20170216: comedy review--florence foster jenkins

Name: Florence Foster Jeknkins (2016)
IMDb: link to Florence Foster Jenkins page

Genres: Comedy, drama.   Country of origin: USA.

Cast:
Hugh Grant as St. Martin Bayfield, Simon Helberg as Cosme McMoon.

Directed by: Stephen Frears.  Written by: Nicholas Martin.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
1. It's World War II in NYC, USA.

2. Florence Foster Jenkins is an heiress who thinks she is a fine coloratura singer.  Her second husband, St. Martin Bayfield, does his best to keep her fragile ego from imploding.  He hires Cosme Bayfield to accompany her on piano for singing lessons.  Together they keep up the charade.

Delineation of conflicts:
Jenkins think she can sing quite well.  Cosme knows she cannot.  Bayfield knows this as well.  Cosme thinks the truth should be evident, and the fiction dispelled. Bayfield convinces, at least temporarily, Cosme and others to go along with the outrageous lie, often by bribery and other types of coercion.

Resolution: Bayfield keeps the fiction going far too long, but Jenkins makes a huge and disastrous public appearance.

One line summary: Lying leads to disaster.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 9/10 The film is pretty enough.  The shooting was evidently done by professionals.  I am no expert about how World War II upper crust New York City looked, but I did not see too many obvious foul-ups.

Sound: 5/10 Very unfortunately, the recording quality was rather good.  Streep's voice (as Jenkins, not as Streep) is sooooooooo horrible that I wished to be anywhere but watching this damned film.  So, this was a decision from the director (to the actress) to torture the audience.

Acting: 5/10 Hugh Grant was wonderful, but then he's one of my favourites.  I was glad to see Simon Helberg doing well in something other than The Big Bang Theory.   I liked the players in the lesser roles. A good lead actress would have meant a positive reversal of my view of the film.

Screenplay: 4/10 The script was meant to spotlight the Jenkins character, but the casting doomed the film.  The writing for Grant and Helberg was witty enough.

Final rating: 5/10 Film ruined by directorial contempt.

20161124: Comedy Review--Intolerable Cruelty

Name: Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
IMDb: link to Intolerable Cruelty page

Genres: Comedy.   Country of origin: USA.

Cast:
Geoffrey Rush as Donovan Donaly, Stacey Travis as Bonnie Donaly, Jack Kyle as Ollie Olerud, Cedric the Entertainer as Gus Petch.

George Clooney as Miles Massey, Edward Herrmann as Rex Rexroth, Jonathan Hadary as Heinz the Baron Krauss von Espy, Paul Adelstein as Wrigley, Tom Aldredge as Herb Myerson.

Catherine Zeta-Jones as Marylin, Richard Jenkins as Freddy Bender, Billy Bob Thornton as Howard D. Doyle, Julia Duffy as Sarah Sorkin.

Directed by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen.  Written by: Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone.

the trap

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
1. Donovan interrupts Bonnie cheating on him with Ollie.  Donovan is enraged, and takes gunshots at the cheaters.  Bonnie engages Miles to defend her.  Miles shellacs Donovan, even though Bonnie is more deeply in the wrong.

2. Marylin employs Gus Petch to get damning evidence on her real estate developer husband Rex.  It looks bad for Rex, but Miles digs up the creature who targeted Rex for Marylin.

3. Marylin marries Howard using the Massey prenup, which is supposed to be a strong wall against divorce for the sake of monetary gain.  Marylin finds a way around it.

Delineation of conflicts:
After Marylin successfully fleeces Howard, Miles is drawn to her availability since he finds a void in his life.  Marylin seems sad over Sarah's life, which seems empty despite her great wealth obtained by fleecing three husbands.

So...what will happen after they get married?  Who will prevail in this battle of the fakes?

Resolution: There are several twists and turns in this clever and deeply bitter depiction of love and marriage in Los Angeles and the USA in general.

One line summary: Feelings and money are the stakes.

Vegas

Statistics:

Cinematography: 9/10 Nicely shot.

Sound: 8/10 The dialog was easy to understand.  The parallel music was usually appropriate to the scenes.

Acting: 8/10 Clooney and Zeta-Jones were fine.  Billy Bob Thornton was fun as usual, had delivered some surprises.  I liked all the minor players.

Screenplay: 10/10 Witty, funny, irreverent.

Final rating: 9/10 Another sweet comedic effort from the Coen Brothers.

20161119: Comedy Review--No Reservations

Name: No Reservations (2007)
IMDb: link to No Reservations page

Genres: Comedy   Country of origin: USA.

Cast: Catherine Zeta-Jones as Kate Armstrong, Aaron Eckhart as Nicholas Palmer, Abigail Breslin as Zoe, Bob Balaban as therapist, Patricia Clarkson as Paula, Jenna Wade as Leah, Bryan F. O'Byrne as Sean.

Directed by: Scott Hicks.  Written by: Carol Fuchs (screenplay), Sandra Nettelbeck (screenplay).

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Kate is the chef at a posh Manhattan restaurant.  She's a bit intense, and her boss Paula has demanded that she goes into therapy.  Kate fends off her therapist by cooking him dishes that he seldom can resist.

Kate's sister comes to visit.  On the way, she and niece Zoe are involved in an accident.  Zoe is OK, but the sister is not.  Kate has to take over care of Zoe.

Delineation of conflicts:
While Kate took time off, Paula hired Nick.  Nick and Kate have a number of differences about cooking.

Zoe and Kate do not know each other.  That takes time.  Zoe starts to like Nick, his Italian food, and his confident exuberance.

Kate's boss Paula gets on Kate's nerves one too many times.

Resolution: People get to know each other; this often solves romantic and familial problems.  The problems between Paula and Kate are harder to address.

One line summary: Two alpha cooks get to know each other.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 6/10 Fuzzy.  I did not like it.

Sound: 8/10 Mostly OK.  Most of the music was good accompaniment.

Acting: 6/10 I usually like Aaron Eckhart, but I disliked his acting a lot in this one.  Ms Zeta-Jones was fine, as was Bob Balaban.  Abigail Breslin, as usual, was better than expected.

Screenplay: 8/10 As romantic comedies go, this was rather nice.

Final rating: 7/10

20161117: Comedy Review--Night of the Living Deb

Name: Night of the Living Deb (2015)
IMDb: link to Night of the Living Deb page

Genres: Comedy   Country of origin: USA.

Cast:

Maria Thayer as Deb Clarington, Michael Cassidy as Ryan Waverly, Chris Marquette as Chazz Waverly, Ray Wise as Frank Waverly, Syd Wilder as Stacy, Julie Brister as Ruby.

Directed by: Kyle Rankin.  Written by: Kyle Rankin, Andy Selzer.

Deb and Ryan

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
In Portland, Maine, Deb and Ruby are at a bar the night before the American Fourth of July celebration.  Ruby encourages Deb to hook up with the tall fellow at the bar.  Deb does that.  But after hitting on Ryan, Ryan's fiancee Stacy shows up.  Stacy is not pleased with Deb's presence.

Deb wakes up in Ryan's bed.  Ryan is on the phone trying to figure out how to separate himself from Deb.  Deb and Ryan have a rocky conversation, then decide to split up, to see the people they expect to see, and do the usual July 4 activities.

Unfortunately, there are a huge number of zombies about town.  All the parties seem to have been cancelled.

Delineation of conflicts:
The zombies like to eat regular humans.  Humans don't really care for this.

Deb and Ryan look for news and help.  Both are hard to find since the Internet is down, the local television station is down, and the local radio is down.

Their attempts to connect with people fail until they make it to Ryan's father's house.  They soon discover the source of the zombie infection, but have little idea of how to survive the outbreak, despite Ryan's father's wealth.

Resolution: This is a comedy, and there are a lot of unexpected outcomes.

One line summary: Comedic take on the zombie apocalypse.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 10/10 Well shot.

Sound: 8/10 The dialog was easy to hear.  Music was not much of a factor.

Acting: 5/10 Good grief.  Ray Wise did what I expected in terms of acting, and I appreciated that.  The other actors seemed insistent on delivering the lines like they were meant to be taken seriously, which was off-putting to say the least.

Screenplay: 6/10 I laughed fairly regularly at the one liners and the bizarre situations.  The light approach was taken throughout, so I tossed this one in the silly hipster apocalypse bin.

Final Rating: 6/10 I watched this once on Netflix; that was probably enough.

20161115: Comedy Review--Zombieland

Name: Zombieland (2009)
IMDb: link to Zombieland page

Genres: Comedy   Country of origin: USA.

Cast:
Jesse Eisenberg as Columbus, Woody Harrelson as Tallahassee, Emma Stone as Wichita, Abigail Breslin as Little Rock, Amber Heard as 406, Bill Murray as Bill Murray, Derek Graf as Clown Zombie.

Directed by: Ruben Fleischer.  Written by: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick.

Travelling Family

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
1. We start in Texas, post zombie apocalypse.  A neurotic nerd whom we will later call Columbus (his city of origin) narrates the coming of the apocalypse and the many rules he has used to survive so far.

2. Columbus meets Tallahassee, a middle aged redneck who enjoys killing zombies and is on a quest for the world's remaining intact Twinkies.  At first they are wary of each other, but the fact that they are both human helps them get over that.  They decide to team up, and to go looking for other people.

Delineation of conflicts:
The few remaining human survivors would like to continue living.  The zombies would like to eat them.  Those humans who do survive would like to find missing loved ones, or try to find a new family.

When the two men meet Wichita and Little Rock (a young woman and her tween sister), they get schooled, losing vehicles and weapons more than once.  This goes on for a bit, until the foursome decide to operate together.  They decide to visit a theme park in California where Little Rock thinks there are no zombies.

Resolution: Both surviving and finding lost loved ones is between hard to impossible.

One line summary: Zombie film both humourous and trenchant.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 10/10 Well done.

Sound: 8/10 Competent.  I liked Metallica's For Whom the Bell Tolls as an intro song.

Acting: 8/10 Woody Harrelson was brilliant.  His delivery of one-liners was good for many a laugh.  Jesse Eisenberg is not one of my favourites, but this was a good role for his particular talents.  Also, he and Harrelson work well off one another.

Screenplay: 7/10 Just what is this property?  I laughed at it, so it's getting a favourable rating from me.  I liked it as a comedy.  As a road picture, it was not too bad, at least if one is OK with sudden, numerous life-and-death fights popping up along the way.  The side trip to Bill Murray's house was a bit too meta for me, but it still had some good lines in it.

Also, the film decidedly had its somber side.  Columbus wonders whether he will find his parents, whether he will find a mate, whether his rules will keep him alive.  By the end of the film, the answers are no, perhaps, and perhaps.  Tallahassee is bound to the loss of his son, and substitutes the quest for Twinkies as his meaning in life.  Wichita and Little Rock just wanted to get to the illusionary place without zombies.  Do they have any other plans?

So, For Whom the Bell Tolls seems quite fitting.  None of the characters have any real vision of the future save dealing with murderous sub-humans.  This does make sense, since there are no longer enough humans left to sustain the race.

Final Rating: 8/10 Watch it for the laughs and the performances done in the moment.

20161115: Horror Review--Dark Shadows

Name: Dark Shadows (2012)
IMDb: link to Dark Shadows page

Genres: Horror   Country of origin: USA.

Cast:
Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, Eva Green as Angelique Bouchard, Michelle Pfeiffer as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, Jonny Lee Miller as Roger Collins, Helena Bonham Carter as Dr Julia Hoffman, Jackie Earle Haley as Willie Loomis, Gulliver McGrath as David Collins, Chloe Grace Moretz as Carolyn Stoddard, Bella Heathcote as Victoria Winter, Christopher Lee as Clarney.

Directed by: Tim Burton.  Written by: Seth Grahame-Smith (screenplay, story), John August (story).

Barnabas and friends

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
1. Young Barnabas Collins and his family leave Liverpool, England for the Americas in 1752.  Young Angelique Bouchard tries to assert a connection with Barnabas, but her mother forbids it.  The class animosity is present from the beginning.

2. Years pass, and the Collins family prospers strongly in what would become Maine.  Angelique has followed them to the new world.  Angelique seduces Barnabas, but his family would never allow them to marry.  Angelique, now skilled in magic, kills Barnabas' parents for revenge.

3. Barnabas takes over guiding the family fortunes, and Angelique continues to try to be his significant other.  Barnabas becomes enamored of Josette, and rejects Angelique, despite their history.  Angelique takes revenge by killing Josette and turning Barnabas into a vampire.  She engineers his being buried in a strong coffin bound with thick chain.

4. We jump forward in time to 1972, when Barnabas is released by a construction company.

Delineation of conflicts:
Angelique, in one of several identities that she used over the previous 200 years, runs most of the fishing business in Collinsport.  The Collins family is in decline in terms of wealth and influence.

Barnabas contacts Elizabeth, and reveals who he is.  He uses hidden assets to reassert the wealth and influence of the Collins family.  Together they refurbish Collinwood, the family estate.  They recruit fishing captains and modernise the family's cannery.

Angelique tries again to unite with Barnabas, but he will not have it.  After that, the conflict between them resumes in deadly earnest.  Victoria, David's nanny, reminds Barnabas of Josette, which enrages Angelique all the more.

Resolution: Barnabas and Angelique take their feud to extremes.  Collinsport would never be the same.

One line summary: Film version of the 1960s horror soap opera.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 10/10 Beautiful.

Sound: 10/10 I could hear the dialog clearly, and I enjoyed the musical selections, including original music by Danny Elfman.

Acting: 10/10 I loved the cast and their performances.

Screenplay: 8/10 I liked the humour very much.  I thought the plot development moved right along, as it had to in order to cover so much material.  I wish Jonny Lee Miller had gotten more time as the next to insufferable Roger Collins, and that Dr Hoffman's arc might have had more development.

Final Rating: 9/10 I followed the original soap opera, which I enjoyed quite a bit.  This presentation was much better in all aspects: better actors, better script, better performances, better production values.  It was beautiful to watch, witty to listen to, and its ending was delightful.

20161026: Comedy Review--Deadpool

Name: Deadpool (2016)
IMDb: link to Suspicion page

Genres: Comedy   Country of origin: USA.

Cast:
Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, Morena Baccarin as Vanessa Carlysle/Copycat, Ed Skrein as Ajax, T. J. Miller as Weasel, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Brianna Hildebrand as Ellie Phimister/Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Style Dane as Jeremy (Pizza Guy), Gina Carano as Angel Dust.

Directed by: Tim Miller.  Written by: Rhett Reese (screenplay).

Deadpool

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Deadpool tries to take out Ajax on a crowded bridge setting: gunfire, blades, cars crashing, motorcycles being destroyed.

Then we have a massive flashback.  Wade is a former Special Forces member who had 41 confirmed kills to his credit while on active duty.  He's a bit down on his luck, and scrounges money by terrifying local scumbags of minor repute.  He meets Vanessa, the woman of his dreams, and they fall in love.  Unfortunately, he contracts cancer, and does not have long to live.

Vanessa looks for cures.  Wade tries out an offer that seems too good to be true, but he goes for it anyway.  The shady group offering the service forces his body to mutate.  Good news: Wade recuperates extremely rapidly from almost any injury, including the cancer.  Bad news: his new normal state is just as ugly as hell.

Ajax, the fellow in charge of the mutating, was not doing it out of the goodness of his heart.  He intended to sell Wade as a high value soldier of fortune.  With a superhuman effort, Wade escapes Ajax.  He finds Vanessa, but cannot bring himself to show his face for fear of losing her.

Wade cannot be with Vanessa, so he decides to take revenge on Ajax.  This brings us back to the beginning of the movie.

Delineation of conflicts:
Ajax wants to control and sell Wade, even with his new name, Deadpool.  Deadpool wants to retain his freedom (might work), get revenge on fellow mutant Ajax (maybe; seems difficult), and get his old good looks back (nope).

Complicating this are Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, two strong warrior mutants who work with Professor Xavier.  They wish Deadpool to settle into the community that Xavier fosters. Deadpool regards this as just another form of slavery.

Resolution: We have a typical no holds barred massive cliche fight at the end.

One line summary: Cure is worse than the disease.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 7/10 Too much CGI, too much slow motion nonsense, too much absolutely fake looking X-Men bullshit.

Sound: 7/10 I can hear the dialog, which is good.  Music seems to be poorly chosen or mixed; I got zero enjoyment from it, especially the music I like when heard on its own.

Acting: 5/10 This was a real mixed bag.  I liked TJ Miller, Morena Baccarin, Leslie Uggams, and Ed Skrein (though to a lesser extent).  Ryan Reynolds was hiding behind a mask for most of the film, and he might as well have been a cardboard cutout with an attached speaker.  His whiny voice was a grating irritation.  Gina Carano was better than I expected, but that is not saying much, since I expected nothing good from her, based on past performances.

Screenplay: 4/10 I liked the opening credits.  I got more laughs from them than I got from the rest of this film.  In general I dislike flashbacks.  Finishing the giant, oversized flashback took us into the second half of the film.  Breaking the fourth wall is another of my strong non-favourites. This film is full of that.  The relentless PC horseshit (any women can beat up any man, children can beat up adults, and so on) was as boring as it was predictable.

Final Rating: 5/10 Perhaps if the jokes had been funny, or if Ryan Reynolds had not used that falsetto voice, I might have liked the film better.  The property did well at the box office, so perhaps the sequels will be better than the first one.  As a popcorn movie, it was fine: people get killed by unthinking bastards, things blow up, valuable things get ruined, lives are shot to hell.

20160925: Comedy Review--The Road to Hong Kong

Name: The Road to Hong Kong (1962)
IMDb: link to The Road to Hong Kong

Genres: Comedy, SciFi   Country of origin: UK.

Cast:
Bing Crosby as Harry Turner, Bob Hope as Chester Babcock, Joan Collins as Diane, Robert Morley as Leader of the Third Echelon, Walter Gotell as Dr. Zorbb, Dorothy Lamour as Dorothy Lamour, Felix Aylmer as Grand Lama, Mai Ling as Ming Toy, Yvonne Shima as Poon Soon, Michele Mok as Mr. Ahso.  Then there is the cameo with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

Directed by: Norman Panama.  Written by: Melvin Frank, Norman Panama (screenplay).

Joan Collins, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Babcock and Turner are two minor con men who have fallen on bad times.  By chance, Babcock finds the only copy (hm) of a secret Russian formula for an advanced rocket fuel.  He manages to read the formula (without understanding), but destroys the written copy soon after.  The pair discover that the formula is sought after, and could bring them money.  They start the search for a way for Babcock to recall the specifications for the fuel.

Delineation of conflicts:
The pair search for, and find, the High Lama.  The Lama's people have the lore to let Babcock remember the rocket fuel recipe.  However, the Lama and all his society agree that the special concoction needed to do this should never leave their home.  That is a fine mess for Hope and Crosby to bumble their way out of.

No sooner than they have ditched the High Lama's agents, the 3rd Echelon wishes to get the formula which will enable flight to the Moon.  From the Moon, the 3rd Echelon hopes to bomb modern civilization (1962 style) into submission.  Diane is the 3rd Echelon's agent who manipulates the con men easily.  She gets them to headquarters without too much trouble.

The last conflict is for Diane's loyalty.  She is loyal to her employer, but she grows to like both Babcock and Turner.  Her boss is willing to do anything to get the rocket formula, including killing either or both of the con men.

Resolution: This was a vaudeville style comedy, so one does not expect a rousing ending which is a triumph of coherence.  Instead, we get a couple more laughs from the film industry making fun of itself after the heroes (?) save the world but not themselves.

One line summary: Hope and Crosby in the last Road picture.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 5/10 This film gets an A+ for cheesiness.  The rockets, the submarine, the planet at the end of the picture, and the animated fish were incredibly obviously fake.  The footage of actors, though, tends to be crisp and well-framed.

Sound: 8/10 It is in mono, but has been updated for current broadcast standards.  I did not catch any pop and hiss that one normally expects from 54 year old properties.

Acting: 6/10 It's a comedy and I got a couple of dozen laughs.  It's hard for me to complain.  However, Hope and Crosby were both rather terrible at acting in this one.  On the other hand, I enjoyed Joan Collins the most.  She was gorgeous in 1962, she spoke her lines well, and her singing voice was better than I expected.  Dorothy Lamour and Robert Morley added good laughs.

Screenplay: 6/10 The overall plot is silly, and the script is slanted toward one-lines and sight gags.  So it's not a great work of art, but it was a comedy that got me to laugh.

Final Rating: 6/10

20160919: Comedy Review--Love and Friendship

Name: Love & Friendship (2016)
IMDb: link to Love & Friendship page

Genres: Comedy  Country of origin: USA.

Cast:
Kate Beckinsale as Lady Susan Vernon, Chloe Sevigny as Alicia Johnson, Morfydd Clark as Frederica Vernon, Tom Bennett as Sir James Martin, Jenn Murphy as Lady Lucy Manwaring, Lochlann O'Mearain as Lord Manwaring, Sophie Radermacher as Miss Maria Manwaring, Stephen Fry as Mr.

Directed by: Whit Stillman.  Written by: Jane Austen (novella Lady Susan), Whit Stillman (screenplay).

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Lady Susan Vernon loses her husband at Langford.  She imposes herself on Churchill.

Delineation of conflicts:
Not everyone is delighted by Susan's presence.  Susan is a notably charming flirt, a spendthrift, as well as devious and changeable.  Sir James Martin, quite a dolt but with income, is interested in Frederica, Susan's daughter, but Frederica is not interested in him.  Susan wants Sir James to succeed with Frederica for the income, but what will Sir James get in return?

Resolution: Delightful.  Stay tuned until the end.

One line summary: Comedy based on Jane Austen novella.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 8/10 Lovely sets, good lighting, nice

Sound: 9/10 I could hear the dialog clearly, and the background music fit the period piece well.

Acting: 9/10 Kate Beckinsale was better than I've ever seen her.  Chloe Sevigny was good as Susan's friend.  Tom Bennett as fine as the blockhead Sir James Martin.

Screenplay: 10/10 Stillman's screenplay based on Austen's novella was rich in its word play, and nicely executed.  I had dozens of good laughs.

Final Rating: 9/10

20160905: Thriller Review--Silver Streak

Name: Silver Streak (1976)
IMDb: link to Silver Streak page

Genres: Action, Thriller, Crime  Country of origin: USA.

Cast:
Gene Wilder as George Caldwell, Richard Pryor as Grover Muldoon, Jill Clayburgh as Hildegard ('Hilly') Burns, Scatman Crothers as Ralston, Ned Beatty as Bob Sweet, Ray Walston as Mr Whiney, Patrick McGoohan as Roger Devereaux, Clifton James as Sheriff Chauncey, Richard Kiel as Reace.

Directed by: Arthur Hiller.  Written by: Colin Higgins.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
George Caldwell (publishing) and Hilly Burns (secretary to an art historian) meet on a train trip from Los Angeles to Chicago aboard the train called the Silver Streak.  They get along swimmingly. Unfortunately, through their cabin window, George sees a dead body dropped off the train.

Delineation of conflicts:
The body was that of Hilly's boss.  When George inquires about the boss, he gets thrown off the train while it's still moving.  By luck, he catches up with the Silver Streak, and gets back on.  The rest of the film is about George trying to stay alive, to find out just what happened, and to set things right if he can.

Hilly seems to be involved.  Bob Sweet tells George about Roger Devereaux, whose 'chauffeur' Reace threw George off the train.  When George confronts Hilly and Roger about the matter, Roger has a feasible explanation.  Even better, the art professor himself shows up.  Or does he?

George gets a bit tipsy, and tells Bob Sweet about the matter.  George is confused and needs someone to talk to, after all.  So, will George be able to pass off the dead body sighting as just a drunken misperception, or will the truth win out?

Resolution: Just about the time you think you've got the film figured out, Richard Pryor's character shows up and changes everything.  The film moves to a satisfying conclusion.

One line summary: Murder mystery with Wilder & Pryor.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 9/10 Among other things, this is a travel film.  The shots of the countryside from LA to Chicago are pretty nice.  The interiors are clear, well-lit, and well-focused.

Sound: 8/10 The dialog was easy to follow.  The music was typical 1970s fare.  Some of it was a bit too florid and orchestral for my taste.  Other parts were made with those old style synthesizers which sound primitive these days.

Acting: 9/10 Gene Wilder carries the show for the first 60% or so, and did a good job as the lead.  Jill Clayburgh was good in a limited role as the secretary who knew just a bit too much.  Ned Beatty's short stint was good.  Patrick McGoohan delivered urbane menace quite well, and Ray Walston was a good grumpy henchman.  When Richard Pryor entered the fray, the afterburners kicked in.

Screenplay: 9/10 The film was engaging from beginning to end, with a few laughs thrown in.

Final Rating: 9/10 Excellent.  Nice script, good execution by the cast.

20160904: Comedy Review--See No Evil, Hear No Evil

Name: See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989)
IMDb: link to See No Evil, Hear No Evil

Genres: Comedy, Thriller   Country of origin: USA.

Cast:
Gene Wilder as Dave Lyons, Richard Pryor as Wally Karue, Joan Severance as Eve, Kevin Spacey as Kirgo, John Capodice as Scotto, Anthony Zerbe as Sutherland, Alan North as Captain Braddock, Kirsten Childs as Adele.

Directed by: Arthur Hiller.  Written by: Earl Baret, Arne Sultan (story).

Image courtesy of TMDb

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Dave owns a news stand.  Wally is looking for a job.  Dave is deaf, Wally is blind.  Wally likes gambling, and owes his bookie Scotto 2800 USD.  Scotto, in turn, owes money to far nastier people. The bookie leaves a valuable gold coin in Dave's pay box before Eve kills him.  Dave and Wally are arrested for the crime.

Delineation of conflicts:
Wally and Dave try to prove that Eve did the murder, and Kirgo is her accomplice.  Eve and Kirgo attempt to retrieve the rare coin for Sutherland, and eliminate Wally and Dave.  The cops, led by Captain Braddock, want to apprehend Wally and Dave after they escape to prove their innocence. Wally's sister Adele tries to help them, and gets a load of trouble for her efforts.

Resolution: Dave and Wally do a lot better (and worse) than one might think.

One line summary: Pryor and Wilder in their prime.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 7/10 Meh.  Looks like 1980s video.

Sound: 7/10 I could hear the dialog, which was the biggest issue to consider.  Background music was barely a consideration.

Acting: 8/10 Wilder and Pryor dominate the film, but the supporting players added laughs as well.

Screenplay: 8/10 It's a fairly simple story, but well done.  The gag at the end with Anthony Zerbe and Richard Pryor was just delightful.

Final Rating: 8/10 If you like either Pryor or Wilder, you've got to see this one.

20160810: Comedy Review--Gambit

Name: Gambit (2012)
IMDb: link to the Gambit (2012) page

Genres: Comedy   Country of origin: USA

Cast:
Colin Firth as Harry Deane, Alan Rickman as Lionel Shabandar, Tom Courtenay as The Major, Cameron Diaz as PJ Puznowski, Spencer Cummins as Sgt Puznowski, Cloris Leachman as Grandma Merle Puznowski, Stanley Tucci as Zaidenweber,  Togo Igawa as Takagawa.

Directed by: Michael Hoffman.  Written by: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen (screenplay); Sidney Carroll (short story).

image courtesy of TMDb

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Harry Deane hates his blowhard multimillionaire boss, Shabandar, who collects art.  Harry is moderately well paid as Shabandar's art curator.  Harry's long time friend, The Major, has a fine hand at forging known works of master oil painters.

Some years back, Shabandar bested the Japanese art collector Takagawa at the auction of Monet's Haystacks in the Morning.  Shabandar would dearly love to acquire the companion piece, Haystacks in the Evening.  Evening was lost in World War II, but Harry sees an opportunity.

Delineation of conflicts:
Harry would like to sell Shabandar the fake created by the Major.  Shabandar would like to own the companion piece.  Harry would like to get rich and stay out of jail, so he plans to create a fake provenance to the target painting.

Harry travels to Texas to find the American rodeo woman PJ Pusnowski, whose grandfather, Sgt Pusnowski supposedly liberated the painting from the Germans who had swiped it earlier in the war.  Shabandar paid 11 million pounds sterling for Morning, so Harry expects to get at least 12 million for Evening.  He offers PJ a large chunk of change, and she decides to cooperate in crafting a false segment of the provenance of The Major's copy.  That is, Evening had been sitting in Texas all those years.

While schmoozing Shabandar in London with PJ, Harry's weak position leads to his firing as well Shabandar's commandeering of PJ's attentions.  Shabandar hires Zaidenweber as an alternate authenticator for the proposed Evening.  Harry hopes to reverse his fortunes, but goodness, what a feckless fool!

Takagawa is in London, ostensibly, to sell certain television rights to Shabandar.  PJ helps Shabandar deal with the Japanese contingent brought along by Takagawa.  This will cement Shabandar's standing in Japanese television.  PJ is swimming in this deal and having the time of her life.  Harry is completely shut out of this, of course.

Harry's last asset is that he has The Major's fake Evening.  Can he use this to reverse all his setbacks?

Resolution: Harry seems a dim bulb, but is he?  Throughout the film, we see him face defeat after defeat, and a mounting sense of overall embarrassment.  The film's title is a good clue to Harry's actual plans.

One line summary: Fine remake of the 1966 caper film.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 9/10 Good looking from beginning to end.

Sound: 8/10 The dialog was clear, the foley was good, and the incidental music amusing.

Acting: 9/10 Colin Firth, Alan Rickman, and Tom Courtenay were excellent.  The rest of the cast did well.

Screenplay: 9/10 The pacing of the film was wonderful.  I got several hearty laughs out of the film, and a dozen or so chuckles.  Not once did I have to strain at suspending disbelief, and the ending came as a mild surprise.

Final Rating: 9/10

201600808: Drama Review--A Decent Arrangement

Name: A Decent Arrangement (2014)
IMDb: link to A Decent Arrangement page

image courtesy of IMDb

Genres: Drama, Romance   Country of origin: USA, India

Cast:
Adam Laupus as Ashok Khosla, Vikram Kapadia as Arun Khosla, Navneet Nishan as Gita Khosla,
Shabana Azmi as Preeti Mehta, Shreya Sharma as Suriya Mehta, Farid Currim as Bashi Mehta,
Diksha Basu as Amita Chandra, Lethia Nall as Lorie Sanders, Adhir Bhatt as Vikram Kohli.

Written, Produced, and Directed by: Sarovar Banka.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Indian American Ashok Khosla travels from the USA (where he grew up, where he lives, where he works) to India in search of an arranged marriage.  In particular, he travels to Chandigarh, as city north of New Delhi.  He stays with his older female cousin Preeti, who will be his matchmaker.

Delineation of conflicts:
Ashok has to decide what his innermost values are while a wife is being picked for him.

A number of American things have rubbed off on Ashok: he likes coffee, not tea.  He does not like cookies (biscuits) with either.  The American supermarket, the American shower, the American versions of tolerance are all things that he appears to miss.  Perhaps the biggest miss is honesty.  Ashok is honest about his aspirations during his interview with the first set of parents; Preeti is correct in that he just destroyed all hopes in that direction.

Preeti has a very methodical approach, and has a large notebook of descriptions of potential brides ready for Ashok's first day.  She asks for his input, but informs him with reasonable clarity, why his opinion is sometimes 'wrong.'  Preeti asserts that her first pick is 'homely,' which surprises Ashok, but is presented as a virtue in this circumstance.

Preeti asserts that the Indian economy is better than the American at present.  That is curious.  Most of the long sets of local footage point to abject poverty, not to sufficiency, much less abundance.  Some scenes about Preeti's circle look like lower middle class America.  The Mehtas' refrigerator looks as if it were purchased used in the 1950s, and this is a film about 2014.

Some of the parents of potential brides would rather meet with Ashok's parents directly, but not with Preeti, and not with Ashok.  Sigh.  Eventually, Ashok is more quiet during interviews, and actually gets to meet one of Preeti's candidates.

Unfortunately for Ashok's clarity of the moment, Ashok meets Lorie Sanders, an American traveling in India.  This sets him into a new quandary since he has yet to meet a potential Indian bride, and here is this living reminder of all things American.  Oddly enough, she knows more about the city of Chandigarh than he does and offers to show him around.

Shortly thereafter, Ashok meets the Chandra family, and his first Indian bride candidate, Amita Chandra.  He gets to like Amita.

By the time his parents Arun and Gita arrive in Chandigarh, Ashok has to make some decisions.

Resolution: These cultural differences resolve themselves, eventually.

One line summary: Desi man looks for arranged marriage in India.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 5/10 When the camera is steady, this film has a low budget, but still good-looking appearance.  When the camera is weaving about, nausea seems just around the corner.

Sound: 4/10 Neel Murgai is credited with the music, which added some atmosphere but not much emotional depth.

Acting: 5/10 Adam Laupus and Shabana Azmi were convincing as Ashok and Preeti.  Lethia Nall was quite good as Lorie, but the rest of the cast I could have done without.  Entirely.

Screenplay: 7/10 Slow and careful, passive and illuminating.  Ashok is a fish out of water, but this is not played for laughs.  There is no humour in this piece, and little action beyond the motion of the train in the initial sequence.  As a still and thoughtful film, it's fairly pleasant.  Unless one likes still and thoughtful, this could be a major trial.

"We all want out of this shit, and you want to get back in."  Ashok hears this at a bar in Chandigarh, from a local IT professional, and it seems to encapsulate the entire movie for me.

Final Rating: 6/10

20160720: Action Review--The Good The Bad The Weird

Name: The Good, The Bad, The Weird (2008)
IMDb: link to The Good The Bad The Weird page

image courtesy of The Movie Database (TMDb)

Genres: Action, Crime, Comedy   Country of origin: South Korea

Cast:
Jung Woo-Sung as Park Do-won (the Good), Lee Byung-hun as Park Chang-yi (the Bad), Kang-ho Song as Yoon Tae-goo (the Weird).

Directed by: Kim Jee-woon.  Written by: Kim Jee-woon, Min-suk Kim.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
This motion picture is set in 1930s Manchuria, traditionally part of China, but occupied by Japanese armed forces at the time.  The three protagonists are Koreans who have some connection to Korean independence, however weak this connection might be.  The Good is a bounty hunter of considerable skill and experience.  The Bad is a gang leader capable of endless (and often fortuitous) violence.  The Weird appears to be a bumbling bandit who succeeds only by serendipity.

Like a typical James Bond film, the opening is a manic short in its own right, followed by a calmer, longer, deeper depiction of the issues hinted at in the short.  In this case, the film opens at the home of a rich Chinese man, who has an obligation to a man in the Japanese power structure.  The map is sent to even things up.  However, the Chinese fellow hires The Bad to steal the map back.  We jump forward in time to a speeding train.

The Weird decides to rob the train, and starts his robbery slightly ahead of The Bad.  By accident, he finds the train car with the Japanese delegation who have the map, plus various other valuables.  While rifling through luggage, the Weird barely gets to the map when The Bad's gang engages the train with its full attack.

Just about every train robbery cliche follows, as does the arrival of The Good.  The Weird gets away from The Good and The Bad, which sets up the rest of the film.

Delineation of conflicts:
The film is about the map.  It begins with the map, and ends with the map.  Everything in between is about the pursuit and acquisition of the map, plus finding the map's destination.  There is some value attached to the map, since the Japanese army wants it, as do monied interests in China and Japan, as well as bandit gangs and freelance thieves.

The Good and The Bad follow The Weird.  Alliances come and go.  Betrayals arise and damage is taken.

Resolution: The dialectic of conflicts ends late in the film.

The end sequence runs like the Keystone Kops set in the desert, only with one thousand times better production values.  The three protagonists outrun, outgun, or evade other gangs, Japanese army elements, and each other until only the three are left.  They find their target in the map, then they deal with each other.

One line summary: Fine western film set in 1930s Manchuria.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 10/10 Excellent camera work, whether it be vast expanses of desert, tight shots of fights in cityscapes, horses versus motorcycles, moving trains, or quiet interviews in a wealthy man's opulent house.

Sound: 6/10 Dialog was in Korean, Mandarin, and Japanese.  I relied on the sub-titles.  Musical accompaniment was appropriate, but not quite the asset it might have been.

Acting: 9/10 The three lead actors were quite engaging.  They (or their doubles) show considerable athletic skill, plus fine weapons expertise.  Several segments were done at breakneck speeds, and everyone seemed up to the task.  Quiet interpersonal scenes were done well.

Screenplay: 8/10 This could be considered an alternate take on the iconic film The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966).  There were parallels, but this is a very Asian film.  At 130 minutes, the film is a bit long, but the humour and the action make the minutes melt away.

Final Rating: 8/10

20160718: Action Review--The Man from UNCLE

Embrace the Suck, review #1: The Man from U. N. C. L. E. (2015)
Pre-emptive considerations:

1. Henry Cavill.  After watching a segment of Man of Steel (2013) with Cavill and Kevin Costner, I took a mighty oath never to watch another movie with Cavill in the cast.  I still like Costner, but Cavill was just horrible, and he's a Brit to boot, playing Superman.  A thousand times, no.


2. Armie Hammer.  Part of the reason I was never a strong fan of The Social Network (2010) was the portrayal of the Winklevoss twins by Mr Hammer.  When the mega-flop The Lone Ranger (2013) was circling the bowl, I took the criticisms of Mr Hammer to heart, and skipped it.


3. Counter-balancing the nausea caused by the choice of lead actors was the presence of Guy Ritchie as the director.  Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000) are two favourites of mine.  The humour, action, and sleek editing style were excellent.

So why did I watch it?  I had DVR'd it on a lark. I liked the source material from 1964-68, after all. The wife and I were looking for some funny material recently, and we both remembered the Guy Ritchie films listed above.

------Return to normal review mode.------

Name: The Man from UNCLE (2015)
IMDb: link to The Man from UNCLE page

image courtesy of TMDb

Genres: Action, Comedy, Drama   Country of origin: USA, UK

Cast:
Henry Cavill as Napoleon Solo, Armie Hammer as Illya Kuryakin, Alicia Vikander as Gaby Teller, Hugh Grant as Alexander Waverly, Elizabeth Debicki as Victoria Vinciguerra, Luca Calvani as Alexander, Sylvester Groth as Uncle Rudy, Jared Harris as Sanders (CIA contact), Misha Kuznetzov as Oleg (KGB contact).

Directed by: Guy Ritchie.  Written by: Guy Ritchie, Lionel Wigram.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
In the early 1960s, on behalf of the CIA, reformed master thief Napoleon Solo crosses into East Germany to extract Gaby Teller so as to find (and get leverage over) her scientist father.  Russian KGB agent Illya Kuryakin has a similar mission.

Delineation of conflicts:
Solo and Kuryakin compete throughout the film, partly from international and interagency competition, partly from testosterone poisoning.  Victoria Vinciguerra and her rich family have cornered Dr Teller into constructing nuclear devices that are somehow more dangerous than the usual kinds, as in 'end of the world' dangerous.  Victoria wants to use the devices for leverage.  The CIA, KGB, and MI5 would like to stop that.  The goals of these agencies are not always in sync with each other.

Resolution: The dialectic of conflicts ends late in the film.  Stay tuned.

One line summary: Origin story of UNCLE (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement).

Statistics:

Cinematography: 8/10 Nicely done.

Sound: 10/10 The dialog was in English, German, Russian, and Italian, so I relied on sub-titles.  I know enough German to tell that the sub-titles were usually on target, so I trusted the sub-titles for the spoken Russian and Italian.  Guy Ritchie is a huge fan of music, and the choices made for this film were delightful.

Acting: 6/10 Guy Ritchie is clearly a talented director.  The three lead actors are walking disasters, but he managed to neutralise that factor.  His choices of seasoned actors for the side characters were sound.  I liked Jared Harris, Hugh Grant, and Sylvester Groth quite well.

Screenplay: 8/10 I watched this to have fun, and collected a number of good laughs.  The combination of humour and action was good.  The film was 117 minutes long, but I did not feel that it dragged anywhere.

Final Rating: 8/10

20160417: Comedy Review--The Big Short

Name: The Big Short (2015)
IMDb: link to The Big Short page

Genres: Biography, Comedy, Drama   Country of origin: USA.

Cast:
Scion Capital: Christian Bale as Michael Burry, Dave Davis as Burry's assistant, Rudy Eisenzopf as Lewis Ranieri.

Deutsche Bank: Ryan Gosling as Jared Vennett, Jeffry Griffin as Chris (Jared's assistant).

FrontPoint Partners: Steve Carell as Mark Baum, Marisa Tomei as Cynthia Baum, Brad Pitt as Ben Rickert, Hamish Linklater as Porter Collins, Jeremy Strong as Vinnie Daniels, Adepero Oduya as Kathy Tao.

Directed by: Adam McKay.  Written by: Charles Randolph, Adam McKay (screenplay), Michael Lewis (book).

Deutschebank meets FrontPoint

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Michael Burry MD retired from medicine and became a hedge fund manager.  When joining Scion Capital, he negotiated to have strong control, no matter what, of his part of the hedge funds.  A bit over a year before the start of the the housing collapse in 2007/2008, Burry saw the writing on the wall, and managed to short (bet on failure) several housing securities that seemed bulletproof.  He was widely criticised and attacked from within his company.

Jared Vennett listens extensively to what's going on in the markets.  When he catches some of the Street's disdain for Burry's short bets, he takes a closer look, and decides that he too can profit from the coming recession.

While Jared was looking for allies in shorting housing securities, one of his calls is misplaced.  The 'other' FrontPoint Partners takes the call, and the small but talented group arranges a meeting with Jared.

Delineation of conflicts:
Michael Burry is at war with this company throughout most of the film.  Sticking to his position is not easy in the least.

Jared has a hard time convincing others of his position, which was derived from Burry's.  He also perseveres through some heavy flack from others.

Jared's presentations inspire Mark to do his own research.  Some of the delving into the absurdities of the housing bubble were hilarious; others, incredibly sad.  The uncovering of fraud leaves Mark outraged; others seem to think he is a stupid idealist.  Mark's group joins the small wave betting on failure in the artificial housing securities.  Mark resists wave after wave of pressure to sell off his bets.

Resolution: The dialectic of conflicts ends late in the film.  Stay tuned.

One line summary: Follows small group who bets against the housing market.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 4/10 Sucked.  Pointless bad camera work.

Sound: 7/10 I could hear the actors speak.  The music varied quite a bit, from irrelevant to too damned loud to right on target.

Acting: 10/10 Gosling, Carell, Bale, and Pitt were all brilliant in their parts.

Screenplay: 7/10 Too many threads, too many balls in the air simultaneously, not always enough context, way too many drops of the f-bomb.  After the first 20, the next 50 are of little effect.

On the other hand, the black humour is often so trenchant that one has to laugh, and I laughed many times.  The movie drives home the damage done by the widespread fraud and endless lies in the securities industry.

Final Rating: 8/10

20160318: RomCom Review--Must Love Dogs

Name: Must Love Dogs (2005)
IMDb: link to Must Love Dogs page

Genres: Comedy, Romance.   Country of origin: USA.

Cast: Diane Lane as Sarah Nolan, John Cusack as Jake, Elizabeth Perkins as Carol, Christopher Plummer as Bill Nolan, Dermot Mulroney as Bob, Stockard Channing as Dolly, Ali Hillis as Christine, Ben Shenkman as Charlie.

Directed by: Gary David Goldberg.  Written by: Claire Cook (novel), Gary David Goldberg (screenplay).

image courtesy of TMDb

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Sarah Nolan is recently divorced, and she gets advice and possible setups from sisters Carol and Christine, her brother, and her father Bill. The efforts to get her back into the dating game seem to be going along swimmingly, but her first blind date turns out to be her father.  Ouch.  She and her sisters regroup, and the search starts in earnest.

Jake is also recently divorced.  He and his lawyer Charlie celebrate the papers being signed, but note sadly that Jake decided not to participate in his own defense.  Divorce is war, and he lost on all fronts.  Jake builds wooden boats by hand, and is not selling all that many of them.  Charlie urges Jake to get back into the dating game, but Jake is slow to accept the idea.

Delineation of conflicts:
Sarah and Jake meet at a dog park, both with borrowed dogs.  They soon discover that both of them were faking it, and the first round looks like a bust.

Bob's child attends where Sarah teaches.  They hit is off fairly well at first, but Bob has a bit of a wandering eye.  Will this kill it for Sarah and Bob?  After all, they are just testing the field.

Jake and Sarah get together again, with better rapport, but they split again.

To make things more fun, father Bill Nolan starts a relationship with the exciting character Dolly, which upsets the rest of the family for a time.  Bill and his wife were together for 45 years before her death, after all.

Resolution: Do we get a Hollywood ending, or will this be just another feel bad comedy?  It could go either way.

One line summary: Pleasant feel-good romantic comedy.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 9/10   Nicely shot.  Ordinary people are doing ordinary things in ordinary places.  The reality principle is in place (no supernatural, no SciFi, no aliens, no CGI).  It's spring or early summer, the world is beautiful, and no one is sick or impoverished or threatened.  The visuals capture all of this smoothly.

Sound: 8/10 I could hear the actors clearly.  Background music was a mild plus.

Acting: 8/10 Christopher Plummer, John Cusack, Stockard Channing, and Diane Lane gave fine performances.  None of other actors were bad.

Screenplay: 7/10 Jake and Sarah start out badly, but do better the second time around, though not well enough.  Bob and Sarah start out with a nice warmth, but then things go south.  I liked those cliched but well done threads.  I also liked the thread featuring Dolly and her interactions with Bill and his daughters.  The ending was the biggest cliche of all, and was the only iffy part of the film for me.  I liked the result, but the awkwardness level was mighty high for a few minutes.

Final rating: 8/10