20151115: SciFi Review--The Martian

Name: The Martian (2015)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: SciFi    Country of Origin: USA.   Locations: Jordan, Hungary, USA.

Cast: Matt Damon as Mark Watney (astronaut, botanist), Jeff Daniels as Teddy Sanders (head of NASA), Jessica Chastain as Melissa Lewis (Ares 3 crew commander), Michael Pena as Rick Martinez (Ares 3 pilot), Sean Bean as Mitch Henderson (Ares 3 crew advocate), Kate Mara as Johanssen (Ares 3 crew), Aksel Hennie as Vogel (Ares 3 crew, from Germany), Sebastian Stan as Chris Beck (Ares 3 crew), Chiwetel Ejiofor as Vincent Kapoor (Ares program director), Benedict Wong as chief JPL probe builder Bruce Ng, Mackenzie Davis as Mindy Park (keeps track of fine details on Mars), Donald Glover as Rich Purnell.

Directed by:  Ridley Scott.   Written by: Drew Goddard (screenplay) and Andy Weir (book).

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: The Ares 3 mission is on Mars.  Its six astronauts are all busy when a major windstorm comes up.  The crew has to bug out, and Mark appears to be lost in the windstorm.  After the rest of the crew have departed, Mark revives.  He finds the resources he needs for immediate survival, takes inventory, then engineers a way to make more food and water.  On Earth, Mark's funeral was done with all the official flourishes.

Delineation of conflicts:  Mindy is tasked with looking at the deserted landing site of the Ares 3 mission.  She notices that Mark is likely alive, and drives the point home.  Mark works toward establishing communications; Mark and NASA complete making their back and forth workable.

That accomplishment just makes the technical problems and the need for political decisions come faster.  Mark is short on time, NASA has to generate options, and it all has to be funded.  Teddy is continually walking a political tightrope, Vincent wants the best for the Ares program, Mitch wants the best for the crew that is currently in space.  Bad luck shows up in devastating form, both on Mars and on the Earth.  Everything has to be re-assessed and new plans have to be made.

Resolution: Will Mark be rescued?

One line summary: One of the best science fiction movies ever made.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 10/10 Wonderful job for closeups, groups of people, shots of the Hermes, backdrops of the surface of Mars, mission control settings and the like.

  b. Sound: 7/10 Lewis did indeed have horrible taste in music, and it was played too loud.

  c. Acting: 9/10 Matt Damon did a fabulous job as the lead.  His depictions of dealing with an ongoing stream of difficulties and bad luck were excellent. His wry comments made me laugh in empathy. Michael Pena, Sean Bean, and Jeff Daniels did fine jobs.  The vignette between Mindy and Vincent was good comic relief.  I liked Mackenzie Davis quite a bit as the one who noticed Mark was alive, then kept track of him until communications were established.  Benedict Wong and Donald Glover were marvelous in smaller parts.

  d. Screenplay: 10/10 Excellent, considered in its own right.  I'm not comparing it to the book.  I liked the level of detail: enough to show that a huge helping of ingenuity was required, but not so much that I felt deluged.  Along the same lines, huge chunks of time had to be dropped to fit the time of the movie down to 144 minutes, but to still show significant processes that had to be engineered, then performed.  The montage of final scenes was nicely constructed.

Final rating: 5/5

20140615: Drama Review--Monuments Men

Monuments Men

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American/German live action feature length film, 2014, PG13, 118 minutes, drama.
2. IMDB: 6.1/10.0 from 47,192 audience ratings.  Estimated budget, 70 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 32% on the meter; 46% liked it from 64,600 audience ratings.
4. I watched this on iTunes streaming.
5. Written and directed by: George Clooney.
6. Starring: George Clooney as Frank Stokes, Matt Damon as James Granger, Bill Murray as Richard Campbell, John Goodman as Walter Garfield, Cate Blanchett as Claire Simone, Jean Dujardin as Jean Claude Clermont, Hugh Bonneville as Donald Jeffries, Bob Balaban as Preston Savitz, Dmitri Leonidas as Sam Epstein, Justus von Dohnanyi as Viktor Stahl, Holger Handke as Colonel Wegner.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Frank convinces James, Richard, John, Jean Claude, and Donald to form the Monuments Men, a group dedicated to finding art looted by the Nazis and returning it, if possible, to rightful owners.  Most of them are middle-aged, but have to go through boot camp.  They are not instantly respected by regular army.


2. There are several detective stories to follow, and there are losses in war.  They find a number of salt mines filled with art works.  The Nazis also destroy a good bit of it, and the Russians 'liberate' a fair chunk of it themselves.  Their support from the military grows when they discover a huge cache of gold bullion.


3. Some of their last finds were of sculpture, which they find in a castle in Germany.  James' interactions with Claire, a combination collaborator, resistance fighter, art historian, and cataloger, yield a manifest that helps them later on.


4. How much of the obstruction by the Nazis and the Russians can they overcome?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Beautiful story of recovering art from Nazi looting in WWII.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Wonderfully shot.


2. Sound: 8/10 Good to excellent.


3. Acting: 10/10 Quite good performances by a stellar cast.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Nice story telling.

20140514: Documentary Review--Muscle Shoals

Muscle Shoals

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, NR, 111 minutes, music, documentary.
2. IMDB: 7.5/10.0 from 865 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 96% on the meter; 88% liked it from 2,937 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 4.43/5.0 from 23,960 audience ratings.
5. Directed by:  Greg 'Freddie' Camalier.
6. Starring:  Rick Hall, Jimmy Johnson, Bono, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge (When a Man Loves a Woman), Allman Brothers, Lynard Skynard, Jerry Wexler.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The recording house Fame Recording Studios began in the small town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, seemingly out of nowhere.  The film fills in a lot of back story, commentary from well-known music figures, and a great deal of local colour.  The early perspective was with Rick Hall, who led a group of local musicians who became his session crew for recordings with big names such as Percy Sledge, Wilson Pickett, and Aretha Franklin.


2. The story of how Wilson Pickett and Duane Allman conspired to make a cover of the Beatles' Hey Jude was touching, magical, and hilarious, as was the short story given of the beginning of the Allman Brothers Band.


3. At one point, Rick Hall got a contract with Capital Records.  When he announces that, his early crew has an announcement of their own.  They broke off and went with Jerry Wexler (Atlantic Records) to form Muscle Shoals Recording Studios in the same town.  At first the new studio did not do well, but then the Stones recorded You've Got to Move, Wild Horses, and Brown Sugar, three of their best blues tunes, at MSRS.


4. Rick Hall was in a feud with Jerry Wexler, and recruited a new session crew using the leverage of Capital Records.  He formed a new rhythm section called the Fame Gang.  This worked well for him.  He cut records with Lou Rawls, Bobbie Gentry, Candi Staton, King Curtis, Little Richard, Mac Davis, Joe Tex, and plenty more.  In 1971, Rick became Producer of the Year, which he did not achieve with his original session group.


5. Jimmy Johnson's MSRS was also doing interesting things.  They signed Lynard Skynard, and recorded a number of great cuts with them.  However, the band ended up leaving Johnson when he could not sell a nine minute single to any record company.  After a plane crash took the lives of three band members, two of the survivors came back to Johnson and asked that 11 of the 17 cuts they did at MSRS become the next album.


6. The stories about Jimmy Cliff (early reggae) and Steve Winwood (Traffic) recording with MSRS and going on the road with them were just delicious. Bob Seger, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, Glenn Fry, and a host of others recorded at MSRS.


3. Conclusions
1. This one of the best documentaries I've ever seen.
2. If you like modern music (last 50 years or so), catch this film: for the musical history, for the cultural references, for the magic and the misfires.
3. From Sweet Home Alabama: '...now Muscle Shoals has the Swampers...'; this film gives a complete explanation.
4. This film really does deserve the 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
5. One line summary: Beautiful portrait of two of the greatest recording studios.
6. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 9/10 Beautifully shot; only some of the archival footage was not great looking, but no surprise there.


2. Sound: 10/10 Oh, so good.


3. Acting: z/10 Not relevant here.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Nicely organised; one gets a feel for the practical magic of the two studios in Muscle Shoals.

20140513: Documentary Review--Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage

Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Canadian live action feature length film, 2010, NR, 106 minutes, documentary, music.
2. IMDB: 8.4/10.0 from 2,369 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 100% on the meter; 94% liked it from 1,816 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 4.3/5.0 from 89,551 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen.
6. Starring: Rush (Geddy Lee, Neil Peart, Alex Lifeson), Billy Corgan, Gene Simmons, Jack Black, Les Claypool.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The film takes a three-pronged approach.  First, there are interviews done in contemporary time, with the three principals of Rush, and well-known musicians who admire them, or were influenced by them.  Second, there are interviews with family, handlers, and music industry associates.  Third, there are many archival clips of live performances of Rush.


2. Their growth from getting their first radio play in Cleveland to being well-known was quite engaging; the first hour slipped by quickly, going from nowhere to the album Moving Pictures.  Then the issue of dealing with fame started to come in.  Fan interaction rose strongly.  Alex and Geddy were fine with that, but Neil was more of a private person and avoids interactions.


3. The band's character and their fans' characteristics are compared in lots of detail.  Neil was the principal lyricist, and his special talent seems to be reflecting his deep literacy in terms that just about anyone can understand.  Further, their music tends to be complex, yet still accessible.


4. In the eighties, the group switched producer and instruments toward synthesizers, electronic drumsets, and keyboards.  They trended toward shorter songs with less complexity, less bass, and more keyboard.  Some of their fans drifted away, many others did not.


5. As one of their industry admirers put it, there were different periods of Rush, and that is one of the things that makes them interesting.  Toward the end of the eighties, they switched producers again, and went back into being a 'power trio' again, but in the current context.


6. Around 1997, Neil's daughter died in an accident, and his wife passed from illness not too long after.  He embarked on a long trip on motorcycle (55k miles).  The band shutdown while Neil healed.


7. When Neil returned, there was a period of getting his chops back.  They recorded a new album; they went on the road again.  The band was rejuvenated, and traveled to places where they had ever been before, to large audiences.  In the 21st century, some of their fans from the seventies celebrate them: the makers of South Park and Steven Colbert, for instance.


8. Up to the time the documentary was made, the band was going strong.  As Geddy said at one point, Rush is the world's most popular cult band.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Finely crafted documentary of the legendary Canadian rock group Rush.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 9/10 Nicely done.  The archival footage clips look like the eras they came from, but the current interviews looks sharp and well-produced.


2. Sound: 10/10 Seldom disappoints.  I wish there had been more concert footage, but the exposition was too good to be omitted.


3. Acting: z/10 Not really applicable here.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Well-organised, well-presented, and rich in the level of information that it presents.

20140315: Drama Review--Glengarry, Glen Ross

Glengarry, Glen Ross

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 1992, rated R, 100 minutes, drama.
2. IMDB: 7.9/10.0 from 59,517 audience ratings. Estimated budget, 12.5 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 94% on the meter; 89% liked it from 38,372 audience ratings.
4. I watched this film on Amazon Prime.
5. Directed by: James Foley.  Written by: David Mamet.
6. Starring: Jack Lemmon as Shelley Levene, Ed Harris as Dave Moss, Kevin Spacey as John Williamson, Al Pacino as Ricky Roma, Alan Arkin as George Aaronow, Alec Baldwin as Blake, Jonathan Pryce as James Lingk, Bruce Altman as Larry Spannel, Jude Ciccolella as the Detective.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Shelley, Dave, Ricky, and George are real estate salesmen who are under the gun to sell more real estate.  They work at Consolidated Real Estate in Arizona.  Their line manager is John; those above John brought in Blake to put a fire under these four.  So the re-working of their work life consists of a contest.  In two weeks, whoever comes in first in sales get a Cadillac.  Who comes in second gets a set of steak knives.  The other two get fired.


2. The common complaint is the availability of leads; that is, connections to a likely real estate sales that is worth a lot of money.  With Consolidated Real Estate, they get leads that are dubious and re-worked.  Shelley appeals directly to John for the premium leads, the 'Glengarry' leads.  He tries to construct a kickback scheme with John to get the Glengarry leads.


3. Dave and George do a lot of complaining, then consider robbing the office to get the Glengarry leads directly, then sell then to a competitor.  Ricky schmoozes James at length, and closes a deal.


4. The robbery does occur, and there is a great deal of consternation at the office.  The Detective is doing interviews.  Contracts and some of the leads have been stolen.  Ricky's deal with James got registered with the company and the bank, or at least that's what John tells Ricky.  Shelley comes in a little late and is so happy to have sold 8 units in a development.  Dave blows up and leaves after his interview with the Detective.  George gets interviewed next.  Ricky and Shelley swap war stories.


5. James tries to get out of his deal with Ricky.  Ricky and Shelley try to fast talk him out of this.  Ricky manages some quality talking time while the Detective interviews Shelley.  John manages to torpedo the deal.  Ricky is not happy with John.  Nobody does anything but abuse John.


6. Will the thief be discovered?  Will any of these four salesmen get their act together again?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Excellent acting illuminates this great story about the real estate business.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 No problems.  Nicely shot.


2. Sound: 10/10 Well-miked actors; no problems understanding the dialog with the sound at a reasonable volume.  Music is not a factor here, and the dialog is everything.


3. Acting: 10/10 Great performances: Ed Harris, Al Pacino, Alan Arkin, Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Alec Baldwin.  The fine story is made better by the excellent acting.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Mamet's story is riveting with these actors executing brilliantly.

20140112: Drama Review--Sexy Evil Genius

Sexy Evil Genius

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, rated R, 91 minutes, drama, comedy, mystery, thriller.
2. IMDB: 5.6/10.0 from 1,684 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet,' 46% liked it from 206 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.4/5.0 from 26,571 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Shawn Piller. Written by: Scott Lew.
6. Starring: Seth Green as Zachary Newman, Michelle Tractenberg as Miranda Prague, Katee Sackhoff as Nikki Franklyn,  Anthony Michael Hall as Mark Von Dutch, Harold Perrineau as Marvin Coolidge, William Baldwin as Bert Mayfaire.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Zachary arrives at a bar because Nikki asked to meet her there.  Miranda joins him at 8:00 pm.  They talk, mostly about Nikki.  Marvin shows up at 8:30, looking for Zachary and Miranda.  The stories about Nikki continue.  All three of them had received one sort of wonderful thing or another from Nikki, and all of them had been lied to in different ways.


2. Miranda says that Nikki called her from an insane asylum, where Nikki had been found innocent by reason of insanity of murdering a stalker.  They wonder whether any of this was true.  Miranda says yes, she had googled Nikki's case, and found plenty of authentic public records about her legal situation.  They discuss Nikki's stalker, Mark, and his public records.


3. Nikki shows up at 9:00, knowing that the three of them have been talking about her the whole time.  She tells them Bert will show up next.  Bert is her lawyer, lover, and fiance.  The discussions continue, especially about Nikki's arrest for murdering Mark.  Mark was her lover after she left Marvin.  They were heroin junkies together.  Insanity entered in somewhere; she killed Marvin, and did not know it.


4. Bert says that he stays with Nikki because he is certain she has been cured of her mental condition.  She now sees that her previous homicidal thoughts toward Marvin and the others were parts of her insanity and have to be let go.


5. The writing here is just brilliant.  Nikki uses Marvin, Miranda, and Zachary to help pressure Bert in to accepting a wedding date roughly a year in the future.  Also, she wanted Zachary to meet Miranda.


6. This is only the beginning of the film.  These smart people who know Nikki have a lot more to do before this encounter is over.  Nikki is mightily challenged by Bert, a man who is a 'better liar than I am.'  Bert on the other hand, thinks of Nikki as 'walking Viagra.'


7. The peeling away of layers of story together with re-interpretations of previous statements continues. 


8. How does this end?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Brilliant, cerebral, funny, engaging; fine acting, fine script.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Some of the best low-light photography I've ever seen.  Very atmospheric.


2. Sound: 10/10 No problems.


3. Acting: 10/10  Best performance I've ever seen from Michelle Trachtenberg and from Seth Green.  Katee Sackhoff, Harold Perrineau, and William Baldwin were great.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 One of the best, tightest scripts I've seen in a long time.

20140104: Drama Review--Phantom

Phantom

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, rated R, 98 minutes, thriller, mystery.
2. IMDB: 5.8/10.0 from 7,854 audience ratings. Estimated budget: 18 million USD; aspect 2.35
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 25% on the meter; 36% liked it from 4,745 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.7/5.0 from 191,338 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Todd Robinson.
6. Starring: David Duchovny as Bruni, Ed Harris as Demi, Lance Henriksen as Markov, Sean Patrick Flanery as Tyrtov, Jonathan Schaech as Greg Pavlov, William Fichtner as Alex, Jason Beghe as Dr. Semak, Jason Gray-Stanford as Sasha.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Demi is about to retire, but the powers that be, through Markov, inform him that he has one more mission.  The date is late spring, 1968.  Demi will captain the B67 instead of his usual ship.  His crew have had only three weeks shore leave instead of the expected three months.  Several of them are on leave far away; he will have several unknown faces.  The B67 will be decommissioned after this last cruise; Demi gets the call since the B67 was also his first assignment.


2. Bruni and Pavlov come on at the last minute.  Alex (first officer) notes that the old tub can barely accommodate the 86 men required to sail her.  Bruni says it's good to see him again; Demi seems to only barely remember this.  Pavlov and the captain go though the ceremony of  the captain receiving the 'real' orders from the KGB.


3. From the first dive, there are indications that he captain is having some problems: a phantom sound on the forward outside hull; the sight and sound of an angry dog.  Where did these come from?


4. The KGB representatives inform the captain that he is about to step into part of the ship where he is not allowed.  Bruni suggests that the captain bothers to read his orders.  Alex has a chat with the captain.  Some of the newcomers are Oznas (radical KGB commandos); some of the new crew are dead; many of the new crew have no history, just name and rank.


5. The KGB officers countermand practically everything the captain proposes.  They force a collision with a civilian tanker.  This will ensure that everyone in the area will know the submarine's location.  Cleaver.  Their orders were to observe the massing of American naval forces.


6. Very unfortunately, the captain suffered a brain injury a few years back with triggered grand mal epileptic seizures about once or twice a year.  It would seem that some of the newcomers on board know of this.


7. When an American attack sub passes by, the old crew manage to evade.  However, Bruni overrides this, has the B67 surface and turn on their diesel engines.  The KGB officers turn on the 'Phantom' which effectively cloaks their position.


8. When the captain arranges to get confirmation of orders from Fleet HQ, Bruni stages a mutiny.  After some discussion with the old crew, Demi and company figure that Bruni and the Oznas are aiming to use the Phantom to start a war.


9. Will the mutineers succeed?  Will the captain and his allies neutralize them in order to save the world from a nuclear war?




3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Regular Russian submarine crew deal with KGB mutineers in 1968.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 9/10 Reasonably good, but some of the images suffer from low light.


2. Sound: 10/10 No problems.


3. Acting: 10/10 Fine jobs by William Fichtner, Ed Harris, Jonathan Schaech, Jason Beghe.  The rest were at worst competent.


4. Screenplay: 9/10 A bit slow going at first, but picks up to a fine conclusion.

20140103: Drama Review--Inside Llewyn Davis

Inside Llewyn Davis

Oscar Isaac

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, rated R, 104 minutes, drama, music.
2. IMDB: 8.0/10.0 from 8,236 audience ratings.  Spoken word is in English.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 93% on the meter; 75% liked it from 18,934 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: not yet, still in theatres, 20140103.
5. Written and directed by: Ethan Coen and Joel Coen.
6. Starring: Oscar Isaac as Llewyn Davis, John Goodman as Roland Turner, Justin Timberlake as Jim, Carey Mulligan as Jean, F. Murray Abraham as Bud Grossman, Ethan Philips as Mitch Gorfein, Robin Bartlett as Lillian Gorfein, Garrett Hedland as Johnny Five, Jerry Grayson as Mel Novikoff.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The film opens in the Gaslight Cafe in 1961 in New York City in the deep of winter.  Llewyn Davis gives a beautiful performance, then goes out to meet somebody who wants to talk to him.  The somebody beats the nonsense out of LLewyn.  At this point, I was a bit low on context, and was not all that interested in the rest of the film.  Fortunately, I stayed.


2. The film ends on a repeat of the same scene.  The difference was that more information was given in the scene the second time, and everything made perfect sense.  In the repeat, one knows where Llewyn was going and why.


3. The large majority of the film is about exploring how Llewyn got to the final scene.  We meet Mitch and Lillian's cat, which escaped, causing all sorts of problems for Llewyn as he tries to get it back to his friends.


4. We meet Jim and Jean, who used to be in an act with Llewyn.  We see in great detail why that is no longer true.  Jim helps Llewyn get some studio work; Llewyn's haste denied him future income because he would not go through proper paperwork.  His agent Mel does not seem to be doing anything for him.


5. After the studio session with Jim, LLewyn goes to Chicago to talk to Bud Grossman, another figure in the music business.  On the way he shares gas and driving with Roland and Johnny.  He gets some alternate points of view, and something that was at least intended to be a curse.  He makes it to Chicago, despite the troubles that Johnny and Roland encountered.


6. Bud gives Llewyn a fair hearing, is not shocked that Mel did nothing for him, and even offers Llewyn a new job. When Llewyn is not willing to make a few changes to make him commercially viable, Bud offers him some reasonable advice.


7. Llewyn hitches a ride back to New York.  Along the way, he faces further choices, such as whether to meet his two year old son in Akron whom he just found out about in the last week.


8. Llewyn decides to rejoin the Merchant Marine since he's broke and everyone hates him.  Even this involves difficulties: past union dues, proper licensing, and meeting his ailing father once more.


9. Will Llewyn get to a stable place in his life?  Watch the final scene.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary:  Another fine film from the Coen brothers; catch it if you can.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10  Just wonderful.  The choices in lighting and camera work show strongly the sheer cold in New York, on the road from New York to Chicago, and in Llewyn's life.


2. Sound: 10/10 Lush, beautiful.  Kudos to Oscar Isaac and Justin Timberlake.


3. Acting: 10/10 Kudos to Oscar Isaac.  Excellent work by John Goodman, F. Murray Abraham, Garrett Hedland.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 The character studies are brilliant, plus the exposition of the protagonist's difficult passage is carefully done.

20131230: Drama Review--American Hustle

American Hustle

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, rated R, 137 minutes, drama.
2. IMDB: 8.2/10.0 from 17,027 audience ratings.  Estimated budget: 40 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 94% on the meter; 82% liked it from 63,626 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: not yet, 20131229.
5. Directed by: David O. Russell.  Written by: Eric Singer and David O. Russell.
6. Starring: Christian Bale as Irving Rosenfeld, Jennifer Lawrence as Rosalyn Rosenfeld, Amy Adams as Sydney Prosser, Bradley Cooper as Richie Dimaso, Jeremy Renner as Mayor Carmine Polito, Elizabeth Rohm as Dolly Polito, Louie C. K. as Stoddard Thorsen, Robert De Niro (uncredited) as Victor Tellegio.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Irving is a semi-legitimate business man who owns a glass replacement business plus several dry cleaning stores.  He sells paintings of dubious provenance, and 'arranges' loans that might otherwise be hard to get.  Irving is married to Rosalyn, but is invigorated by his falling in love with the talented Sydney.  Sydney wants Irving to leave Rosalyn, but recognises that Rosalyn is an even better con artist than either of them.  Working with Sydney, Irving's various dealings go better, and the quality of clients improves.  Their future looks bright and rich. 


2. FBI agent Richie Dimaso pulls a sting on the pair, and uses the evidence collected to leverage Irving and Sydney to help the FBI.  What Richie wants is for Irving to mastermind a sting against some New Jersey politicians, including Mayor Polito.  This effort moves forward.  When it was about to bear fruit, Richie fouls the sting by deviating from Irving's plan, and Carmine leaves the meeting.


3. Irving and Sydney save the day.  Irving gets Carmine to trust him; this was a major effort.  Sydney helps the FBI come up with just enough good faith money to convince Carmine and his people that they have a serious investor (a sheik) to re-energise the rebuilding of Atlantic City.  Irving's friendship with Carmine continues to deepen, and Carmine insists that Rosalyn get to know him and Dolly socially.  Rosalyn takes to this social whirl very quickly.


4. Richie loses his composure when things work despite his foulups.  He keeps pushing the FBI to make larger attempts to get bigger stings. He also pushes Sydney harder to leave Irving, and be with him. On the other side of the coin, news traveled fast in gambling circles, and large figures such as Victor Tellegio join the field of interest.  Victor insists on 10 million in good faith money, and that the sheik become a US citizen practically overnight to ensure that everyone is satisfied about the legitimacy of the operation.


5. To resolve the citizenship issue would require an act of Congress.  To get that through in a short amount of time, some shuffling of money might expedite the process.  Irving and Sydney help set this up. The FBI is definitely interested in who accepts such money and who does not.  The 10 million in good faith money gets handled in another operation.


6. In the end, who comes out as winners?  Will the FBI arrest some Congressmen?  Will they arrest any mob figures?  Will Irving and Sydney come out of this unscathed?


7. The ending is nicely written, as was the entire movie.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: A tense, dramatic thriller with fine plot and character exposition.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Good sets, good camera work.


2. Sound: 10/10 Excellent.  Some wonderful choices of incidental music.


3. Acting: 10/10 Outstanding: Christian Bale, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams, Elizabeth Rohm, Bradley Cooper.  Wonderful, powerful, short performance by Robert De Niro.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Wonderful, tightly knit, complicated story.  The two hours and 17 minutes seemed just right.  Character development and story development were top notch.

20131225: Drama Review--Arbitrage

Arbitrage

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2012, rated R, 107 minutes, drama, thriller.
2. IMDB: 6.7/10.0 from 29,179 audience ratings.  Estimated budget: 12 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 87% on the meter; 63% liked it from 50,901 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.5/5.0 from 578,823 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Nicholas Jarecki.
6. Starring: Richard Gere as Robert Miller, Susan Sarandan as Ellen Miller, Tim Roth as Detective Michael Bryer, Brit Marling as Brooke Miller, Laetitia Casta as Julie Cote, Nate Parker as Jimmy Grant, Stuart Margolin as Syd Felder, Chris Eigeman as Gavein Briar.


2. Setup and Plot
1. At his 60th birthday, Robert seems to have it all: loving wife, two successful adult children who are close to him, a net worth in the billions, a beautiful artist who is his lover, and a company he is about to sell for a great deal of financial advantage.


2. However, there are a number of hanging weaknesses.  An audit will not go through which would pave the way for the sale.  The sale, his mistress, his wife, his company, his daughter, and his friend who lent him millions of dollars are all tugging him in different directions.  The CEO of the company who wants to buy his company will not meet with him directly.


3. Just to make things enormously worse, Robert goes for a drive with Julie, falls asleep at the wheel, and crashes her car.  Julie dies.  He barely struggles out of the car.  As he hobbles away from it, the car bursts into fire.  Robert makes his way to a truck stop and calls a person whom he thinks he can trust.  He goes to the art gallery that Julie ran, and destroys evidence.  He makes his way home, treats his wounds as best he can, and get in bed with Ellen, his wife.


4. Robert has to figure out how to find the reason the audit is delayed, what he can do to quash the NYPD's investigation of Julie's murder, and keep Brooke, his business brilliant daughter, from figuring out some financial irregularities.  He has to find a way to meet and negotiate directly with the man who wants to buy his company.


5. Just when Robert thinks he has it all figured out, and all his ducks are in a row again, Ellen lets him know this is not the case.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Everything has a price, sometimes rather high for the top one percent.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 No problems; well shot.


2. Sound: 10/10 Fine.


3. Acting: 10/10 Fine performances by Richard Gere, Susan Sarandan, Tim Roth, Stuart Margolin, and Nate Parker.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Followed several story threads to a successful resolution.

20131216: Drama Review--28 Hotel Rooms

28 Hotel Rooms

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2012, NR, 82 minutes, drama.
2. IMDB: 5.3/10.0 from 1,303 audience ratings.  Aspect 1.78.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 43% on the meter; 40% liked it from 925 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.1/5.0 from 68,239 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Matt Ross.
6. Starring: Chris Messina as Man, Marin Ireland as Woman, Robert Deamer as Bartender.


2. Setup and Plot
1. She is from Seattle; he is based in New York.  He is a novelist; she is a data miner.  They travel in their work and meet now and then.  They are rather guarded about their personal information, but are obviously attracted to one another.  They get to know each other over time.  She reads his book and likes it.


2. Eventually they talk about anything and everything.  Their careers change over time.  They discuss the meaning of what they do.  They deal with life events.


3. When he is about to get married (she has been for some time), they talk about dropping their mates and marrying each other.  But somehow it does not happen.


4. They have some tough times as well, such as when they talk about why they have not married each other.  The ambivalence shines through again.


5. Some of their pretend conversations about possible lives together are fantasy, but still priceless.  The acting by Chris Messina and Marin Ireland was very nuanced.


6. She gets pregnant, and decides to rear the child with her husband of record.  Both of them have trouble dealing with it, but it's the decision that involves the least damage. Other changes come along, like his inability to drink coffee, due to a stomach condition.


7. Will they keep meeting, or will their married lives force that tradition to break?




3. Conclusions
1. Strong resemblance to Same Time, Next Year with Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn, 1978.
2. One line summary: Enduring relationship between two people not married to each other.
3. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 9/10 Fine, except for the occasional camera shake.


2. Sound: 9/10 No problems.


3. Acting: 10/10  The two principals are quite good.


4. Screenplay: 9/10 Well told evolution of a long-lasting affair between two people who are more than friends.

20131204: Thriller Review--Elevator

Elevator

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2011, NR, 80 minutes, thriller.  Spoken word is in English. Aspect, 2.35
2. IMDB: 5.2/10.0 from 2,887 audience ratings. Estimated budget: 500,000 USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No score yet...' and 24% liked it from 368 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.2/5.0 from 197,114 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Stig Svendsen.
6. Starring: Christopher Backus as Don Handley, Anita Briem as Celine Fouquet, John Getz as Henry Barton, Shirley Knight as Jane Redding, Michael Mercurio as The Bombmaker, (Amanda,Rachel) Pace as Madeline Barton, Devin Ratray as Martin Gossling, Joey Slotnik as George Axelrod, Tehmina Sunny as Maureen Asana, Waleed Zuaiter as Mohammed, Gary Ambrosia as Lt. Carson.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The film opens to someone making a bomb which he tells an unseen guest will kill anyone within five meters.  Then we have a variety of shots of a rich city in twilight.  Various people get ready to go to the Barton Building in New York City.  They end up in the same elevator A.


2. Donald Handley (tall Anglo executive; entitled to the hilt) and his fiancee Maureen Asana (reporter), Jane Redding (older lady, drinks hard liquor before leaving),  Martin Gossling (middle aged, Anglo, heavy set), Don's assistant, George Axelrod (comedian, immediately attacks Don's assistant with racist humour; claustrophobe), Henry and Madeline (Henry's grandfather) Barton, and Celine Fouquet.


3. Because George is claustrophobic, Madeline pushes the STOP button.  She calls him a liar, he calls her an evil bitch.  There's the starting point of the film.  The elevator will not start up again.


4. Building security has no idea what to do.  Barton talks to his wife on his cell; he tells her he's stuck.  They call security again; a variety of excuses are offered up.  Barton asks for the security man's name; he hangs up and cannot be reached again.


5. Celine is pregnant, by Don; this takes a while to come out openly. They work in the same department, so Maureen wonders why Don did not greet her.  A bit later, Celine has to urinate, much to everyone else's consternation.


6. George is Jewish; Don's assistant is Muslim as George suspected.  He manages to insult Maureen (Indian heritage) directly as well.  The battle lines are drawn, verbally at least.


7. Jane's son died in Iraq.  The emotional fallout depressed her husband Neal, and they hoped to start sailing with their savings. However,  'Barton Investments lost all our money.'  Don was the one who suggested the loser investments.  Barton himself more or less shrugged it off.  "I don't mean to sound callous," says Barton, "it's always the investor's decision."  That did not go over well.  Jane sees that her bomb will not quite go off as expected because the elevator stopped.  She dies of heart failure.


8. Maureen starts a newscast from the elevator via her cell phone.  Barton keeps saying losses are the client's responsibility.  Great stuff.  Celine gets stuck with patting down Jane's corpse for bomb paraphernalia; sure enough, Jane had strapped on a bomb. Martin helps Don see if they can egress via the ceiling.  Barton gets a call from his wife, who has heard the news through the television broadcasts.


9. Do they all make it out safely?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Nine people trapped in an elevator find a bomb with them.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Great looking exteriors.  Excellent interiors.  Most of the film is interior.


2. Sound: 9/10 Mostly fine.


3. Acting: 10/10  Shirley Knight, John Getz, and Devin Ratray are veterans who know how to act.  Joey Slotnik is a veteran as well, and served as a very abrasive thorn.  The rest were competent or better.  The twins did reasonably well as the villain the piece, the incredibly rotten grand daughter.


4. Screenplay: 9/10 The story moves along well, and does not show internal contradictions.  The human interactions were often touching.

20131203: Adventure Review--Kon-Tiki

Kon-Tiki

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. British/Norwegian/Danish live action feature length film, 2012, PG13, (96 Netflix, 118 IMDB) minutes in length.  Spoken word is in Norwegian, English, French; subtitles in English.  Aspect is 2.35
2. IMDB: 7.2/10.0 from 19,759 audience ratings.  Estimated budget: 16.6 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 84% on the meter; 78% liked it from 10,326 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.9/5.0 from 105,602 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg.
6. Starring: Pal Sverre Valheim Hagen as Thor Heyerdahl, Anders Baasmo Christiansen as Herman Watzinger, Tobias Santelmann as Knut Haugland, Gustaf Skarsgard as Bengt Danielsson, Odd Magnus Williamson as Erik Hesselberg, Agnes Kittelson as Liv Heyerdahl.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Watch this in High Def if at all possible.


2. Heyerdahl visits Polynesia in 1937, and hears the natives claim that their ancestors came from the east, which would be South America.  While canoing with Liv, she imagines how hard it would be to paddle all those miles against the current.  A light goes on in his eyes.  Back in Norway, though, his theories about Polynesian origins are not well received.  He intends to build a raft in the style that the Polynesians might used as proof of concept.  Sailors in New York tell them that the ropes holding the raft together will break, and the raft will disintegrate.  In contrast, a Scandinavian veteran sailor, who lost the use of a leg to frost bite, convinces Thor to use the closest possible materials and building techniques compared to the original sailors.


3. He gets the rest of the funding he needs in Peru, and building takes a while.  Things are a bit strained with Liv, but Thor sees a bright future after the voyage.  They do a sea trial, then set off in 1947.  Things go smoothly for a few days, then they get hit by a strong thunderstorm.  They have to repair the sail.  New readings indicate they need to correct their course, or else they will go through the Galapagos Maelstrom, which is contraindicated.  They use a balloon to increase their antenna effectiveness, but their pet parrot eats through the line.  They lose contact with Los Angeles.


4. Their encounter with the whale shark was a bit scary.  Fortunately, the mooring of the harpoon that a scared member threw into it gave way before the whale took them too far off course or tipped them over.  The ropes look a little loose, and the old concerns come back.  The encounter with the first great white gave another good scare.  They notice that the raft is absorbing water, and thus getting heavier.  They send via Morse code, which has greater range than voice transmission.  A short time filming from an inflatable raft gives another shark scare.  The pet parrot Lorita tries to nab something from the surface of the water; a small shark swims up like a rocket and eats him.  The owner of the parrot, unfortunately, catches the shark then stabs it to death.  More sharks appear, of course, from the quarts of blood released.  Herman falls into the water with blood on his leg; the sharks are still there.  They rush to recover him.


5. After a lot of effort, they manage to correct course to miss the Galapagos Maelstrom and to make it to Polynesia.  They pass the point of no return, and radio their location repeatedly.


6. Their arrival in Raroia Reef, they attempt a surfing maneuver to get over the sharpness of the reef.  The overhead shot of the reef and the Kon-Tiki was amazing.  Unfortunately the reef cuts the rope too soon.  The big wave comes in behind them, and Thor is thrown overboard.  The raft makes it in one piece, and Thor manages to get to shore first, despite his lack of swimming ability.


7. Thor makes eye contact with his lifelong friend Erik who saved him from drowning as a child. Erik carries his guitar and a dripping suitcase.  The moment when Thor starts laughing afterward is priceless.


8. The world receives the news with great interest, and Thor's life does change greatly, as he predicted to Liv.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Excellent retelling of the 1950 film, using modern cinematography.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Excellent from beginning to end.


2. Sound: 10/10 Also excellent, with wonderful incidental music.


3. Acting: 10/10 Pal Sverre Valheim Hagen (Thor), Anders Baasmo Christiansen (Herman), and Odd Magnus Williamson (Erik) were just great, and I had no complaints about any of the other actors.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Solid, well developed, wonderful mix of powerful imagery, good acting, and direction.

20131202: Horror Review--Twixt

Twixt

1. Production Fundamentals; Reception
1. American live action feature length film, 2012, rated R, 88 minutes, horror, thriller, supernatural.
2. IMDB: 4.9/10.0 from 5343 audience ratings.  Estimated budget, 7 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 31% on the meter; 22% liked it from 1099 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.8/5.0 from 72,341 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
6. Starring: Val Kilmer as Hall Baltimore, Bruce Dern as Sheriff Bobby LaGrange, Elle Fanning as V, Ben Chaplin as Poe, Joanne Whalley as Denise, David Paymer as Sam.


2. Setup, Plot
1. Hall Baltimore is a writer whose career is on the decline.  He is on a book tour in a small town ('Swann Valley') in California when the weirdness starts.  The narration tell us that there was an unspeakable murder some years past, and the camera shows us a huge, old, creepy, decrepit old house.  The narration goes on to describe an encampment of youths whose habits mystify the other inhabitants; perhaps they were Satan worshippers?  The visuals indicate a mix of Goths, bikers, tattoo aficionados, and metal music fans.  Into this mix comes Hall Baltimore, a 'third rate writer' of a series of novels mostly concerned with witchcraft.


2. Hall sets up in the local hardware store since there is no bookstore.  He gets a lukecold reception.  His first sale is to Sheriff Bobby LaGrange, who tells Hall that he also writes horror stories.  Hall is not too interested in the tale of a mass murder, but Bobby talks him into it.  Bobby hopes to cooperate on a new Hall Baltimore novel.  Hall finds out that Edgar Allen Poe once slept at the Chickering Hotel in town, so he has to check that out.  He decides to stay a day at the local motel.  Hall pulls out the copy of his first novel that he signed for his dead daughter Vicky.  Hall is not a happy man by any stretch.


3. He's on the hook for another witch story.  His wife Denise tells him in no uncertain terms to quit drinking, finish the contracted work, and bring in some dollars for both of them.  At this stage, the establishment of the movie's premise in complete.  He's in a creepy town; the Sheriff, who knows so much about the local colour, wants to cooperate on a new novel, and he needs the money for compelling reasons.


4. That very night, Hall's interactions with the supernatural start.  He meets V and talks to her.  The Chickering Hotel is open, and he talks to a couple who run it.  They tell him of the twelve dead children buried beneath the floor.  Hall gets to see them 'alive' and trusting the man who should have protected them.  He consciously thinks that this is what he needs.  He meets the ghost of Poe.


5. The next morning, Denise lets him know that she is going to sell an extremely rare book that Hall owns unless he does something to supplement their income.  In the daylight, Hall breaks into the hotel and finds much of what he saw in the last night's dream.  He visits the library next to research the Chickering Hotel and the mass murder there in 1955.


6. Hall tries to talk to the Sheriff, and talks to the Sheriff's assistant Arbus, who tells him that the corpse Bobby showed him needs to have the stake left in its heart.  Hall finally gets through to the Bobby.  Hall agrees to do the book with Bobby.  They negotiate; the Sheriff supplies information; Hall tries to fit it into a book that his publisher can accept.  


7. Hall gets started.  Unfortunately, he starts drinking at the same time.  The publisher had said 'no fog on the lake' but Hall of course starts with fog on the lake, and degenerates from there.  Worst of all, Hall acts like he wants to disturb the corpse in the morgue.  


8. To advance the story, Hall takes over the counter sleeping potions to help him talk to Poe about getting a good, 'bullet proof' ending for his editor.  Poe speaks eloquently about the structure of writing, and applies it to the present case.  Poe tells him of another layer of the truth of the 1955 killings.  This included a colony of vampires across the lake from the orphanage where the killings occurred.  Where the vampires were then, the young rebels are now.  


9. The sheriff suggests a ouija board experience in the morgue.  This does not exactly go well.  The corpse with the stake moves, and the sheriff brings up vampires again.


10. Hall visits the current encampment across the lake.  He meets Circe, and talks to Flamingo, who is a huge fan of Baudelaire.  He's also worried about a missing girl, as well as the colour of the moon.


11. Hall makes his way into the locked bell tower, where he asks the owner, 'what's that smell?'  The reply was that the tower is haunted.  Hall meets his dead daughter, who enjoins him to come with her.  The bells increase monumentally in volume; Hall escapes, but falls many feet into unconsciousness.  In this state, he meets Poe, who tells him how the vicar killed the orphaned children.  Bobby pushes for a bigger role in the novel.  Hall implores Poe to tell him the rest of the story.


12. Will Hall be able to put together a good story before the undead decide to have him join them?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Not a gore fest; well-constructed ghost plus vampire story.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Exceptional, beautiful, well thought out.


2. Sound: 10/10 No problems.


3. Acting: 10/10 What's not to like?  Kilmer, Dern, Chaplin, Fanning, plus a deeply skilled director.  Compared to most of the 'horror' films I review, the acting here is more like 37/10.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Loved it.


5. SFX: 8/10 Good.  No let downs.

20131129: Comedy Review--The Perfect Stranger

The Perfect Stranger (El perfecto desconocido)

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Spanish live action feature length film, 2011, NR, 92 minutes, comedy.  Spoken word is in Spanish; subtitles in English.
2. IMDB: 5.9/10.0 from 139 audience ratings.  Aspect, 2.35
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet,' 50% wanted to see it from 15 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.2/5.0 from 10,322 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Toni Bestard.
6. Starring: Colm Meany as Mark O'Reilly, Ana Wagener as Isabel, Guiem Juaneda as Biel, Carlos Santos as Amancio, Natalia Rodriguez as Celia, Pascal Ulli as Klaus, Kate Burdette as Grace.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Mark walks into a small town in Spain.  In the town square, he opens an old shop for which he has keys.  Biel wounds his hand, gets help from Mark, then asks for a job repairing things in the shop.  Celia hides from the cops in his shop for about five minutes one day.  Later, he helps patch her up after someone punches her in the face.


2. Mark does not speak Spanish.  Next to no one in the town has any English.  This makes for some interesting interactions.  Mark is looking for something in the surrounding countryside.  He mounts a large topographical map on one of his walls.  He makes notations at the places where he has visited.


3. The people in the town come up with a variety of explanations of Mark's presence.  Celia makes some progress in teaching Mark Spanish in exchange for temporary shelter and meals.  Klaus, the violin player, on the other hand, speaks German and not as much Spanish.  The two cops are trying to figure out what Biel and Celia are doing while spending time with Mark.


4. It was a lovely moment when Biel fixes the tap, which used to turn out the lights.  People bring all sorts of things to Mark's establishment, thinking the objects will be directly applicable to his business.  Together with Biel's work, the place starts to look rather nice.


5. Mark's quest starts to look more coherent on the map.  The cops finally ask for ID after they ask the local realtor about sales; there were none.  They never get around to asking how Mark got the key to the place.  While at the police station, Mark sees a photo of a man at a place he sort of recalls; the police help him find where it is on a map.


6. Celia fails her physical since she has an inherited pulmonary problem.  She had intended to work on tanks in the armed forces.  She gets in a row with her father, and punches the cop who thinks he is her boyfriend.  The cop gives chase; the next morning she's missing.  Biel looks for her.  Mark seems to be very close to finding what he was looking for.


7. When Biel lets Mark know that Celia has gone missing, Mark immediately joins the search.


8. Will they find Celia?  Will Mark find what he was looking for?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Simple, beautiful story executed with compelling direction and acting.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 No problems.


2. Sound: 10/10 Good.


3. Acting: 10/10 Colm Meany at his best, and his best was very good.  Fine supporting actors.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Lovely story, with just the right level of resolution.  The communication accomplished against language barriers was exceptional between the mature, compassionate older man and the two young people.

20131123: Animation Review--The Rabbis Cat

The Rabbi's Cat

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. French animated feature length film, 2011, NR, 100 minutes.  Spoken word is in French; English subtitles.
2. IMDB: 6.7/10.0 from 1,101 audience ratings.  Estimated budget: 12.5 million euros.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 94% on the meter; 71% liked it from 1,038 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.3/5.0 from 5,439 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Antoine Devesvaux.
6. Starring: voice actors: Maurice Benichou as the rabbi, Francois Merel as the cat of the rabbi, Hafsia Hertzi as Zlabya (daughter of the rabbi), Karina Testa as Zlabya's friend, Mathieu Amalric as the Prince.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Set in Algiers initially, then many places in Africa around 1920.


2. A cat adopts a rabbi and his daughter.  The cat, after eating a talking parrot, gains the ability to speak and read.  He helps the rabbi with his professional development test.  In doing so he invokes God's name; the rabbi passes, but the cat temporarily loses his ability to speak French.


3. A large box of books from Russia; the box also contains a body.  Only the cat recognizes that the body is still alive.  When the cat awakens the Russian, he finds the prince can understand him (in Russian) even though the others cannot understand him in French.


4. They look for a person in Algiers who speaks both Russian and French.  The rabbi finds him and recruits him to translate for the prince.


5. There are a number of philosophical discussions and talks about the politics of the area in 1920.  As a side effect of all this, a quest is started to find black Jews in Africa.  Getting there was hilarious.  It is also revealed that the prince wants to paint all sorts of subjects throughout Africa.


6. The rabbi, the prince, the cat, the rabbi's Arab Muslim friend and his talking donkey set out to find this city.  There are lots of changes along the way.  The cat regains his ability to speak French.  The prince finds his wife.  Eventually the prince and his new bride find the city.  The humour is outstanding.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Lovely, funny, clever, and beautiful.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Art/Animation: 10/10 The style is pen and ink, with minimal shading.  This is rather well executed in great detail.


2. Sound: 10/10 Always good.


3. Screenplay: 10/10 Brilliant writing for an ensemble of clever characters.  The story is humorous and moves right along, from beginning to middle to happy ending.  The comedy of manners aspect is deftly handled.

20131107: Animation Review--The Painting

The Painting (le tableau)

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. French animated feature length film, 2011, NR, 76 minutes.  Spoken language is French, subtitles in English.
2. IMDB: 7.1/10.0 from 999 user ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 80% on the meter; 73% liked it from 912 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.1/5.0 from 1,887 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Jean-Francois Laguione.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The Painting is about a painting in a painter's home.  The painting is incomplete in several ways.  The painting has a chateau, a flowering garden, and a dangerous forest, plus a multitude of characters.


2. The characters are divided into (Toupins, Pafinis, Reufs) or (Alldunns, Halfies, Sketchies) in English.  In the conceit of the film, the Toupins (completed, fully painted characters) decide they should rule the proceedings, treating the Pafinis (part finished) badly, and enslaving the Reufs (rough sketches).


3. The protagonist is Lola, a 'Halfie.'  Her Halfie friend Claire has fallen in love with a completed character, Ramo.  Ramo tries to speak against the bad behaviour of the Alldunns in the chateau, but is shouted down.  Claire is imprisoned.  Lola, Ramo, and a Sketchie named Quill escape the painted through a perimeter weakness in the forest.


4. Once outside, the painting style shifts to a mixed one.  Our heroes keep their form and colours, but the outside is rendered in strongly realistic terms.  This is executed quite well.


5. The trio interact with characters in the painter's other paintings.  Eventually they find that they can paint themselves.  They speak with the painter's self-portrait, and gather up paint and brushes to take back the the painting of origin.


6. Their return increases the chaos for a while, but levels out the inequalities.


7. The ending where Lola again departs the painting and speaks with the painter is just delightful.  There is another shift of mixing styles which is also well done.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Another fine recent animation effort from France.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Art/Animation: 10/10 Breath-taking.


2. Sound: 10/10 No problems.


3. Screenplay: 10/10 Loved the imaginative story with interesting infrastructure, and beautiful ending.

20131107: Animation Review--Tales of the Night

Tales of the Night (Les contes de la nuit)

1. Production Fundamentals; reception
1. French animated feature length film, 2011, NR, 83 minutes, aspect 1.78; fantasy.
2. IMDB: 6.5/10.0 from 655 audience ratings.  Spoken word is English, which was rather unexpected; English subtitles.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 78% on the meter; 60% liked it from 2,114 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.4/5.0 from 19,089 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by Michel Ocelot.
6. Starring: Julien Beramis as Boy, Marine Griset as Girl, Michel Elias.


2. Setup, Plot
1. The film breaks into six separate adventures.


2. Night of the Werewolf. Being a prince and a werewolf in the 15th century.  Happy ending on this one; murderous deceit receives justice instead of monetary reward.


3. Jon Jon and Beauty Not Knowing.  On a Caribbean island, Jon Jon explores a deep cave which is the country of the dead.  The only other living being is the princess whose name is Beauty Not Knowing.  Jon Jon befriends the 3 monsters he was warned to kill.  The father of the princess sets him three tasks.  The 3 monsters help him through the final tests.  Jon Jon goes back to his girl friend in the land of the living.


4. The City of Gold. The Boy saves The Girl from being a human sacrifice, but at a cost.


5. Tom-Tom Boy.  Set in a village in the African bush.  Everyone in the village tells Tom-Tom Boy to learn something useful, and to get lost in the meantime.  He saves an old man's life out in the wild.  This man is the custodian of the magic tom-tom, 'whose rhythms no one can resist.'  He plays for the custodian, who teaches him to do more with it.


6. The Boy Who Never Lied.  Set in Tibet.  Two kings each wager half their kingdoms on whether or not the Boy can be made to lie.  The princess volunteers to help her father get the Boy to lie.  The Boy's horse speaks; the princess' mare can sing.  The lying princess acts sick, and claims that she must eat the heart of his talking horse.  The horse, Melonge, gives up his life so that his heart can be claimed.  The Boy serves up the heart, but the princess leaves with the heart untouched.  Ah, sadness.  But the Boy and his king are rewarded, and the princess admits the vileness of what she has done.


7. The Young Doe and the Architect's Son.  Zachariac, the sorcerer, has a young ward, Maud, who falls in love with the architect's son, Thibault.  Thibault climbs Zachariac's dread tower to rescue Maud.  He encourages her to agree to marry Zachariac, with the understanding that Thibault will interrupt the process before it is complete.  Thibault and Maud escape via a secret trapdoor in the cathedral.  Zachariac renounces Maud, and changes her into a doe who only runs from Thibault.  Thibault and his father's friend find the palace of a fairy ally of the architect.  Can they complete the resolution?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Fairy tales done very well using an old style and modern techniques.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Art/Animation: 10/10 Though only in one style, wonderful throughout.


2. Sound: 10/10 No problems.  Liked the incidental music.


3. Acting: 10/10 Beautifully voiced.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Difficult and wonderful.

20131104: Bollywood Review--Aitraaz

Aitraaz

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Indian live action feature length film, 2004, NR, 159 minutes, drama, thriller.  Spoken word is Hindi; subtitles in English.
2. IMDB: 6.4/10.0 from 2,374 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No Reviews Yet,' and 69% liked it from 1,859 audience ratings.
4. Huluplus: 'Raj Malhotra was leading a happy life with wife Priya when his ex-flame Sonia enters their life.'
5. Directed by: Abbas and Mastan Alibhai Burmawalla.
6. Starring: Akshay Kumar as Raj Malhotra, Kareena Kapoor as Priya Saxena, Priyanka Chopra as Mrs. Sonia Roy, Amrish Puri as Ranjit Roy, Annu Kapoor as Barrister Ram Chotlani.
7. Said to be a remake of Disclosure (USA, 1994). Sonia's re-entry is not a happy thing.


2. Setup and Plot
1. We start out with a mistaken address and identity.  Raj in #30 is looking for a housekeeper; Ram in #13 is looking for a legal secretary.  Priya is looking for a secretary position at a legal office.  She goes to #30 by mistake.  "I don't consider any job too small" has unexpected consequences.  Her opposite number (the housekeeper) lands the job as legal secretary.  How long can these misunderstandings last?


2. Not very long; both Ram and Raj figure it out.  Ram comes over to get some borrowed law books; his comments let Priya figure it out quickly. 


3. Love at first sight is the diagnosis; they marry and are doing well.  Priya is soon expecting.  Raj gets a promotion and buys a bungalow.  At the announcement of his promotion, Raj gets a bad surprise.  The Big Boss' wife is Sonia, his one-time girlfriend, who is also the new managing director of his company.  She announces Raj's promotion; not to CEO but to seat on the Board of Directors. The party that evening sets the stage for disasters to come.


4. The flashback description of the early days of Raj and Sonia's relationship (before they broke up) was nothing short of beautifully done, lovely and evocative.  Then she leaves him to pursue Ranjit Roy.  The transition is difficult.  Raj thought they had something; clearly Sonia did not.  Her career and ambition are everything to her.


5. Why she is angry at Raj after she marries the big boss Ranjit Roy is hard to see.  She arranges a private meeting, comes on to him; he resists, but not hard enough. Worse yet, he rejects her before anything happens.  Then she brings charges of sexual impropriety against him with her husband.  The next day Ranjit Roy demands he resign; that's just the beginning.  Raj does not resign; he goes to the office and works.  Harsher methods are brought to bear against him, including legal charges.


6. The ferocity of Sonia's attack is met by the strength of Priya's defensive energies and the loyalty of his defense team and friends.  Of course, there also turns out to be business reasons driving this mess, plus dirty tricks.


7. Who comes out the better in this horrible waste of resources, time, money, and reputation?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Bollywood version of Disclosure (USA, 1994) with singing and dancing.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Excellent camera work and 2.35 aspect ratio.


2. Sound: 10/10 Delightful music and singing.  No problems with conversational voice.


3. Acting: 8/10 Good.


4. Screenplay: 9/10 Well done adaptation.


5. Musical Numbers: 10/10 Beautiful, energetic, enjoyable.  The first number is about being in a quagmire, and sailing one's heart in a quagmire.  Yikes!  Sets the tone for the rest of the contentious script.  The second, third, and fourth numbers continue the high quality.

20131017: Horror Review--Dumplings

Dumplings (Gaau Ji)

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Hong Kong live action feature length film, 2004, NR, 90 minutes, horror.  Spoken language is Cantonese; English subtitles.
2. IMDB: 6.8/10.0 from 5,209 users. Aspect 1.85.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet,' and 70% liked it from 5,878 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.4/5.0 from 73,115 user ratings.
5. Directed by: Fruit Chan.
6. Starring: Bai Ling as Mei (the cook), Tony Leung Ka Fai as Li Sije, Pauline Lau as Masseuse (Li's maid), Meme Tian as Connie, Miriam Yeung Chin Wah as Mrs. Li.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Aunt Mei cooks special dumplings that taste bad, but supposedly help women keep their health and good looks.  Mrs. Li is a former TV star who has more or less aged out of stardom.  She tries Aunt Mei's dumplings, and spits out the first one.  Mei talks her into resuming, after burying the rejected dumpling in the pot of one of her plants.


2. Mr. Li, a late midde-aged man, is having an affair with the masseuse, who looks to be early twenties in age.  Mrs. Li is discouraged by his excuses to leave town, but does not scratch very deep about it.


3. As the film continues, it becomes clear what the 'secret ingredient' is.  Aunt Mei used to be a surgeon in China.  In obstetrics.  In Hong Kong, abortion is against the law, and Aunt Mei has to keep a low profile.


4. Mrs. Li decides to visit her husband at his hotel near his work...only to find he's not alone.  Oh, goodness.  She visits their house, which is being renovated.  She discovers her husband's egg fetish.  He eats the eggs when the young bird is fairly close to coming out.


5. When Mrs. Li finds out what the extra strong secret ingredient is (by direct sight), she freaks out.  Then she returns.  Aunt Mei talks about how the much better the first born is, and how important it is to do the abortion without the usual drugs, which would damage the nervous system of the diner.


6. Does it work?  For a while her husband is very interested in her physically.  Does it have side effects?  Yes, she gets skin rashes that give her a decidedly fishy smell.  


7. While talking to Aunt Mei, Mr. Li overhears everything on another phone extension.  He seeks out Aunt Mei and starts taking the 'cure' himself.  It would seem that is what his eating bird embryos was about, so this is probably a natural extension for him.


8. Aunt Mei convinces him that he could do quite well with the dumplings.  She's 64, and he finds her quite desirable.


9. The extra strong dumplings continue to have bad effects on Mrs. Li, who consults a physician.  He tells her she's allergic to something in the hotel she's staying at, recommends she return home, and prescribes some medicine for her.


10. Mrs. Li counter-attacks by directing the police to the home of the 15 year old, whose fetus she ate, and to Aunt Mei's apartments.  Her husband returns to her, and she convinces (via currency) the masseuse to have her husband's baby aborted.


11. Yikes.  Mrs. Li listened to Aunt Mei's recipe preparation talks.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: The desire for youth meets cannibalism in Hong Kong.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 9/10 On streaming Netflix, at least, the aspect looks more like 1.33 than 1.85.  Go figure. Still, the visuals look good for the most part, with framing, lighting, and focus all fine.


2. Sound: 8/10 Good, but I've heard better.


3. Acting: 9/10 Quite nice by the main players.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Quite a study in human degradation made possible by abundant money.