Category Archives: 2018

Operation Finale

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Operation Finale                               3 ½ stars

Operation Finale is the newly released film by director Chris Weitz that tells the true story of the capture of Adolf Eichmann, the mastermind of the final solution by Nazi Germany, the killing of the Jewish population in Europe during World War II.  Eichmann had fled to Argentina after the war along with many other German Nazis where he started a new life with a new Spanish name and family.  The agents of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency have been tirelessly hunting down these former Nazis since the war and in 1960 believe they may have located the long sought after Eichmann in Buenos Aires.  Eichmann, masterfully portrayed by Ben Kingsley maintains that eternal defense that he was merely “following orders” and was but “a cog in a machine”.  Oscar Isaac is Malkin, one of the agents of Mossad who manages to connect with the captured Eichmann in the many conversations with him as the agents are awaiting their opportunity to smuggle him out of the country back to Israel where he is to stand trial.  Isaac does his usual creditable acting performance as the Israeli agent.  Most of the movie focusses on the time that the Israelis have Eichmann in captivity where they attempt to get him to confess his role in the killing of the Jews.  Only in the first part of the movie do we see how the agents find and suspect they may have found the elusive Eichmann.  This part of the film seems unconvincing to me as they seem to have only the thinnest of evidence that they have found the right man.  (Early in the film we see Malkin involved in the killing of a man mistakenly thought to be Eichmann.)  Also, there are flashbacks to scenes of mass killings during the war that are shown as memories of what happened that may or may not be accurate.  What is interesting is Kingsley’s portrayal of the way Eichmann goes from admitting little of his involvement to outright pride of what he accomplished in the face of his captors.  By the end of the film there is no doubt that the agents have found a true psychopath who embodies the phrase “the banality of evil”.  Director Chris Weitz has had a hit and miss career as director, giving us hits About a Boy and A Better Life, while also delivering disappointments like The Golden Compass and the Twilight Saga: New Moon.  Operation Finale was good but not the greatest of his work.

Searching

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Searching                            4 stars

One of the most original movies to come along lately is Searching which is in theaters now.  It stars John Cho as a widowed father whose teenage daughter has mysteriously gone missing and it is up to him and one police detective to find out what happened to her.  The hunt leads him into the world of his daughter’s social media stored on her computer where he finds out he did not know his daughter very well.  The original aspect is that the movie is told entirely on the screens of computers, smart phones and cameras.  We never see any of the characters in the normal way seen in most movies.  Though there have been many films centered around phones and social media, Searching takes it a step further and does an admirable job of it.  The method of presentation is also aided by having an interesting story that slowly unfolds in front of us as well as some excellent acting from John Cho and Debra Messing who plays the police detective.  I hope it’s not giving anything away if I say things are not what they appear in this movie.  This is a first effort by Screenwriter and Director Aneesh Chaganty.  This 25 year old quit his job in order to make this movie after making commercials for Google.  It looks like he has a promising career ahead of him.

Juliet, Naked

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Juliet, Naked                      4 ½ stars

For a pleasant change I took in a romantic comedy, Juliet, Naked which is recently released and stars Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke and Chris O’Dowd.  This was not your typical silly derivative romantic comedy, but one that has a more real feel to it, one that has several laughs that can be described as low key, but still very amusing.  O’Dowd is Duncan who lives with his long time girlfriend Annie (Byrne) in a quiet British coastal town and is obsessed with Tucker Crowe, an American rock star who made a splash twenty five years earlier and hasn’t been heard from since.  Duncan even has a website dedicated to his favorite artist and one day receives a recording of an early unfinished version of a Crowe album called Juliet, Naked.  Duncan of course thinks this is a fantastic find, but girlfriend Annie is not so impressed so she writes an anonymous review dismissing the recording as nothing very special, much to the disgust of Duncan.  Well, eventually who should find the review but Tucker Crowe (Ethan Hawke) himself.  Crowe actually agrees with Annie and the two set out to have a regular ongoing correspondence of everything going on in their lives.  We find out that Crowe has made a mess of his life having several children by different women, all of whom he has declined to take responsibility for.  Of course you can see that these two internet friends will have to get together and explore how they can relate in person.  This is when things really start to happen and life gets much more complicated.  The movie works well with its genuine writing and some outstanding performances by all three main characters.  It is also aided by the contributions of two young actors as two of Crowe’s children.  Juliet, Naked is based on a novel by Nick Hornby and works well as a comedy that deals with some real relationship issues, but also delivers its share of comedic moments.  The movie is made even better when you consider it has original music actually sung by Ethan Hawke!

Peppermint

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Peppermint                        1 star

In what has to be one of the worst movies of the year, Peppermint from director Pierre Morel puts Jennifer Garner on the screen as a vigilante mom who is out for revenge against the drug cartel that killed her husband and daughter.  There is nothing original in this poorly written action thriller as we go from one predictable scene to another.  The premise is that ordinary housewife, Riley North (Garner) disappears for five years as she trains to become a one woman killing machine to hunt down those responsible for killing her family including those in the criminal justice system who failed to convict the killers that she personally identified.  There is little background on how she achieved this.  There is no mentor, no account of the training that she went through.  She just appears one day when the killing starts and she is regarded as a hero on the local social media.  Law enforcement and the FBI are stymied in their efforts to find her.  All of the characters seem very stereotypical and one dimensional including the gang members who are all Hispanic and the police and prosecutors.  When Riley appears at the gang’s hideout it seems that she cannot miss, killing a gang member with every shot.  Such predictability just lead to the movie being boring.  Please do not go to see Peppermint.  It is automatically a candidate for worst movie of the year.

Love, Gilda

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Love, Gilda                          5 stars

Love, Gilda is a must see documentary for anyone who was a fan of the late Gilda Radner or anyone who watched Saturday Night Live through the first seasons of the seventies.  This film by Lisa DaPolito takes pictures and home movies from Gilda’s early years as well as her personal writings during her brief career and puts together a fascinating story of challenges and success and the loneliness that was Gilda Radner’s life.  It follows her through theatrical productions in college, her time in Second City in Toronto and those famous years on Saturday Night Live.  It also covers her challenges she faced in the eighties as she struggled to find her way after television, her meeting and marrying Gene Wilder and finally her battle with cancer that took her at 42 or 43.  The film goes into her creating many of the characters we remember so well like Lisa Loepner, Emily Litela and Roseanne Rosannadanna.   I had a great time laughing at her antics and remembering what a great talent she was.

A Simple Favor

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A Simple Favor                  4 ½ stars

A Simple Favor starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively seems to be a movie that is many things.  It starts as a buddy comedy movie, turns into a mystery suspense and then into a thriller.  All this is done in a good entertaining way that keeps our interest throughout as the plot brings a few unexpected twists our way.  It brings together the two talented actresses Anna Kendrick (without her Pitch Perfect singing) and Blake Lively (my favorite shark fighter girl from The Shallows) as best friends until one of them suddenly disappears without explanation leaving the other to solve the mystery of what happened together with the missing woman’s husband (Henry Golding).  The comedic Kendrick and well-paced plot is further aided by the most interesting choice of French pop music as a background that I have heard in quite a while.  Just be sure you don’t step out and miss any of the surprises along the way.  It can be a challenge to keep up with at times.

Assassination Nation

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Assassination Nation      3 ½ stars

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this film, but I did expect a great deal of violence which Assassination Nation did deliver on.  This drama by Sam Levinson follows four high school teenage girls who engage in social media like all other teenagers and do things their parents would not approve of.  Then we find out there is a hacker who is releasing secrets of an assortment of local officials and ruining their careers stirring up anger of the local citizens.  This pattern continues until the town essentially loses its mind resulting in horrendous violence being leveled at our teenage subjects.  This film takes on many current issues like misogyny, hypocrisy and the loss of privacy doing so with a vicious approach.  I think it is showing us what it would be like if we took the anger expressed on social media and applied it to meeting people in person on the streets.  This is not a pleasant prospect.  I typically don’t go for extremely violent movies, but give them a chance if there is more to them than just the violence.  This one has a message that fits well with the anger being expressed in our society today.  It seems to be asking us to have some understanding for one another before we all kill each other.

A Star Is Born

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A Star Is Born                     5 stars

The film that is being talked about as the movie of the year has finally arrived.  There has been a lot of hype building over the new remake of “A Star Is Born” starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga in the lead roles and I can dare say it has lived up to the hype.  Cooper who is an accomplished actor is not just the star as country rock singer Jackson Maine, but also co-wrote and directed Star.  Lady Gaga already an amazing musician is in her first starring role as Ally, the talented singer songwriter who has been trying to make it in a tough business, but whose attempts are only met with disappointment.  When the two meet, the romance starts and her career takes off, while he slowly deteriorates as he is sunk by alcoholism and drug abuse.  It is a very familiar tale as it has been done three times before, twice about Hollywood actors, then in 1976 about musicians with Barbra Streisand.  This time it is again about the music industry, but Gaga makes her part completely believable since without all the makeup and glitter we know her for, she looks quite ordinary and not attractive. We can believe it when the industry says she doesn’t have the looks.  I am told that Cooper actually learned to change his voice and does a remarkable job as a singer for this role.  In the scene where Jackson forces Ally on stage at his own show and gets her to sing her own song, it becomes unforgettable as she belts out the song that will be long remembered.  The scenes between the two stars seem completely real and believable as they are obviously falling for each other.  I cannot leave Sam Elliot’s role unmentioned as Bobby, the older brother of Jackson who raised him after their father died and who stands watch as Jackson slowly destroys himself.  The story is of course very familiar as one performer rises to stardom while her partner falls to his demons and can only drag down her career with him.  This new version of A Star Is Born should not be missed.  It will be talked about for months and I will bet that it will receive no less than ten Academy Award nominations next year. 

Bad Times at the El Royale

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Bad Times at the El Royale           4 ½ stars

From the man who wrote The Martian and World War Z comes one of the most fun movies I have seen in a while.  Bad Times at the El Royale brings seven strangers together at a rundown hotel on the border of California and Nevada for a fateful night when someone is bound to die.  This movie is full of surprises with several turns that makes you wonder what is coming next.  Plus it has one amazing cast bringing together the talents of Jeff Bridges, Jon Hamm, Chris Hemsworth, Dakota Johnson and a relative newcomer Cynthia Erivo.  It starts with the near simultaneous arrival of four guests at the previously mentioned El Royale hotel, a place that was once a great attraction for celebrities and stars but is now rundown and has lost its appeal.  But there is something very sinister about the place, something that our guests will discover very soon.  The story is told in a nonlinear fashion as it slowly reveals secrets of each of our unfortunate characters until the shocking scene that will determine everyone’s fate.  The best scenes have to be those shared by Bridges and Erivo as they go from acquaintances to enemies to trusted allies.  This is one movie lovers need to see and I am surprised to see it hasn’t gotten more attention.  I hope we will hear more from writer director Drew Goddard in the future.

The Old Man & the Gun

The Old Man & the Gun                 4 ½ stars

There is yet another fine movie showing in the theaters now. That is The Old Man & the Gun featuring two long time legends of Hollywood, Robert Redford and Sissy Spacek.  It is a movie driven by the two main characters that really doesn’t have a lot going on.  It is based on the true story of Forrest Tucker, a convict who in the early eighties escaped from prison and carried out a string of bank robberies at age seventy that confounded the police.  What really drives the movie is Redford’s charm and his smile.  The most enjoyable parts are when he is talking with or charming Jewel (Spacek) while she thoroughly enjoys his company while believing little of what he tells her about himself.  Casey Affleck contributes to rounding out the film as he portrays the Texas lawman trying to track down Tucker and his Over the Hill gang as the crime spree spreads from one state after another.  Redford has said that this is his last picture as an actor.  I don’t know if that is true, but The Old Man & the Gun is a brilliant send off in any case.