20170323: Drama Review--Sicario

Name: Sicario (2015)
IMDb: link to Sicario page

Genres: Drama.   Country of origin: USA.

Cast:
Benicio del Toro as Alejandro.  In a sense, there are no other actors in the film.  The movie is about Alejandro.

Emily Blunt as Kate Macer, Josh Brolin as Matt Graver, Victor Garber as Dave Jennings, Jeffrey Donovan as Steve Forsing, Daniel Kaluuya as Reggie Wayne, Jon Bernthal as Ted.

Directed by: Denis Villeneuve.  Written by: Taylor Sheridan.

Emily Blunt

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
FBI agent Kate Macer and her team break kidnapping rings in the American Southwest.  After a fruitful discovery of dead kidnap victims, a booby trap kills two of her team.  The strength of the find and the horror of the bombing bring Kate to the attention of the CIA.  Her FBI boss Jennings and CIA straw boss Graver enable the transfer.

Delineation of conflicts:
Kate would like to operate within the laws of the United States.  Her ally Reggie wants her to stay alive and out of trouble.

Graver, the CIA, and various freelance special forces want to disrupt Mexican drug cartel operations regardless of the legality of their methods.

Alejandro and the CIA have a strong bond.  He supplies actionable intelligence; they let him operate on targets of his choice.  Kate considers this bovine nonsense, but is shouted down by several methods.

Resolution: Illegal operations by Mexico and by the US continue without meaningful opposition.

One line summary: Idealistic FBI agent joins covert operations.

del Toro

Statistics:

Cinematography: 7/10 Some of the camera work inspired awe (as opposed to being awesome, which means nothing) because it was both beautiful and well thought out.  Other parts were well beneath ordinary, which is common in any film that includes a large percentage of night scenes and night-vision scenes.  Shaky cam was kept to a minimum.

Sound: 5/10 IMDb lists six tunes played in the background for this film  Meh; nothing added.

Acting: 7/10 Del Toro: excellent.  Brolin: so good.  Garber, Donovan, Kaluuya, Bernthal: just fine.  Blunt: who the hell is this?  How could she be worse?

Screenplay: 6/10 The story moves right along, except when it concentrates too much on Blunt's witless pawn character.  This ruins everything else.  Still, I liked the story, despite Blunt's taint on it.  The real story was about del Toro's character.  If this had been the steady focus, I would have rated the film's screenplay at least 9/10.

Final rating: 6/10

20170322: Drama Review--Catch Me If You Can

Name: Catch Me If You Can (2002)
IMDb: link to Catch Me If You Can page

Genres: Drama.   Country of origin: USA.

Cast:
Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale, Jr, Christopher Walken as Frank Abagnale Sr, Tom Hanks as Carl Hanratty.

Directed by: Steven Spielberg.  Written by: Jeff Nathanson (screenplay), Frank Abagnale (book).

DiCaprio in Pan Am uniform

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Conman Frank Abagnale Sr has legal troubles, plus the IRS is after him.  His life is spiraling down as the justice system crushes him.  He loses his reputation.  He loses his business.  He loses his wife.  He goes to work for the Post Office.

Frank Abagnale Jr idolizes his father.  He thinks that obtaining money and access, by whatever means, might help his father and bring his parents back together.  He enjoys success for a time.

Frank shows up on FBI agent Carl Hanratty's radar as a skilled paperhanger (check forger).  Carl makes his case to his superiors that Frank needs to be stopped, and gets two agents to help him.

Delineation of conflicts:
Frank Jr wants to help his father, but everything he tries fails at that goal.  However, his efforts at getting money attract Carl's attention.  Frank is often on the run, sometimes just one step ahead of Carl.  The pursuit is long since Frank is good at narrow escapes.

Resolution: Despite Frank's talents, the law does catch up with him.  However,  the long conflict between Carl and Frank changes them, and creates a better future for both.

One line summary:
Semi-biographical rendering of Frank Abagnale's exploits.

DiCaprio as Frank, Hanks as Carl

Statistics:

Cinematography: 10/10 Well done.

Sound: 10/10 The actors were miked sufficiently. The music soundtrack was marvelous, IMDb music credits.

Acting: 10/10 The three principal actors were wonderful.

Screenplay: 10/10 Well executed: some dry humor, narrow escapes, slow burns (Mr Hanks), and a fine build to the conclusion.

Final rating: 10/10

20170301: Drama Review--Manchester by the Sea

Name: Manchester by the Sea (2016)
IMDb: link to Manchester by the Sea page

Genres: Drama.   Country of origin: USA.

Cast:
Casey Affleck as Lee Chandler, Michelle Williams as Randi Chandler, Kyle Chandler as Joe Chandler, Gretchen Mol as Elise Chandler, Lucas Hedges as Patrick Chandler.

Written and directed by: Kenneth Lonergan.

Casey Affleck as Lee Chandler

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Lee Chandler is the jack of all trades supervisor of a so-so apartment building.  He is frank and unapologetic is his assessments of the tenants problems.  They complain; his boss transmits the thunder to him; he does not care.

His brother Joe dies.  He has to pick up the pieces, including deciding whether to take care of his nephew Patrick, Joe's son.

Delineation of conflicts:
Lee has to deal with his memories of living with his ex-wife Randi and their three children, plus the fire that ended the marriage.  After Joe dies, he deals with Patrick and Randi.  His brother's will expresses Joe's desire that Lee be Patrick's guardian.

If he decides to be Patrick's guardian, he has to move back to Manchester, where his life was destroyed of his own hand.

Resolution: There is nothing that can be resolved.  Life sucks for Lee, mostly by his own doing.  Can he find a better place?  It does not matter.  His life will still suck.

One line summary:
Reckless drunk loses family in fire.

Michelle Williams as Randi Chandler; Casey Affleck as Lee Chandler

Statistics:

Cinematography: 3/10 This was quite variable.  Much of it looks like bad TV photography.  Other parts look rich and detailed and beautiful.  The mix is distracting.  I expect to remember none of the visuals.

Sound: 5/10 Noisy.  Most of the sound seems pointless or irrelevant, like much of the background music.

Acting: 4/10 Acting?  High-end high school plays have comparable performances.

Screenplay: 2/10 The main character is worthless.  I do not care whether he redeems his life after his brother dies or not.  In terms of plot flow, I disliked the many flashbacks.  In the first third of the film, I lost track of where the film's shattered narrative was in time.  About that time, I quit caring.

Final rating: 3/10 Please Amazon, I hope future productions feature better writing.

20170219: Drama Review--Sully

Name: Sully (2016)
IMDb: link to the Sully page

Genres: Drama.   Country of origin: USA.

Cast:
Tom Hanks as Chesley Sullenberger, Aaron Eckhart as Jeff Skiles, Valerie Mahaffey as Diane Higgins, Laura Linney as Lorraine Sullenberger, Anna Gunn as Elizabeth Davis, Autumn Reeser as Tess Soza, Holt McCallany as Mike Cleary.

Directed by: Clint Eastwood.  Written by: Todd Komarnicki (screenplay), Chesley Sullenberger (book).

Just after the crash

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
On January 15, 2009, Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger piloted flight US Airways 1549 out of Laguardia Airport in NYC.  Under 4 minutes later, the airplane encounters a flock of birds.  The collision disables both engines.  Sully makes a command decision to ditch in the Hudson River, rather than attempting a return to La Guardia.

Delineation of conflicts:
After the landing in the Hudson, Sully faces multiple investigations.  He'd like to get his normal life back.  Agencies and people want his time and his attention.

The airline would like to attribute the damage to the airplane to pilot error.  The NTSB is cooperative with the airline's case, knowing that the airline can recoup insurance money if the pilot is tagged with responsibility.

The squeeze on Sully is pretty intense and long lasting.  Meanwhile, Sully and Jeff Skiles are feted in the media.  It's the carrot and the stick at the same time.

Resolution: Sully convinces the NTSB that their simulation protocols are flawed.  The standard cover-up was turned into a cause for corrections.  The stupid blind trust in possibly false data received a kick in the pants.

One line summary:
Tough aftermath of a safe emergency landing.

Tom Hanks and Aaron Eckhart

Statistics:

Cinematography: 10/10 Professionally done, realistic, and smooth.

Sound: 10/10 Same description as for the cinematography.

Acting: 10/10 Director Clint Eastwood can get good performances out of just about any actor.  This film was no exception, and he had some good people to start with.

Screenplay: 7/10 I suppose it's hard to avoid all flashbacks, but I would have much preferred a narrative that was much more linear in time.  Showing the same (in time) activity from different human and geographical perspectives was great.  It was the intermix of present events with Sully flashing back in time (to his childhood, to his prime, and so on) that made me want to puke.

Final rating: 9/10

20170217: Drama Review--The Ghost Writer

Name: The Ghost Writer (2010)
IMDb: link to The Ghost Writer

Genres: Action.   Country of origin: USA.

Cast:
Olivia Williams as Ruth Lang, Pierce Brosnan as Adam Lang, Ewan McGregor as The Ghost, Tom Wilkinson as Paul Emmitt, Eli Wallach as Old Man, Cattrall as Amelia Bly, Jon Bernthal as Rik Ricardelli, Jim Belushi as John Maddox, Robert Pugh as Richard Rycart.

Directed by: Roman Polanski.  Written by: Robert Harris, Roman Polanski.

Olivia Williams as Ruth Lang

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
1. Adam Lang, the former Prime Minister of the UK, had a biography commissioned.  The writer was quite far into the project when he died suddenly.

2. The Ghost is a ghostwriter but not a star writer.  He is interviewed to take up completing the manuscript.  His interview shows his moxie, his cleverness, and his unwillingness to give up looking for truth.  It's a fine Roman Polanski beginning.

3. Adam Lang is at one of his retreats, an island off the east coast of the United States, during his time with The Ghost.  Security is rather tight, and restrictions abound.

Delineation of conflicts:
The Ghost wants to finish the book and show the truth about Lang's career.  To do this, he investigates how his predecessor died.  However, Lang's camp is secretive which slows things down.  To make things even more interesting, legal proceedings start in the UK against Lang for consequences of wartime decisions.  The press descend on the island, as does the father of a soldier killed as a result of Lang's policies.  As the chaos rises, The Ghost finds more and more material about Lang's history.  Not everybody is happy about his efforts.

Resolution: Harsh, definitive.  The Ghost's pursuit of truth is his undoing.

Pierce Brosnan as Adam Lang; Ewan McGregor as The Ghost

One line summary:
1. A reluctant writer contracts to ghost the autobiography of a slimy politician.
or
2. Ghostwriter finds more truth than is good for him.
Decisions, decisions.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 10/10 Amazing, gorgeous.

Sound: 10/10 Excellent, whether catching the mood of the sea, or the sense of danger that situations bring.

Acting: 10/10 The direction and performances made this film.  I don't always like Ewan McGregor, but when he is good, he's really good.  This was one of Pierce Brosnan's better performances.  Olivia Williams was wonderful, as were Tom Wilkinson and Robert Pugh in limited roles.

Screenplay: 10/10 Good writing well executed under Polanski's direction.

Final rating: 10/10 This is a new entry in my list of favourite movies.

20161118: Drama Review--Burning Bodhi

Name: Burning Bodhi (2016)
IMDb: link to Burning Bodhi page

Genres: Drama   Country of origin: USA.

Cast:
Cody Horn as Ember, Landon Liboiron as Dylan.

Kaley Cuoco as Katy, Eli Vargas as Miguel, Sasha Pieterse as Aria, Virginia Madsen as Naomi, Andy Buckley as Buck, Meghann Fahey as Lauren.

Directed by: Matthew McDuffie.  Written by: Matthew McDuffie.

Dylan and Katy

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Ember in New Mexico calls Dylan in Chicago to ask him to come back for Bodhi's funeral services.  Dylan has many issues surrounding Bodhi, and would rather not go.  Miguel is also in Chicago, and offers Dylan a ride to Albuquerque.

Miguel waits for Dylan...and waits, and waits.  During the waiting, he meets the very pregnant Aria, who wants to continue her trip from West Virginia to California.  Dylan decides late, and flies to New Mexico without saying a proper good-bye to his girlfriend Lauren.

Delineation of conflicts:
When arriving in Albuquerque, Dylan stays first with Ember, who takes him to meet Katy (fireworks), then his father (more fireworks).

There are many issues to resolve.  Katy and Dylan dated in high school, but Dylan left for college, then stayed away.  Katy stayed because her father messed up her financial aid.  Afterword, she has an affair and child with Bodhi.  Dylan and Katy are very far apart about this.

Dylan's mother left his father for a time for 'the pool guy' and Dylan is still very angry with his mother about this.  Dylan's father (sort of) adopted a younger son before Dylan left for college; there is still friction on that front.

Most of the characters (Ember, Katy, Dylan, Miguel) try to get clear about their feelings before the 'viewing' at a church and the fun-eral (not funeral) sponsored by Ember.

Resolution: Some issues get ironed out, others get a reset.

One line summary: Millennials discover mortality.

Ember

Statistics:

Cinematography: 10/10 Well done.

Sound: 10/10 No complaints.  Some lovely music was chosen.

Acting: 8/10 I had no particular complaints.

Screenplay: 8/10 This 93 minute film moved right along.  I found the film both funny and touching.  However, if one does not like millennials or their issues, this property might drag.  As a man with four millennials in his immediate family, I had no problem connecting with the humor and pathos.

Final Rating: 9/10

20161031: Drama Review--Magnolia

Name: Magnolia (1999)
IMDb: link to Suspicion page

Genres: Drama   Country of origin: USA.

Cast:
Tom Cruise as Frank TJ Mackey, Jason Robards as Earl Partridge, Julianne Moore as Linda Partridge, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Phil Parma, John C. Reilly as Jim Kurring, Henry Gibson as Thurston Howell, William H. Macy as Donnie Smith, Alfred Molina as Solomon Solomon, Philip Baker Hall as Jimmy Gator, Melora Walters as Claudia Wilson Gator, Melinda Dillon as Rose Gator, Jeremy Blackman as Stanley Spector, Michael Bowen as Rick Spector.

Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson.  Written by: Paul Thomas Anderson.

Tom Cruise as Frank TJ Mackey

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
The film opens with voiceover describing three silent vignettes shot in sepia.  Each vignette describes a situation that involves coincidences that one sees are not coincidences upon explanation.

We step forward to the actual motion picture, with no voiceover, full colour presentation, and modest camera work.  There are a small number of groups of people living their lives in Los Angeles toward the end of the twentieth century.

Frank Mackey is a speaker for hire who specializes in charging lots of money to help men hone their skills at finding women willing to have sex with them.  He has support staff for his presentations, and people who answer the phones for him.

Earl Partridge is busy dying.  His young wife Linda is not handling it well.  Male nurse Phil Parma tries his best to listen to what Earl wants as the end nears.  The four dogs stay near Earl and Phil.

Jimmy Gator has a long running game show that pits three adults versus three children in a contest of depth of knowledge about anything under the sun.  The star of the show is young Stanley Spector, whose depth in so many areas is marvelous. His father, however, is just demanding.  Jimmy's daughter Claudia is a bit of a lost soul.

Donnie Smith was once a game show wunderkind.  However, he was struck by lightning in early adulthood, and lost his mental coherence.  To make things worse for Donnie, his parents absconded with his earnings and frittered the money away.  He has difficulties retaining a job.

Delineation of conflicts:
Frank has a media interview which proves difficult, and which pushes him toward his past, including Earl, his biological father.  Phil tries to get in touch with Frank to let him know that Earl is dying.

Jimmy tries to patch things up with Claudia and to come clean about a few issues with Rose.  Jimmy also has health problems, which come out sideways on his game show.  The unnatural pressure placed on Stanley causes a huge disruption in the game show, and gives Stanley some much needed courage.

Claudia goes on a drug binge after a loud screaming match with her father Jimmy.  The noise she generates on her stereo prompts calls to the police by her neighbors.  Jim Kurring catches the assignment from LAPD dispatch.  Jim's civility and calm decency confront Claudia's seemingly limitless rage.

Donnie tries to connect with his unadvised romantic target, who is a handsome bartender at a local bar.  He has no leverage, and looks incredibly stupid versus Thurston Howell, who is rich and has better success vis a vis the same target.  Donnie's drunken failure sends him off to another even bigger act of desperation.

Linda's guilt from mistreating the much older Earl during their marriage sends her down the road of desperation as well.  Can this be fixed?

Frank finally gets done with his interview and hears that his dying father wishes to see him.  Does he make it in time?

Intervention, in the forms of the LAPD and a rain of frogs, stops and reverses some of the foolishness.

Resolution: The threads come together skillfully.

One line summary: Clever ensemble piece.

Frogs falling from the sky

Statistics:

Cinematography: 4/10 Bucket of shit.  Why the hell do I have an HD monitor for this VHS crap?

Sound: 10/10 I could hear the dialog, and much of the background music was delicious.

Acting: 10/10 Fine acting by a at least ten of the fine cast coupled with skillful direction.

Screenplay: 10/10 Nicely done.  The concluding actions appear a little weird at times, but not silly or preachy.  The three hours and eight minutes did not drag.

Final Rating: 8/10

20160808: Action Review--IP Man

Name: IP Man (2008)
IMDb: link to IP Man page

Genres: Action   Country of origin: Hong Kong.

Cast:
Donnie Yen as Ip Man, Simon Yam as Quan, Lynn Hung as Cheung, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi as (Japanese) General Miura, Ka Tung Lam as Li, Sui-Wong Fan as Jin, Xing Yu as Lin, Tenma Shibuya as Colonel Sato (Miura's aide).

Directed by: Wilson Yip.  Written by: Edmond Wong, Siu-Wong Fan.

image courtesy of TMDb

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
The town of Foshan, China in 1935 hosts many martial arts schools.  IP Man is a master of Wing Chun style.  He has a wide reputation which attracts challengers.  He is a man of significant wealth and reputation with a wife and young son.

In 1937, however, the Japanese invasion extended to the region where IP Man lives, including in particular Foshan.  The Japanese military commandeered IP Man's house and ejected him.  Now he is broke.  The Japanese destroyed much of the local manufacturing base, rendering the whole area poor.

Delineation of conflicts:
The local Chinese would like the Japanese to leave; the Japanese clearly intend to stay. The occupying force recruits Chinese masters to fight for rice.  General Miura is quite the expert, and likes to beat the hell out of the locals, three at a time.

IP Man will not participate at first, but a number of deaths draw him out.  He makes a few statements in Miura's tournaments, but what can he do about the situation as a whole?

Quan, a want-to-be rival of IP Man before the war, becomes the boss of a robber gang after the war begins.  IP Man helps defend workers against their extortion by training and personal protection.  Will IP Man be able to help the workers sufficiently to defend themselves?

Will the IP Man confront General Miura directly?

Resolution: We find out.

One line summary: Locals vs Japanese in late 1930s China.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 8/10 Uniformly well-done though not spectacular.

Sound: 8/10 I used the subtitles, but the voices were clear enough for the dialog.  The music was easy enough to hear, well executed, but a bit understated and florid at times.

Acting: 7/10 Donnie Yen was fine as IP Man, as was Hiroyuki Ikeuchi as General Miura, Ka Tung Lam as Li (the poor bastard who chose to interface with Miura), and Simon Yam as Quan.

Screenplay: 8/10  The story moves along, and the motivations are clear enough.  The build up to the final fight between Miura and IP Man was rather good, and the fight was spectacular.

Final Rating: 8/10

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

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

20160404: Drama Review--Silver Linings Playbook

Name: Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
IMDb: link to Silver Linings Playbook

Genres: Drama   Country of origin: USA.

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence as Tiffany, Robert De Niro as Pat Solatano Sr, Jacki Weaver as Dolores Solatano, Chris Tucker as Danny, Julia Stiles as Veronica, Dash Mihok as Officer Keogh, John Ortiz as Ronnie, Anupam Kher as Dr Cliff Patel, Paul Herman as Randy, Shea Whigham as Jake.

Directed by: David O. Russell.  Written by: David O. Russell (screenplay), Matthew Quick (novel).

image courtesy of The Movie Database

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Narcissist Pat Jr is in a mental hospital.  His keepers are nagging him that it's time to go.  He keeps putting them off.  This pattern is repeated forever: Pat won't do as he's told, or requested, or cajoled, just for the sake of thumbing his nose at whoever is bothering him.  Pat's mother Dolores signs him out and takes him home.

Pat Jr's ex-wife Nikki has a restraining order against him, in part because he beat the hell out of Nikki's lover while she was still married to Pat Jr.  In Pat Jr's defense, the adulterer was in the shower with Nikki, in Pat Jr's house, and told Pat Jr to leave his own house so that he could continue with Nikki.

Delineation of conflicts:
Pat Jr wants Nikki to come back to him.  Nikki wants him to stay the hell away from her.  Pat Sr is also nuts (wails on other fans at sports contests), and Dolores has to put up with their endless nonsense.  Senior has OCD plus, and Junior is bipolar with severe mood swings.

Tiffany enters the scene and makes things worse.  She has her own issues and does not hesitate to dump on others, definitely including Pat Jr.

Pat Jr would like to get his old teaching job back.  The administrators of the school are hardly interested in that, given Pat's proven history.

Pat Sr and Randy, both bookies, end up with a big 'parlay' double bet just past Christmas.  First, the Eagles versus the Cowboys in football, plus a bet on the dance score that Tiffany and Pat Jr achieve.  Much of the last third of the film is about this.

Resolution: Does Pat Jr. find a durable silver lining?  Does he find a strategy to stay out of explosive interactions with other people?  Will Pat Sr's OCD get the better of him?

One line summary: Vastly overrated drivel.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 3/10 Washed out, at least early on.  Bad framing that smacked of shaky cam.

Sound: 6/10 I could hear the actors speaking the dialog.  Some of the music was quite good.

Acting: 4/10 Jennifer Lawrence won Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Oscar) in 2013 for her portrayal of Tiffany.  So I gave this a nonzero score.  This is a very forgettable film for DeNiro and Julia Stiles, two actors whom I usually like without reservation.  I did not care for the other performances at all.

Screenplay: 0/10 The characters, as written, are irritating without being interesting.  I identified with zero of them, empathised for none of them, and did not care in the least how the characters or relationships ended up.

Early on, Pat Jr intends to go out in public wearing a trash bag with holes cut through it.  It's only by luck that he's talked out of it, if only for a short time.  Is this meant to be important, or just a good sign to stop watching?

Final rating: 4/10  OK, barely. 

Pre-emptive considerations.

1. Bradley Cooper's blatant asshole personality glares through from the beginning, just as it does in every other film the jerk is in.
2. I could do without Chris Tucker.  Of course, I think that for every single film I have watched in which Chris Tucker appears.
3. The property is loaded with sports metaphors and dialog, so I tuned out during much of the film.  If I wanted a sports show, there is plenty on HBO.
4. The cinematography looks washed out and flat, perhaps from deliberate use of measured overexposure. I suppose that was used to reflect the high entropy existence of drug-addled mental patients.

20160207: Drama Review--Bridge of Spies

Name: Bridge of Spies (2015)
IMDb: link to Bridge of Spies page

Genres: Drama   Country of origin: USA, Germany.

Cast: Tom Hanks as James B. Donovan, Mark Rylance as Rudolf Abel, Amy Ryan as Mary Donovan, Alan Alda as Thomas Watters Jr, Austin Stowell as Francis Gary Powers, Scott Shepherd as CIA agent Hoffman.

Sebastian Koch as Vogel, Mikhail Gorevoy as Ivan Schischkin, Max Mauf as Ott's secretary, Burghoff Klaussner as Harald Ott, Peter McRobbie as Allen Dulles (CIA chief). Will Rogers as Frederic Pryor, Michael Gaston as CIA agent Williams, Dakin Matthews as Judge Byers.

Directed by: Pete Riski, Alan Smithee.  Written by: Matt Charman, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
In 1957, the FBI arrests Rudolf Abel for espionage against the United States.  For propaganda reasons, not for being true to American ideals, the powers that be select James to be the council of Abel.  James tries to represent Abel well, and receives stiff resistance for his efforts.  He does establish that the US should treat its prisoners well at least for the hope that our imprisoned soldiers or agents will receive reasonable behaviour from jailors.

In 1960, the Russians shoot down the U2 reconnaissance plane flown by Francis Gary Powers over the USSR, and imprison him afterward.  Powers has a great deal of classified intelligence that might be divulged.  The Russians want Abel back; the Americans want Powers back.

Delineation of conflicts:
James is 'requested' to negotiate the swap, but is not given diplomatic recognition, and must work as a private citizen.  The East Germans detain Pryor, an economics PhD student as a spy to use as a chess piece.

James has to deal with a lot of murkiness, since none of the transactions are done officially.  He has to deal with the Russians to get Powers, and the East Germans to get Pryor.  The Russians and East Germans have their own agendas.

Resolution:
There's a lot of juggling, but it turns out relatively well.

One line summary: Cold War bargaining.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 10/10 Excellent camera work throughout.  As has been pointed out, the set design for the period was not perfect (see IMDb under 'goofs' for instance), but on the whole the look and feel for 1957-60 was rather good.

Sound: 10/10 The actors were well-miked, and the background music was well chosen and played.  Spoken languages were English, Russian, and German.  A few more subtitles would have helped.

Acting: 8/10 Excellent performances by Mark Rylance (Abel), Amy Ryan (Mary Donovan), Scott Shepherd (Hoffman), Michael Gaston (Williams), Sebastian Koch (Vogel), and Mikhail Gorevoy (Schischkin).  The actors for the smaller parts were considerably weaker.

Screenplay: 8/10 There were a number of loops that were not closed.  However, the dialog sparkled for the majority of the film.  The depictions of the abuse of power by Americans, Russians, and East Germans were a bit understated, but to the point.

Final rating: 9/10 

20160130: Drama Review--A Little Chaos

Name: A Little Chaos (2014)
IMDb: link to A Little Chaos

Genres: Drama, Romance.   Country of Origin: USA

Cast: Kate Winslet as Sabine de Barra, Alan Rickman as King Louis XIV, Stanley Tucci as Philippe Duc d'Orleans, Matthias Schoenaerts as Andre Le Notre, Helen McCrory as Madame Le Notre, Jennifer Ehle as Madame De Montespan, Steven Waddington as Duras.

Directed by: Alan Rickman.   Written by: Jeremy Brock, Alison Deegan, Alan Rickman.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: The film opening is set in France in 1682.  King Louis XIV commands that the gardens at Versailles be upgraded.  The master builder, Andre Le Notre, asks for proposals, of which there are many.  Andre is impressed by Madame de Barra's designs, and commissions an outdoor theatre with flowing water.

Delineation of conflicts:  Louis XIV wants a magnificent garden.  Sabine's competitors give her bad labor recommendations, which impedes her project's progress and gets her started into court intrigue.  Madame de Notre wishes Madame de Barra to fail, since she thinks Sabine is dallying with her husband.  Sabine has more than a brush with the French court.  Sabine has to deal with the years past death of her only child and her philandering husband.

Resolution: The project gets finished, and relationships change.

One line summary:  Excellent minimalist costume drama in the court of Louis XIV.

Statistics:

  a. Cinematography: 10/10 Beautifully shot.

  b. Sound: 8/10 Quiet but sufficient.

  c. Acting: 9/10 Fine acting from Rickman, Winslet, Tucci, and Schoenaerts.

  d. Screenplay: 8/10 The story is not overly complicated, but nicely executed.  For the budget the film had, a good-looking, heart-warming story was told.

Final rating: 9/10; one of the better costume dramas that I have seen.  This is one of the better small budget, low chaos films I have seen.

20160116: Drama Review--Crimes and Misdemeanors

Name: Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Drama, Comedy.   Country of Origin: USA

Cast: Martin Landau as Judah Rosenthal, Claire Bloom as Miriam Rosenthal, Stephanie Roth as Sharon Rosenthal, Gregg Edelman as Chris, Anjelica Huston as Dolores Paley, Woody Allen as Cliff Stern, Jenny Nichols as Jenny (Cliff's niece), Joanna Gleason as Wendy Stern, Alan Alda as Lester, Sam Waterston as Ben, Zina Jasper as Carol, Delores Sutton as Judah's Secretary, Mia Farrow as Halley Reed, Caroline Aaron as Barbara (Cliff's sister), Jerry Orbach as Jack Rosenthal (Judah's brother).

Written and directed by: Woody Allen.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: Ophthalmologist Judah is successful and respected.  However, he's been having an affair with Dolores.  Dolores wants to bring up the matter with Judah's wife Miriam, and clear the air.  Judah would rather not.

Cliff is a maker of small films who has little success.  His wife Wendy speaks to her brother Lester, who is very successful in Hollywood.  She convinces Lester to get Cliff a job filming a biography on Lester.  Cliff takes the job in order to fund his own projects.

Delineation of conflicts:  Lester does not really want Cliff to direct his biography, but he does it as a favor to Wendy.  Cliff does not want to do the piece, since he has no respect for Lester's pomposity.  Cliff tries to connect with Halley, Lester's producer, in order to get additional funding for his documentary on Professor Levy.  Filming Lester being Lester is a grand pain for Cliff.

Judah wants to break up with Dolores, but Dolores has other ideas, which include seriously fouling up his personal and professional life.  Jack suggests a solution to Judah's problem, but Judah has qualms.  Ben, Judah's rabbi and patient, counsels him to take the higher road: let the meeting happen, let disclosure happen, keep a clear conscience.  Dolores escalates, so what does Judah do?

Resolution: Judah needs to solve his moral, financial, and personal dilemmas.  Cliff needs to find his own success, and perhaps reignite his married life.

One line summary: Great performances and script.


Statistics:

  a. Cinematography: 10/10 No problems, well done.

  b. Sound: 8/10 The actors were well miked, and the background music was good.

  c. Acting: 10/10 The great cast gave fine performances.

  d. Screenplay: 8/10 Clever and well thought out.

Final rating: 9/10

20160113: Drama Review--Hannah and Her Sisters

Name: Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Comedy    Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Michael Caine as Elliot, Mia Farrow as Hannah, Max von Sydow as Frederick, Barbara Hershey as Lee, Dianne Wiest as Holly, Maureen O'Sullivan as Norma, Lloyd Nolan as Evan, Sam Waterston as David, Carrie Fisher as April.

Woody Allen as Mickey, Julie Kavner as Gail, John Turturro as writer, Tony Roberts as Norman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Mary, Richard Jenkins as Doctor Wilkes, Helen Miller as Mickey's mother, Leo Postrel as Mickey's father, J. T. Walsh as Ed Smythe, Lewis Black as Paul.

Written and directed by: Woody Allen.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: We start with a Thanksgiving dinner gathering at Hannah and Elliot's house.  Sisters Lee and Holly are there.  Lee's husband Frederick is a bit too stand-offish for such gatherings.  Holly might start in catering, and asks Hannah for a loan to get started.  Elliot muses in the opening narration about his attraction to Lee, and how he should stifle it, but cannot.  Father Evan and mother Norma, two veteran entertainers, entertain at piano and song.

Mickey (Hannah's ex) is a hypochondriac who produces an edgy television show that is frequently in conflict with the censors.  Gail tries to keep Mickey on track as he bounces from memory to memory of his past marriage and his past partnership with Norman.  Perhaps worst of all, Mickey becomes convinced that he has a brain tumor.

Delineation of conflicts: Mickey has to fight his hypochondria, and his slowly waning binding to Hannah.  Lee and Elliot have to figure out whatever it is that is going on between them.  Holly needs to figure out where she's going in life.

Resolution:  The threads move forward more or less organically.  Nicely done.

One line summary: Three sisters' interactions with others.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 10/10 Beautifully shot.  The cinematographer clearly loves the faces of women, the interiors of apartments, the riverfront, and the singular architecture in New York City.

  b. Sound: 10/10 I loved the big band music, piano tunes from days gone by, jazz singing, and even the rock music.  The harpsichord music was a bit of a surprise, but still nice.  The actors were quite well miked.

  c. Acting: 10/10 The big cast of stellar actors performed quite well with the warm script.

  d. Screenplay: 8/10 The film has four main threads (the three sisters plus Mickey) and several lesser ones, depending on how one classifies the threads.  The four main ones travel well, but many of the others seem to be dead ends.

Final rating: 9/10

20160112: Action Review--Constantine

Name: Constantine (2005)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Horror   Country of Origin: USA, DE.

Cast: Keanu Reeves as John Constantine, Rachel Weisz as Angela Dodson/Isabel Dodson, Shia LaBoef as Chas Kramer, Djimon Hounsou as Midnight, Max Baker as Beeman, Tilda Swinton as Gabriel, Peter Stormare as Lucifer, Jose Zuniga as Detective Weiss, Gavin Rossdale as Balthazar, Pruitt Taylor Vince as Father Hennessy.

Directed by: Francis Lawrence.  Written by: Kevin Brodbin and Frank A. Capello

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: The titles say, 'The Spear of Destiny' has been missing since the end of World War II.  So what is this spear?  Perhaps we will find out.

In the present day, Manuel and friend are sifting debris.  Manuel almost falls through some rotten floor boards.  Beneath the boards he discovers a spearhead wrapped in a Nazi flag.  He walks away from his friend with the spearhead, but is immediately hit by a car.  He receives a mark, then rises and trots away, seemingly unharmed.  What could this mean?

In the second thread, John Constantine and his allies watch for incursions from hell, and act against them as best they can.  Hennessy calls John for an exorcism, and the type of demon that John scotches tells him that something is afoot.

In the third thread, Detective Angela asks her priest for guidance.  Her twin Isabel commits suicide.  Angela is at a loss.

Delineation of conflicts:  Lucifer and company have plans for broaching the barriers to invading Earth.  The archangel Gabriel (heaven) and the demon Balthazar (hell) each has plans of his own.  John is dying of cancer while he's trying to protect as much of Earth as possible.  Angela wants to know what is going on with her life, and what happened to Isabel.  Chas wants to get more out of his apprenticeship with John.  Hennessy would like to live a bit longer, and help John if he can.  Midnite tries to stay neutral between heaven and hell.

Resolution: I thought the film came to a good, though harsh, conclusion.  What did you think?

One line summary: In the Catholic mythos sub-genre, my favourite.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 8/10 Too dark for my taste, but otherwise fine.

  b. Sound: 9/10 I could hear the dialog and the incidental music as quite good.  I liked Passive by A Perfect Circle and Take Five by Dave Brubeck the best.  Not everybody liked the original work, for instance as mentioned in sound review , but I thought it fit nicely with the subject, cliches and all.

  c. Acting: 10/10 Brilliant.  Reeves, Weisz, Stormare, Swinton, Baker, Hounsou, Rossdale, Vince, and even LaBoef did fine jobs.

  d. Screenplay: 9/10 I thought the dialog was good, and the story threads fit together nicely.

Final rating: 9/10

20151230: Drama Review--Another Woman

Name: Another Woman (1988)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Drama.    Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Gena Rowlands as Marion, Mia Farrow as Hope, Ian Holm as Ken, Gene Hackman as Larry, Blythe Danner as Lydia, Phillip Bosco as Sam, John Houseman as Marion's father, David Ogden Stiers as Marion's father (younger), Martha Plimpton as Laura, Sandy Dennis as Claire, Harris Yulin as Paul.

Written and directed by:  Woody Allen.  Cinematographer: Sven Nyqvist.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: Marion turned 50, and all seems well with her.  She's a philosophy professor and an author who is on sabbatical to write a new book.  She's rented a flat to allow her to concentrate on the writing.  Unfortunately, the sound of conversation drifts in through the air vent from the adjacent flat.  The introspection starts.

Delineation of conflicts:  Marion thinks her marriage is just fine, but then she discovers hanging weaknesses.  She believes her relationships with her family are OK, but then starts revisiting those relationships.  She was convinced friends and family thought highly of her, but then gets a number of reappraisals.

Resolution: Earnest discussions produce new discoveries; will these help Marion?

One line summary: Midlife crisis for a woman professor.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 10/10 Technically excellent with nice sets of choices in terms of art and costume.  Watching the film was a pleasure to the eye.

  b. Sound: 8/10 I could hear the dialog, and the background music was well-chosen.  The sound seemed muted and somber as a whole, but then this was a somber tale.

  c. Acting: 10/10 Fine actors and fine performances.

  d. Screenplay: 9/10 Slow and careful.  The flashback techniques were smooth rather than jarring, as is often the case in film.  The realignment process (Marion's perceptions of herself versus others' perceptions of her) was intriguing to watch.

Final rating: 9/10