

More than Saroo’s search, Lion is a look into the adoptive family, Saroo’s feelings and his brother’s feelings about being adopted, as well as his adoptive parents who took him in. Nicole Kidman does a wonderfully sensitive portrayal of the woman who graciously and whole-heartedly took these boys into her home. Saroo was very lucky to have such parents.

I highly recommend that you see Lion. Dev Patel deserves his nomination as he delivers a highly nuanced performance. He shows the many emotions and struggles Saroo went through during the process of his searching. I really enjoyed his work in the series The Newsroom, and his vibrancy in the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel films. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing much more of him in cinema land.

There are estimated to be 80,000 children going missing in India each year, and 11,000,000 children living on the streets in India. The Lion Heart Campaign is collaborating with extraordinary organizations to support children in India and around the world. We can all help, and one way to begin to build awareness is to encourage others to see this excellent film about Saroo’s journey. Then go to: Lion movie for information on how you can help protect street children through the Lion Heart Campaign.

Hidden Figures

Hidden Figures was nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress for Octavia Spencer, and Best Adapted Screenplay at this year’s Academy Awards. Based on real events, and real African-American women, the film chronicles their work at NASA when the push to get a man into space was a priority.

It was 1961, and a number of African-American women were employed at Langley as mathematicians. Remember this was pre-computer era; in fact, IBM was just delivering the first computer system to NASA at this time.

The Russians were the first to get a man as well as that little dog into space, and the U. S. needed to follow suit promptly. This was the Cold War, and the fear of Russian missiles aimed down on America from space was a very real fear.

Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) is the chief of the program, supervising a team of white males until math genius Katherine Johnson (Taraji Henson) comes on board. Her two closest friends also work at NASA, Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae). Civil rights for blacks in America is in the forefront, and the struggle does not omit the women who work in a predominantly while male world in the space program.

The chipping away at prejudice and degrading practices is depicted for all the women, and it’s really a mutual enlightening for the management and coworkers of the women. I’m not going to go into detail on this because you need to see it happening for yourself in this film.

The other thing I found fascinating was these scientists and mathematicians put John Glenn (Glen Powell) into orbit around the earth without computers! All using calculating machines, pencils and paper, huge equations that certainly did not make sense to me on gigantic chalkboards. The extent to which they persevered and made it work is incredible.

Dorothy and Mary take their careers into their own hands and strive to further educate themselves. These women are shining examples for all little girls to see, so they too can believe in themselves and not ever give up.

They were not unlike most women today who have to juggle work and children either. Added in is the discrimination that was rampant and waiting to be torn down.

The film is rated PG for thematic elements and some language. The costume design and settings were authentically crafted. I loved seeing all those rows of now vintage automobiles in the Langley parking lot, and the clothing the women wore was a blast from the past. Skirts and heels, and the men all wore suits. Sometimes I really long for those days when even to go to the grocery store, people dressed like they deserved respect.

It is sad that discrimination and prejudice are still undercurrents of American society. Although some things have changed, there is much still to be done. This film and others like it brings to awareness the inestimable contributions of those women of color that until now have been Hidden Figures.

Oscar Nominated Short Films

A category of award at the Oscars that is fun to seek out prior to the big night are the Oscar Nominated Short Films. They have three categories: Live Action, Animation, and Documentary. Running time is 40 minutes or less for each nominated film.

They may be playing now at your local theater. I went to the Guild Cinema in Albuquerque to see the Animated shorts. They are playing through February 13^th, and then the Documentary shorts will be screened beginning February 14^th (just in time for date night on Valentine’s Day!), followed by Live Action shorts beginning on February 17^th.  Follow the Guild Cinema at:  Guild Cinema Albuquerque

 

In addition to viewing the films in a theater, the nominated Live Action and Animation short films will also be available to buy online and on VOD/Pay Per View Platforms (AT&T, DirecTV, COMCAST, Cable Vision, XBOX, Sony, Century Link, Vimeo, Frontier & Google Fiber) so you can obtain them through these sources if they are not playing in your area.

I highly recommend making the effort to see these little gems. Often, filmmakers get a start in their career making these shorter films that they can show as hard evidence of their storytelling abilities, filmmaking, and directing skills, or production capabilities. They each have an intriguing story to tell and you can watch all the nominated films in one sitting, unlike going back and forth to the theater to watch the nominated much longer Best Picture films.

Disney or Pixar has been nominated every year for the last six years, winning two awards out of those six nominations. Not as well known production companies created the others, and the types of animation used can be quite experimental, not techniques I am very familiar with.

This year, I very much enjoyed the Animated shorts. There were the five nominated films shown along with three other honorable mention shorts. They were so diverse in terms of the techniques of animation that were used. Everything from a classic Pixar offering, to really different line drawings that come alive, to sketches that look like someone is creating them right on the screen. I don’t pretend to know anything about how animation is created; I just know I enjoy it, possibly like everyone who ever grew up watching cartoons on TV.

My question to all of you is how would you vote for the best-animated short? Would you give the largest percentage of your decision over to the type of animation it utilizes? Or would you go with which story tugged at your heartstrings the most? A well-developed story in such a brief amount of time is an art. Technique, style, and content all played a role in what was chosen out of the 70 films that qualified for the competition in the 2017 nominations for animated shorts.

I’ll be going back to the Guild Cinema this week to view the Documentary shorts, and later the Live Action shorts. I encourage you to seek these out. You won’t be disappointed.

Neruda

Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) was a great poet from Chile, and an inspiration to the masses when rights for all workers were in question. He was also a notorious Communist. In 1971, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Back in 1994, I watched the Italian film Il Postino: The Postman, where a young man is inspired by Neruda to write his own poetry and to become politically active. It is a beautiful film that won my heart and the hearts of many others, as well as winning numerous awards. Il Postino is a fictional tale, perhaps inspired by Neruda’s brief stay on the island of Capri. It was a romantic and inspiring story.

In the 1940’s, Neruda served as a senator for the Chilean Communist Party. When the President of Chile, Gabriel Gonzalez Videla, outlawed Communism, he fled and escaped through a mountain pass to Argentina.

The 2016 film Neruda takes liberties with those facts and runs with it. It stars Gael Garcia Bernal, one of my favorite actors, as a detective hunting down Pablo Neruda (Luis Gnecco) in a sort of cat and mouse game. Neruda leaves morsels of crumbs to taunt Inspector Oscar Peluchonneau (Gabriel Garcia Bernal), in the form of novellas that he autographs. It was more of a fantasy film, very loosely based on actual events in Pablo Neruda’s life, but with the spirit of how he affected people being shown again and again. His admirers wanted him to recite his poems, to write one especially for them, to dance and drink with them. His legend was all encompassing.

We hear the Inspector’s thoughts through voice over, his assigned job by the President to trail and arrest Neruda becoming a personal obsession with finding him regardless of any cost or danger to himself. In this way, the Inspector is the central character, whereas in real life, it would be Neruda whose thoughts and impressions of the chase are most important.

The director Pablo Larrain, also directed the recent film Jackie, a biopic about Jacqueline Kennedy. I have not seen Jackie as yet, and am curious as to how it will impress me, or if it will. I found the film Neruda to be somewhat disappointing. I felt like it couldn’t make up its mind whether to present itself as fact or fiction, and the voice over of the Inspector’s thoughts to ultimately be boring. I think if you have an interest in South American history, and particularly of this time period when Communism was a dirty word in countries striving to be Democratic, you would find it interesting.

If you’re more interested in the poetry of Neruda, I recommend watching instead Il Postino. The cinematography and music were outstanding, the story touching, and it will elicit the romantic in you.

Neruda is rated R for sexuality/nudity, and some language. It is currently playing at the Guild Cinema in Albuquerque through Tuesday, February 7^th. It will be shown again at the same theater from February 20^th through the 23^rd.

The Salesman (Forushande)

The Salesman (Forushande) is nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s Academy Awards. The film is from Iran, and is in Persian with English subtitles. It won two prizes at the Cannes Film Festival: Best Actor for Shahab Hosseini, and Best Screenplay for Asghar Farhadi. It was both written and directed by Asghar Farhadi. The Salesman is rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements and a brief bloody image.

This is an engrossing movie, setting the scene for tension right from the opening sequences when residents in an apartment building in Tehran have to evacuate, as the building has been damaged and is unstable.

The two main characters, Emad (Shahab Hosseini) and Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti), are a young married couple. After they evacuate their apartment, they set up a home in another building, renting their flat from an acquaintance. The woman who previously lived there has not removed her belongings yet, and this sets up a chain of events that shake the couple to their core.

I appreciated getting a glimpse into the life of people living in Iran. I have had friends from Iran, but their descriptions of the country did little to prepare me for the environment depicted here. It sometimes left me wondering about the culture in Iran, why certain things remain unsaid in the film, and about the societal norms that were displayed during the progression of the story. It leaves me with a curiosity about this culture that is different, yet similar to my own in terms of human relationships.

Despite struggling economically, the couple has interests in the theatre, and Emad has a job as a teacher. His male students are reading “classic” books that are standard reading assignments in English classes in American high schools.

Emad and Rana are also actors, and are in the midst of performing American playwright Arthur Miller’s classic play, Death of a Salesman. This playacting and staging of the depressing story of Willie Loman very effectively alternates with their life turned upside down when an intruder enters their home. (Arthur Miller won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and the Tony award for Best Play for Death of a Salesman.) It is no accident the screenwriter chose this play to be the play they are staging. Asghar Farhadi wrote a very finely crafted screenplay. Emad plays Willie Loman and Rana his wife Linda in the production of the play.

The tension builds and stays at a high as Emad seeks to find Rana’s assailant. The metaphors and parallels between the play and the couple’s lives being played out before us work so well together. It’s really a brilliant piece questioning what it takes to forgive, the motivations behind revenge, and the damage that happens to both love and trust when the unthinkable happens.

I saw it at my local movie theater, the Guild Cinema. It is playing there through Tuesday, February 7th, and will return for repeat screenings on February 20th through the 23rd. I highly recommend The Salesman.

Divines

Divines, a French film, was nominated for Best Motion Picture-Foreign Language at this year’s Golden Globes (lost to Elle). Houda Benyamina, who won the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for this work, directs it. The Camera d’Or award is for the best first film from the official selection. It is a prestigious award and I am not surprised Divines took a prize. The story engrossed me from beginning to end. The way the movie was filmed adds even more to this story of poverty, dreams, and friendship.

It takes place in a very poor slum in Paris somewhere, a place I never saw when I visited the grand city. Dounia (Oulaya Amamra) and her best friend Maimouna (Deborah Lukumuena) are shoplifters and schemers, despite the guidance of Maimouna’s father who is a priest.

Dounia becomes impatient with having so little money, and the family often does not have enough to eat, so she seeks out the tutelage of a drug dealer, Rebecca (Jisca Kalvanda). The money starts rolling in.

Dounia becomes attracted to a dancer, Djigui (Kevin Mischel), whom she sees auditioning and rehearsing on stage at a theater. He would have been a good influence on her had they gotten together sooner I think.

She makes some bad choices, very bad choices, so don’t expect a happy ending. Her mother is a basket case, and she has no father. School bores her and she doesn’t see anything positive coming out of her attendance.

The film is subtitled and easy to follow, and I found it fascinating. The world that the best friends live in is multi-cultural, multi-racial, diverse in terms of religion, and supremely poor. It was definitely a part of France I was unaware of. They get by as best they can. There are no other shining examples of success to lean on. The makeup of these people is the same as in any impoverished country; no hope, no role models, little in the way of assistance for anything. I found particularly distressing the lack of water in their little tin shacks they called home.

The contrast between Djigui and Dounia is striking. He has hope for his future, whereas she does not. His dancing is raw and passionate, kind of like Dounia herself. Djigui is able to go after his dreams in a culturally acceptable way as a dancer; Dounia does not.

Divines is filmed engagingly, the interactions between the characters are realistic, and the acting is very good. It will definitely make you think about the world many people live in, and consider the extreme poverty some people are born into and their almost futile attempts to make it out. Houda Benyamina made me care about these girls, so that when tragedy strikes, it is heartbreak.

Even though I am calling Divines a tragedy, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch it. I admired the storytelling that illuminated a little piece of life on earth I didn’t know existed. You can watch it on streaming Netflix.

La La Land

La La Land is a love letter. A love letter to Hollywood, to romance, to following your dreams. It’s an old fashioned musical, and a tribute to jazz.

This amazing film took home all seven Golden Globe awards it was nominated for. Now nominated for 14 awards at the Academy Awards, everyone is asking: Will this be the year that a musical wins Best Picture? There have only been 10 musicals that won Best Picture. If La La Land wins, it will join such illustrious movie musicals as An American in Paris, West Side Story, and The Sound of Music. The last musical to win for Best Picture was Chicago.

La La Land is rated PG-13 for some language, and has absolutely nothing objectionable in it. You can take all your children, especially the ones who are interested in theater arts and music. The opening scene is a bit surreal. People jump out of their cars in a traffic jam on the Interstate, dancing and singing joyfully under the smog free horizon of the beautiful mountains towering over the city of angels.

Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and Mia (Emma Stone) are two dreamers. He is a musician enamored by classic jazz, she an aspiring actress. They both have their dreams, Sebastian to open his own club, and Mia to be an actress in the movies.

They fall in love, and what transpires between them is truly magical. Particularly beautiful is their dancing at the Griffith Observatory, the graphics perfectly complimenting their falling in love, dancing amongst the stars in the galaxy. It’s indescribable, magical and totally fits the story line.

I really loved the ode to jazz that this story is for Sebastian. Keith (John Legend) whisks Sebastian away to life on the road, and I knew Sebastian had a higher purpose for this detour all along. Mia keeps on too, and turns out to have a creative streak in her, something that goes above and beyond the actress who embodies other’s words. She’s a woman with her own words and ideas.

I noticed the reactions from the audience as we watched the film together in the darkened theater. At the rather surprising ending, we were silent, touched by what the screenwriter let us see, touched by the honesty of the choices the two lovers had made, and the reality of what happens when two people have the intensity to make their dreams come true.

The screenplay was written and directed by Damien Chazelle. So glad he went after his personal dreams. I’d watch this again and again. I admit I am a huge fan of jazz, and when Sebastian talks about how no one appreciates it any more, my heart kind of jerks open. La La Land is a love letter to jazz, to dreams, romance and most importantly, to Hollywood, where dreams come true.

Good luck at the Academy Awards beautiful La La Land. I hope you’ll go down in history as number 11 of the Best Picture musicals.

The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

“There are no victimless billionaires.”

The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

Greg Palast is an investigative journalist who has worked for the BBC and The Guardian. The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, is a documentary feature that chronicles his search for the truth about voter suppression in America.

The film begins at a frenetic pace, lots of flashy graphics and cartoons, but if you stick it out, it calms down. They likely put the film together in this way to appeal to the Facebook/Twitter/Instagram addicted people in society, short attention spans and a need for stimulation. Keith Tucker was in charge of animation. He also worked on the Roger Rabbit comic.

Greg Palast looks every bit the newspaperman going after a story, with his fedora and trench coat, crashing elegant parties for the rich, asking the tough questions until overweight white bouncers escort him out. I appreciate a journalist who is willing to put himself on the line for searching out the truth, and then presenting it to the public in a documentary such as this one. Today’s news outlets could use an army of such muckrakers.

I went to see it in the theater with my husband and two friends. It made us sad, and it made one of my friends cry. Palast reveals details about the program called Crosscheck, which was initiated by moneyed white men and carried out by elected white officials. It’s to benefit Republicans who fear they can’t get elected any other way. More depressing than anything I’ve seen lately, it shows how minorities in America were put on lists claiming they voted twice, with the result being their single vote was not even counted.

This is voter fraud in the worst way, and a large part of how Trump got elected. Rich white men who want unlimited wealth see to it that Democrats, those politicians who would actually work to secure the rights of underprivileged poor people, especially African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans, are not voted in. If all the minority votes count, no Republican would ever get in office!

If someone showed me these lists, and said these people voted in two different states, I’d say your sampling techniques and data collection are flawed. People with even a high school education should be able to figure this one out. I’ll leave the details of the scam for you to see for yourself in the movie.

This was a chilling tale and left us feeling helpless and hopeless. But knowledge is power. Even if we don’t know how to combat voter suppression at this time, just knowing more about it is a start. It may also make you angry, but I urge you to find it on Amazon or Vimeo, and educate yourself. Have a viewing party with your friends and talk afterwards about what you can do to make a difference. Ask your representatives to have the Department of Justice open an investigation on the Crosscheck system for starters, and don’t let up.

Captain Fantastic

Viggo Mortensen was nominated for Best Actor at the Golden Globes (he lost to Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea) for his role in the film Captain Fantastic. Captain Fantastic is not a film about super heroes. It is about an unconventional courageous family meeting tragedy head on. Comedy/drama best describes this film, which is rated R for language and brief graphic nudity.

Ben Cash (Viggo Mortensen) and his wife Leslie (Trin Miller) have six children. Leslie has been ill and away from them for three months. They live in the forests of the Pacific Northwest in isolation, and have a way of life that is a mix of survivalists and philosophers. The children, three boys, three girls, are home schooled, and would put any college student to shame.

When Mom dies, they travel in a bus named Steve down to New Mexico, appropriately stunned by the “civilization” that they pass through on their trip. Jack (Frank Langella) has never approved of his daughter’s lifestyle with Ben and doesn’t let Ben or the children forget it.

I found one scene when a police officer pulls over the bus for a minor infraction really interesting. The kids on cue from Dad launch into some sort of Jesus song, scaring the officer to death, but you also realize that society is much more accepting of Christians being home schooled, and not so much kids who read the classics, question authority and learn to be rational, critical thinkers. That’s why they hid who they really were.

The life the family leads is extreme, but necessary in the story so that what we take for granted in everyday American life can be seen for the unhealthy, often sick routines that most Americans do every day. I liked this family. I wouldn’t want to live so isolated, having to kill my own food every day, but those kids were self-sufficient, smart and strong, something most American kids are not anymore.

I’ve liked Viggo Mortensen ever since I saw him opposite Diane Lane in A Walk on the Moon. He’s a good actor and an intelligent person, writing poetry and being involved in other artistic pursuits. He was cast well as Ben.

If you watch this with a group of friends, it should inspire lots of dialogue afterwards. The story brings up questions of respecting one’s final wishes, and how much book learning versus daily interaction with others builds a well-rounded person. There are also things Ben encourages that are not okay to emulate. A disdain for capitalism leads to unusual behavior that takes advantage of others.

Some of the movie was filmed in New Mexico, and it was easy to recognize the locations. I highly recommend Captain Fantastic. There’s only one place where I thought the film went a little overboard. You’ll have to see it to guess what it is I’m referring to. It’s an intelligent comedy/drama that may inspire you to consider any blind acceptance you have of the way things are.

Kubo and the Two Strings

Kubo and the Two Strings received a nomination at this year’s Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Animated. It lost to Zootopia, and I am not surprised. My review of Zootopia sings its praises; Kubo and the Two Strings did not come up to that level.

This is a curious little film, as it is an American production, yet the story takes place in ancient Japan. Magic figures heavily from the very beginning, when we see Kubo (voiced by Art Parkinson) and his mother on a small boat being tossed about by gigantic waves. They survive the storm and live isolated in a cave outside of a small village.

Kubo earns money for food by being a storyteller. He plays a stringed musical instrument, and the origami figures he creates come to life as he relates a story to his eager audience. Always told by his mother to return to the seaside cave before dark, one evening he does not, and meets the specters of his two deceased aunts, the Sisters (Rooney Mara). This begins a dangerous journey for him where he meets Monkey (Charlize Theron), and giant Beetle (Matthew McConaughey) and they venture forth together.

Travel through the spirit world is a huge part of Kubo’s quest, and it is not until the very end that I saw the lesson, if you will, of the story. Kubo meets the spirit of his grandfather, Moon King (Ralph Fiennes), and then has an epiphany about people who pass away and what happens to their souls. It seems quite Buddhist in nature and I really liked that part of the story.

The animation skills were quite extraordinary, and I recommend viewing any special features about the making of this film that would be included on the DVD. George Takei has a small role as a townsperson, Hosato. That is the only other voice I recognized in the film.

If you like magic and fantasy, you might find this story to your liking. It seems rather scary for small children to watch, and is rated PG for thematic elements, scary images, action and peril. If I was a parent, I’d be cautious about allowing younger children to watch this film. Kubo’s grandfather stole his eye, his mother’s Sisters and the Moon King are out to steal his other eye, and it is just really a terrifying tale to subject little children to.

The film was in English and as I said previously, it was a Japanese tale. I almost would have preferred it be Japanese with English subtitles. Some themes reminded me a bit of the classic and, much better animated feature, Spirited Away. Lots of magic and questing in that film too, but where Spirited Away had a plot that was well-defined, Kubo’s adventure and motives were not always clear, and that was a failing.

Would I recommend this film to you? Unfortunately not. I liked Zootopia much better. Coraline by the same studio (Laika) would be more worth your time.

Zootopia

The delightful animated feature Zootopia is nominated for a Golden Globe award. I can understand why. I enjoyed this film from beginning to end. It is a tale for our times.

Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) is a bunny with a dream. She wants to be the first bunny police officer in the bustling metropolis of Zootopia. The choice of the city’s name as Zootopia being a play on “utopia” was something that did not escape me. There, all the animals live in harmony, predators and prey alike.

Her parents reluctantly bid her goodbye after she graduates from the police academy. When Judy arrives in Zootopia, she is in for a rude awakening. Although qualified to be an officer, she is relegated to writing out parking tickets by the chief of police, Chief Bogo (voiced by Idris Elba).

Zootopia is a magical place. There are sections to the city, boroughs if you will, each having a different climate: subzero temperatures in Tundratown, a teeny tiny town of Little Rodentia for rodents, a rainforest, etc. Judy will of course visit all these places when she takes on a missing otter investigation. She even goes to (horrors!) a nudist colony manned by a yak named Yax (voiced by Tommy Chong). These scenes are priceless, as in most cartoons the animals wear clothing, and to find there is a park for nudist animals in Zootopia is just hilarious.

Along the way she meets a sly con man of a fox, Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman). He is a likable enough guy, despite his moneymaking schemes. Judy and Nick become friends, and team up to find the missing Mr. Otterton.

Meanwhile, something is wrong in Zootopia. Some of the predators are going crazy and attacking prey. “Why” is the question that everyone from Chief Bogo to Mayor Lionheart (voiced by J. K. Simmons) is asking. Will living in peace be something in the past, or will they find out what’s going wrong and fix it? You will have to watch to find out.

Parents and grandparents will recognize some not so subtle nods to popular film and TV culture during Judy’s hunt for the missing otter, and this just made the story that much more fun. Little kids won’t catch the references, but Judy will enchant them as she proves that she is much more than a little bunny, and that dreams do come true. You can grow up to be whatever you want!

I found the messages of tolerance and acceptance of diversity very welcome in this crazy year. Animated features often have a moral message of some sort and this is a good one.

The film is rated PG for some thematic elements, rude humor, and action. Take your kids and grandkids to see it, or at least rent it for a night at home with the usual popcorn and healthy drinks. You will be smiling, I guarantee it, just as much as the kids will, over this heartwarming story.

Hell or High Water

Up for three awards at this year’s Golden Globes, including Best Picture and Best Screenplay, Hell or High Water was filmed entirely in New Mexico (although the setting is said to be West Texas). It is a story of two brothers desperate to save their mother’s farm after she passes way. So desperate, they concoct a scheme to rob the Texas Midland Bank to secure their future. The film is rated R for some strong violence, language throughout, and brief sexuality.

The story takes place in rural areas fraught with financial problems for everyone we encounter. Except for perhaps the law-abiding Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges, nominated for Best Actor at the Golden Globes for this performance). He endlessly ridicules his Hispanic/Native American partner Alberto (Gil Birmingham), and becomes obsessed with finding whoever is robbing these banks.

Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner (Ben Foster) have a bond that has transcended Tanner’s criminal career and subsequent time in prison. Toby is a divorced father intent on leaving his sons better off than himself. The Texas oil fields, grazing land for cattle, and desolate little towns with little more than a diner and a tiny bank branch are sad, depressed places. The residents are bitter and angry at the hand big banks have dealt them.

The story touches on so many moral dilemmas. Citizens caught in the crossfire of the robberies, taking the law into their own hands, vigilante style, don’t seem to be having the lifesaving effects their concealed or not so concealed weapons should offer them.

Townspeople who don’t even know the two-brothers/bank robbers are not cooperating with the investigation. Seems they don’t have any sympathy for the banks being robbed. After all the banks have been robbing them blind for years. Signs along the highway for “fast cash, get out of debt quick” remind us that these people are not better off than their parents or grandparents were.

I appreciated the screenwriting that allows the viewer to ponder the morality of the tale. As the story moves along, we are drawn to have sympathy for the bank robbers, wanting them to escape to safety, and not so much for the law to apprehend them.

Chris Pine does a good job as the quieter, calmer brother Toby. Tanner is a live wire, unpredictable and almost with a death wish. Marcus is really quite unlikable; his bigotry is not even thinly disguised in the racist sarcasm he dishes out to his quiet, long suffering partner.

We don’t know until the very end what the ultimate intentions of Toby and Tanner were, and how they plotted for a very specific outcome for the stolen funds. One of them or perhaps both of them really thought through their plan very well. Yes, crimes need to be punished, but the writer has formed it so that we sympathize with the modern day outlaws. I’d recommend this film to you. If you’re from New Mexico, you’ll recognize a few settings, and the story is excellent.

For the Love of Spock

On this, our last day of 2016, I am posting a review of the fine documentary/biography feature film, For the Love of Spock. Originally a joint endeavor between father Leonard and son Adam Nimoy, it was unfinished at the time of Leonard’s passing. Adam subsequently completed it without his famous father at his side.

Adam persevered with the project, and we are the better for it. For anyone who is a Star Trek fan, this will illuminate the history and creativity of both Leonard Nimoy and all involved with bringing Star Trek to life.

Filled with interviews of those who knew Nimoy well, and interspersed with archival photos and footage of family films, it will give you insight into not just the character of Spock, but of the man who created him. Leonard Nimoy was an accomplished actor, ambitious where his acting was concerned, and creative in other ways. He recorded music, and his unique photography was featured in art shows.

For the Love of Spock explores the Star Trek phenomenon, the fans who kept the momentum going forward up until present day, resulting in three recent hit movies with the famous seven depicted when the crew was a younger age (Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Star Trek Beyond). The documentary also explores the personal life of Leonard and how fame affected both himself and his family. It is an honest portrait of the struggles and challenges that his family endured, as well as their successes and ultimate healing.

I highly recommend this film for anyone interested in Star Trek. I have an understanding now of how Spock’s makeup evolved, how the nuances of his character were developed, and why Spock was the character who made the show a success and kept us all going after more of these unique voyages on the Enterprise.

You will see how the Vulcan mind meld, that telepathic sharing of two individual’s minds came about, and the genesis of the Vulcan nerve pinch that instantly rendered the victim unconscious. I particularly enjoyed learning about the distinctive Vulcan salute that Spock used with the famous phrase, “Live Long and Prosper,” that was used in greeting or when taking departure of someone. I will never think of it in the same way again now that I know where the original inspiration for it came from.

I knew that Nimoy had directed Star Trek films, and especially enjoyed Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, but he directed other films as well, including 3 Men and a Baby! Multi-talented does not begin to describe this man. We are all at a loss for losing him, his humor and sensitivity, but at least we have the memories of how he enriched our lives with his presence.

At this, the beginnings of 2017, may we all “Live Long and Prosper,” and carry forward with us a bit of Spock and of Leonard in our hearts, and especially in our intellects, as we go forward into a challenging new year.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

The original animated short film of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! presented itself to us on the TV during an overnight trip. To my surprise, I discovered that my husband had never seen this classic from 1966. It was narrated by Boris Karloff and is a delightful little story.

I proceeded to tell him about the film from the year 2000 of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which was directed by Ron Howard and stars Jim Carrey (one of his favorite actors) as the Grinch himself. We got it from Netflix and watched with wonder at the artistry of this film. It is rated PG for some crude humor.

The world of Whoville is brought to life with lots of inventive sets, along with some incredible makeup that make the Whos cute and distinctive. Rick Baker was listed among the credits, and so I didn’t expect anything less. He is an award winning makeup artist responsible for the likes of Men in Black and Ed Wood, and has won seven Academy Awards for Best Makeup, including one for his work in this film.

I particularly liked the facial makeup of the Whos; the noses they grow into as they mature, their hairdos and the long eyelashes on everyone. The costumes were brilliant as well.

The Grinch was delivered to Whoville as an infant and was adopted by two kind women. But as he grows, children being what they are, he is ridiculed for being different. He finally cannot stand it any longer and retreats to his mountain cave. The Grinch’s cave is strewn with a grotesque assortment of things you’d find in a garbage dump. He lives at the end of the tube that shoots the Whos garbage away from the village and up the mountain, so that is not such a mystery.

If I didn’t know it was Jim Carrey in that hairy, green costume and makeup, I would never have guessed the actor, although some of his vocalizations as the Grinch give away his comic genius.

How the Grinch steals Christmas is played out very well, with the expanded involvement of Cindy Lou Who (Taylor Momsen), a precocious youngster with very cool hair. She is a budding investigator who grows curious about the Grinch, and her role adds so much to the story of the town and the Grinch.

Martha May (Christine Baranski) is the girl who grew up to be the woman all the men desire, but who has a soft spot for the Grinch. The songs are familiar from the original film with some new ones added into the mix.

We both enjoyed watching this fantasy tale. The characters were well developed, and the sets, costumes and makeup, stay true to the original vision of Dr. Seuss without the need for animation. I am in great respect of the fine craftspeople that pulled this off. Thanks to Imagine Entertainment for taking on such a challenge and bringing this Dr. Seuss Christmas classic to life!

Moonrise Kingdom

Easily my favorite Wes Anderson film, Moonrise Kingdom (2012) showcases his quirky inventiveness and ability to tell a good story. (He was nominated for best screenplay at the Academy Awards for Moonrise Kingdom.) Taking place in the 1960’s on a remote island in New England, two prepubescent teens disappear, much to the chagrin of their parents, scoutmaster, and the police chief. The film is rated PG-13 for sexual content and smoking.

Star-studded performances enhance the two young people’s story. Sam (Jared Gilman) and Suzy (Kara Hayward) meet serendipitously at a local theatrical performance and become pen pals. Sam is a skilled khaki scout, very self sufficient, and the two set off on a cross-island trek to a secluded cove most adults would find romantic (if only there were a KOA cabin with a mattress in it.) Suzy is the kind of girl you wanted to be when you were young, a little bit dangerous, a risk taker, her own person.

Bill Murray and Frances McDormand play Suzy’s dysfunctional parents, Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton) is a maligned khaki scout leader turned hero, and Bruce Willis is Captain Sharp. Cousin Ben (Jason Schwartzman from other Anderson films) has a small role as another scout leader sympathetic to the young love of the two teens fleeing society.

The filming took place in Rhode Island, and the scenery is breathtakingly beautiful. Some of Anderson’s sets have a dollhouse like appearance (see The Royal Tenenbaums and The Grand Budapest Hotel for other examples). His screenplays are always inventive, creative, and with a fine, fine attention to detail. He really expects the viewer to be paying attention.

The film begins with Suzy’s brothers listening to The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra composed by Benjamin Britten. If you circumvent that so annoying streaming Netflix programming that minimizes the end of the film into a little square box on the upper left of the screen, you can get back to the credits full screen, where they should be watched in their entirety. Anderson inserts his own Young Person’s Guide to Alexandre Desplat’s orchestration of his film in the end credits, and it is delightful to watch.

I like Anderson’s directing his actors to be deadpan if you will, a comic touch that makes the film elicit smiles throughout. I have appreciated his sense of humor ever since Rushmore in 1998. His movies seem few and far between, but then you can’t rush excellence, something I will remember in my own work.

Would kids like this film? I’m not sure. Part of the attraction is how it hearkens back to the 1960’s, when I was just a pre-teen myself. That’s why adults like Wes Anderson’s movies so much. It’s refreshing to see a work of art like this that takes risks and doesn’t subscribe to any of the Hollywood set of rules for making a blockbuster, all action and violence, and no real redeeming story. Moonrise Kingdom has class and substance. Watch it when you need some cheering up.

The Darjeeling Limited

The Darjeeling Limited, a Wes Anderson dramedy from 2007, has an all-star cast, and takes place in India. Three brothers reunite to take a trip across India on the Darjeeling Limited, a train perhaps more fantasy than truth. It is rated R for language.

Francis (Owen Wilson) has organized the trip following the death of their father. He is a controlling and meticulous man, much to the chagrin of brothers Peter (Adrien Brody), and the youngest, Jack (Jason Schwartzman). All have skeletons in the closet, secrets they have kept from one another for years. The alliances among the three of them alternate between two confiding in each other, and then the other telling the secrets he’s just heard to the other one. Typical sibling dysfunction.

I had hoped to see more of India’s countryside during the film, but the action mainly takes place on the train. Jack has an eccentric ex-girlfriend (Natalie Portman) whom we first learn about while watching the short film Hotel Chevalier, a sort of prologue to The Darjeeling Limited. Lasting only 13 minutes, it was offered on the DVD I had of the film, and I’m glad I watched it first, as references to the relationship between Jack and his ex-girlfriend are made during the main film.

Their mother Patricia (Angelica Huston) has run off to a convent in India, and Francis reveals that the trip is really about going to find her and have a sort of family reunion. During the train ride and stops in towns, the three brothers have, shall we say, adventures. Very unexpected events that serve to bring them closer together, and in effect deal with the loss of their father.

This is not Wes Anderson’s best film. (Read my early review of Wes Anderson’s film The Royal Tenenbaums on this site, and definitely see The Grand Budapest Hotel.) My favorite so far of the works I have seen by Wes is Moonrise Kingdom. Today I will also be posting my review of that delightful story, a kind of double feature for you. Instead of watching The Darjeeling Limited, instead I recommend you view a brief video on YouTube of an ad that Wes Anderson made for H&M. The setting takes place on a train and features the Academy Award winning actor Adrien Brody.

An aside here is that Adrien Brody first came to my attention in the Spike Lee film, Summer of Sam, playing a disturbed young man so brilliantly, it took his Best Actor role in The Pianist for me to forget that persona. He is a gifted actor, and films I have enjoyed him in include King Kong, where he played Jack Driscoll, and a small turn as Salvador Dali in Midnight in Paris, where Owen Wilson had the starring role. Those two films are well worth watching.

This short ad has a delightful ending that I really loved. Give it a watch and may your holidays be filled with peace: Come Together-H&M directed by Wes Anderson

Doctor Strange

The main reason my husband and I went to see the film Doctor Strange, which is currently showing in theaters, was to see Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role. Doctor Strange is a Marvel Comics film, and we don’t usually go to see those types of movies. But this one seemed to have a spiritual basis to the story, and this intrigued us.

Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is an arrogant and self-involved neurosurgeon. He is condescending to his colleagues, and his expertise, that is apparently quite extraordinary, has led to the money and prestige he covets, but at the expense of love with his former girlfriend Christine (Rachel McAdams).

An unfortunate car accident leaves him with severe injuries, particularly to his hands, the tool of the surgeon. Desperate for the healing that is evading him, he follows a lead and travels to Nepal in search of solutions to his infirmities.

Here is where the film takes off in a supernatural direction. The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) finally agrees to school him in the ways of mysticism and energy. Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a kind mentor to Stephen as well. Stephen is drawn into this world and proves to be a ready and industrious student. His humor eases the tension that we feel in the austere surroundings of the school.

Where there is good there is also evil, especially in the supernatural realm, and Stephen soon finds himself in the throes of a battle between those who use the energy for their own selfish desires and those who want to keep the universe safe for all. The special effects remind me of those in the film Inception, buildings and surroundings folding into a sort of block puzzle. This is to signify the layers of dimensions that Stephen can now travel to and from.

The special effects throughout this film are really very good. The portals of fire where dimensions are accessed, and time stopped on a busy street in Hong Kong, are two of my favorites.

The film is rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action throughout, and an intense crash sequence. I liked this film. I like the actors, and Tilda Swinton played the role of the wise seer quite well. Benedict Cumberbatch goes through transformations that are believable in a fantasy world, growing into the hero he always has been, but just didn’t realize he was. I liked the cape, the weapon that chose him. Quite dashing he is, striding assuredly about with this protective and useful accouterment.

I’d recommend this film to be seen while in the theaters. It is big screen entertainment on a grand scale. I enjoyed the emphasis on spirituality and energy, even if the mystical bent soon morphed into the comic book universe that we knew we were in for.

I thought they left it open for a sequel, due to an interesting exchange Doctor Strange has with someone during the closing credits. Doctor Strange will not be fading away anytime soon.

Philomena

I wasn’t all that interested in the film Philomena when it first came out, despite Judi Dench’s nomination for an Academy Award for her performance in the leading role. But my husband started to watch it on Netflix, and I was soon drawn into this fascinating film inspired by a true story.

Philomena (Judi Dench) has a secret. A big secret. Having given birth as a teen in a convent, and then subsequently losing her child to adoption, she finally discloses the existence of a son to her adult daughter. Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan), a journalist recently unemployed, decides to take on her human-interest story for a magazine feature, and together, they proceed to follow the clues leading to Philomena’s lost son.

The way the film was structured, using flashbacks to Philomena’s youth alternating to present day searching, effectively shows us Philomena’s emotions which vacillate back and forth in an approach/avoidance fashion as she moves ever closer to the truth of what happened with her son. Martin makes a good detective as he has the drive to ask the tough questions and not give up until they are answered.

The two make an unlikely pair, and grate on one another endlessly. The chemistry between them is good, and I don’t mean that in a romantic way. The friendship they develop feels real, as does the compassion they have for each other as well. The two trot across the globe all the way to America, a first for Philomena, as one lost piece of information after another is revealed that helps fill in the blanks.

Philomena is rated PG-13 for some strong language, thematic elements and sexual references. I recommend this film. It may make you angry, or it may make you sad; either way, it will make an impression on you. I admire the screenwriting by Steve Coogan (who starred as journalist Martin) and Jeff Pope, as well as the directing by Stephen Frears.

There always seems to be young girls naïve and in love who “get into trouble,” and then with no way to support the child, find adoption or some other arrangement the only solution open to them. Back when Philomena had her baby, the social mores were even more rigid than they are now. Shamed and humiliated, the family rejects the young girl when they should really be hunting down the man who impregnated her and making him pay.

For an alternate view on girls in trouble, watch The Cider House Rules, an excellent film (story by John Irving) that was released in 1999. Watching the talents of Tobey Maguire, Charlize Theron and Michael Caine, you may compare how different times and cultures deal with the problem of accidental conception, a child unwanted and unable to be cared for. I have read that teenage girls become pregnant not by other teenage boys, but by older men the majority of the time. This problem won’t stop until the culture of men feeling entitled to sex, especially with minors, is addressed.

First Daughter

My Netflix queue delivered First Daughter, a 2004 comedy/romance starring Katie Holmes. I was surprised to see that Forest Whitaker, Academy Award winning actor who was the butler in the last film I reviewed, directed it. I discovered he also directed one of my favorite movies, Waiting to Exhale! What a talented man. The story for First Daughter was partially attributed to Jerry O’Connell, the child actor of Stand By Me who grew up to be a handsome man in such films as Jerry Maguire. It’s great how these actors are able to follow their creativity where it leads them.

Samantha MacKenzie (Katie Holmes) is the daughter of President MacKenzie (Michael Keaton) who is seeking a reelection. She has already lived in the White House for four years, and is now of college age. Longing to break out and see the world on her own, she is less than thrilled with the prospects of going away to school with Secret Service men trailing her at every turn.

She does, however, leave her famous parents in DC and travel to California to be a college girl. Samantha finds that anonymity is nonexistent and that living with her first roommate, Mia Thompson (Amerie) is a challenge. She tries to fit in with college life, and falls for James Lansome (Marc Blucas), a handsome student she meets in her dorm.

The witty dialogue between Samantha and James is really quite entertaining. The story sets them up with a natural affinity for one another, and the chemistry between them is really great. Other than that, the story is somewhat predictable, Samantha taking risks with her behavior that the media pounces upon in order to cast aspersions at her father seeking a second term. I had not seen Katie Holmes in any movies that I could recall. I was actually impressed by her acting.

It was a cute little film, entertaining, funny, romantic, and I admired the set dressing. There were several times where the beauty of the shot impressed me, like when Samantha appeared in a purple gown and the flowers she was standing next to had light purple blooms. I notice these things; the colors they used in her wardrobe, and how the set complemented her costumes. While the settings should be subtle and not detract from the story, there is a balance to be had where the set dressing enhances the story and the character in it.

The film is rated PG for language, sexual situations and alcohol-related material. I can see why teenage girls might really like this film. It is kind of a princess story, as Samantha, as the first daughter, has to go to elegant functions dolled up in gowns with her hair piled on her head in elegance and grace. Young girls might truly identify with her character, wanting both the privilege and benefits of the family she’s been born into, as well as understanding her desperate quest for freedom, wishing the same would come from their own family.