Category Archives: 2019

Just Mercy

Just Mercy                          4 stars

Just Mercy, written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton is mainly a legal drama about a young lawyer, Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan) from the East coast who has taken a case to free a wrongly convicted black man of a brutal murder in rural Alabama in the early nineties.  Walter McMillian (a superb Jamie Foxx) is a private logger who was sentenced to death for the killing of a white teenage girl based solely on the unsubstantiated testimony of a convicted felon who was pressured into identifying McMillian as the killer by a corrupt local sheriff.  There was no physical evidence linking him to the crime.  The film is based on a true story about an attorney who is still active today fighting for unjustly convicted, mostly black prisoners.  It is the type of story we have seen frequently from Hollywood, but is aided by the quiet reflective scenes involving Foxx who just wants his previous life with his family back.  The villains of the story are the usual corrupt district attorney and sheriff who care more about their own records than about justice for the citizens.  The movie is a long one at 136 minutes, but the viewer stays involved due to the performances of the three main actors, Jordan, Foxx and Brie Larson as Bryan’s support advocate.  The movie clearly portrays the prejudices against black men that tear communities apart.  Despite the fact that it has been nearly thirty years since the events in the movie took place, many of these same problems are still with us today.  At the end of the movie, the postscript tells us that prisoners on death row are proved innocent at a rate of one out of nine, clearly an intolerable situation.  Please try to see Just Mercy when you get a chance.

Hustlers

Hustlers                               4 stars

Hustlers stars Constance Wu and Jennifer Lopez as strip club dancers who come up with a scheme to get even with their rich clients and former employers who have been taking advantage of them for years.  It stars Jennifer Lopez as an exotic dancer is probably the best role of her career.  What is there not to like about that?  How did Jennifer not get an Oscar nomination for this?

Ad Astra

Ad Astra                               4 stars

Ad Astra is last year’s emotional and grand science fiction movie that starred Brad Pitt as an astronaut sent on a mission to make contact with a rogue astronaut who is threatening the solar system.  It is a quiet contemplative film while also containing moments of intense action.  Past movies it has been compared to include Apocalypse Now and 2001: A Space Odyssey.  It opens with a thrilling scene where astronaut Roy McBride (Pitt) is helping in the construction of an enormous space antenna when disaster strikes sending him hurtling toward earth.  Later, he learns that a series of electrical disruptions may be due to a lost space mission sent to Neptune twenty years earlier that was commended by Roy’s father, Clifford (Tommy Lee Jones).  The Space Command has decided that Roy is the best suited to try to make contact with the rogue mission.  The movie has a realistic feel to it and the events in space seem to be plausible.  Private interests seem to have taken hold on the moon that even leads to space pirates with raiding parties!  The movie really succeeds with the quiet performance of Pitt aided by a fine Tommy Lee Jones.  There is also a small role for Donald Sutherland that is carried off well.  So, see Ad Astra for the role that Brad Pitt was not nominated for.

The Irishman

The Irishman                      5 stars

Much has been written about Martin Scorsese’s newest gangster movie, The Irishman, about the relationship between Teamster union president, Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) and mobster hitman Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro).  It is quite a masterpiece and at nearly three and a half hours in length, a challenge to last through in a single sitting.  There are plenty of brutal murder scenes as one would expect in a mobster movie and strained relationships between family members especially the women involved.  The special language used by the gangsters is always present as the characters have a certain way with words that sanitizes their true intent.  We hear Frank talk about how he is sorry about his life when we all know he doesn’t really mean it.  The movie was especially expensive to make which is partially due to the special effects used to “deage” the main characters to allow us to see them over a span of fifty plus years.  Never before have we seen what aging mobsters are like. (Since they typically don’t live to see their later years.)  Here we see Frank in a nursing home after all his associates are long gone and his family will no longer see him.  I especially want to take note of the performance of Joe Pesci as Russell Bufalino, the Italian mob boss in an understated role different from how we are accustomed to seeing him.  He deserves his Academy Award nomination.  The film earned ten nominations altogether and deserves its standing as one of the best films of the year.

One Child Nation

One Child Nation                              4 ½ stars

One Child Nation is a documentary about a subject we have all heard something about but that very few of us know the whole story.  The filmmaker, Nanfu Wang tells us in very personal terms about China’s policy of allowing families to have only a single child in the name of improving the productivity of the country.  This policy, that lasted from 1979 until 2015 was responsible for many thousands of forced abortions, sterilizations, infanticide and government abductions of children from their parents.  The film was thoroughly researched and tells the story through many personal interviews with those who were forced to carry out the government policy and with those directly affected by it.  Wang was personally affected by it as she was born in China during the policy and had a younger brother who might have been lost if he had turned out to be a girl.  Wang herself has a boy’s name because her family was hoping for a boy, which is the much preferred gender to have as children.  In the nineties when international adoptions opened up in China, the government started the practice of forcing children to be separated from their parents and placed in orphanages where they could then be allowed to be adopted by western parents.  The film is an important one to see as it shows what an authoritarian government can be capable of.  This is the second documentary from Wang who was only in her early thirties when it was made.  Her films which were filmed in China has brought her unwelcome attention from the Chinese government.  The interviews are done in Chinese, but her narration is all done in English.  Let’s hope that she continues her good work in the future.

Marriage Story

Marriage Story                  4 ½ stars

Marriage Story, written and directed by Noah Baumbach is probably his best work to date.  That is saying a lot as I have previously enjoyed Mistress America, While We’re Young, Frances Ha and Greenberg among others.  Unlike those earlier comedies this one is strictly drama as it tells us about a marriage that is coming apart.  It accurately shows the pain and emotion that comes with the impending divorce of Charlie and Nicole (played by Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson).  The pair have decided to divorce but haven’t worked out the details when actress Nicole moves from New York to Los Angeles with the couple’s son, Henry, leaving Charlie a successful play director to work with his theater group in New York.  Things become serious when Nicole hires divorce lawyer Nora (Laura Dern) and she asks for full custody of their son.  The writing of the dialogue is first rate which coupled with convincing performances from the three main actors makes the discussions and conflicts all seem real.  You will feel the pain coming through as the couple go from loving each other to resentment and distrust.  Laura Dern especially is excellent showing that she deserves the Academy Award for her acting.  You won’t be laughing through this movie, but will be gripped by the performances.  If you are more interested in comedies though, you should check out Baumbach’s earlier screenwriting efforts.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Portrait of a Lady on Fire               4 ½ stars

Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu or Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a complex love story with only female characters set in eighteenth century France that is certainly very difficult to describe.  A young painter, Marianne is commissioned to paint a portrait of a noblewoman’s daughter (Heloise) who has spent her adult life in a convent and is to be married to a Milanese suitor.  The problem is Heloise is to think that Marianne is there as a companion and is not to know that her real purpose is to paint a portrait.  Thus, the painter has to do the painting in secret without the benefit of a posed subject.  The relationship between the two young women changes and grows throughout the slowly developing plot as we learn more about Heloise.  How she wants to enjoy her freedom and is less than enthused about her planned marriage, about the suicide of her sister and the failed attempt at a portrait by a previous painter.  It is a well put together love story about a slowly growing attraction between the characters and a resentment of the circumstances of their lives.  The story is told with very few characters and a minimum of dialogue.  An additional feature is how the film shows just how difficult it is for a painter to create a painting, something I don’t remember seeing before.  For those who love period romances, Portrait of a Lady on Fire is highly recommended.

Missing Link

Missing Link                                        4 stars

Missing Link is yet another animated stop motion effort by Laika Studios, the company that made Coraline, Boxtrolls, Paranorman and Kubo and the Two Strings.  This time they take us on an adventure to find the legendary Bigfoot in the American Northwest.  Sir Lionel Frost, voiced by Hugh Jackman, wants to be accepted by an elitist club in London and thinks the way to do this is to discover an unknown giant creature.  When he receives an anonymous letter telling him where to find the legendary Sasquatch, he is off on an adventure, only to discover that the creature is not at all what he imagined.  The Sasquatch is a mild, friendly, educated giant furry creature that is lonely and only wants to be among his own kind.  In an interesting twist the voice is that of Zach Galifianakis, not exactly the loud tough guy type.  The rest of the movie has our characters traveling across the globe while being pursued by enemies and accompanied by Lionel’s old flame, Adelina, voiced by Zoe Saldana, trying to reach their destination of the Himalayas where the yeti are reputed to live.  The animation is first rate like the previous Laika movies, as the characters seem alive and there is plenty of intense action.  Missing Link may not be as off beat as the previous efforts, but it is definitely worth seeing.

Where’s My Roy Cohn?

Where’s My Roy Cohn?                                 4 stars

The documentary Where’s My Roy Cohn? was on my list to see at Sundance, but I didn’t get the chance to see it then.  Thankfully I found it on cable so just saw it during this time of quarantine.  This film by Matt Tyrnauer tells us about one of the most notorious (and ugliest) figures in the latter twentieth century of American politics.  It covers his career starting with his participating as a prosecutor in the trial of the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg resulting in their execution, extending to the Communist hearings with Joseph McCarthy and his connections with New York mobsters as a defense attorney often getting light sentences for them.  The film features many interviews with his various associates and relatives (including Roger Stone), none of whom have a kind thing to say about his character.  However, the point is made that he was a sharp lawyer who was always ready for a fight and would stop at nothing to destroy his enemies.  Through the seventies and eighties Cohn had close contacts with the administrations of Nixon and Reagan playing a role in some of the harshest right wing policies that continue to this day.  The film also goes into Cohn’s gay lifestyle, how it was no real secret that he associated with gay men and frequented gay night clubs.  Yet he always maintained that he was not gay up to his death from AIDs in 1986.  Included is Cohn’s role as mentor to a young New York real estate tycoon named Donald J. Trump.  According to the film Trump learned to never admit being wrong and to never make apologies.  Cohn successfully defended the Trumps in an anti-discrimination lawsuit involving denying housing to African Americans.  Trump even used Cohn’s mob ties to get his Trump Tower built in New York City in the early eighties.  Given how this man is portrayed, one would probably not describe the film as impartial.  It shows how he made a career of using lies and deceit to destroy lives for sake of personal gain throughout his career and how he had no empathy toward fellow humans.  Whether or not you are familiar with Roy Cohn’s career, I recommend you see this movie.

Corporate Animals

Corporate Animals                                           2 stars

Here is another of the movies I heard about at Sundance and was curious about.  Corporate Animals is a dark comedy about office politics by Patrick Brice, the director who brought us The Overnight.  Lucy (Demi Moore) is a self-absorbed CEO of a small company that is launching a new product: edible cutlery.  She is taking her staff of about eight people on a team building exercise in the desert in New Mexico.  The expedition guide, Brandon (Ed Helms) is in charge of leading the group.  Since Lucy wants to really challenge her staff she decides they should take the more dangerous path on their journey, leading them into a deep cave.  Once there the group becomes trapped underground after a cave in which also kills Brandon.  When it becomes clear that there is no way out the group descends into bitter accusations, fear and hate filled rants.  Revelations emerge of office affairs, corporate mismanagement and a little friendly cannibalism and a hallucinating assistant.  There were a few clever one liners, but the comedy got old after a while despite the film’s length of under 90 minutes.  Much of the movie happens in the dark making it hard to tell who is speaking all the time.  There are some good comedic actors including Isiah Whitlock, Martha Kelly, Dan Balledahl and Nasim Pedrad.  Look some of them up and you will probably recognize some.  For a really good time, look up Brice’s earlier creation, The Overnight , a much funnier movie.  Sorry, but I can’t recommend Corporate Animals.