Category Archives: Biography

The Favourite

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The Favourite                    4 ½ stars

The Favourite is the latest film from director Yorgos Lanthismos who famously brought us The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer. The film is an unusual costume drama to say the least that covers part of the reign of Queen Anne of England in the early Eighteenth century when England was at war with France in the War of Spanish Succession.  The English forces under the command of the Duke of Marlborough were victorious over the French.  The great cost of the war created a division in policy between the war hungry Whigs and Tories who pushed for a peace settlement.  None of the above matters much in the course of the movie as it is mainly concerned with the relationships between the Queen (Olivia Colman) and her close friend Lady Sarah Churchill (Rachel Wiesz) who is the wife of the Duke of Marlborough, and a new arrival at the palace, a lowly maid formerly from an aristocratic family, Abigail (Emma Stone).  This is no ordinary period costume film.  It is a roudy and uproarious comedy full of sharp wit and sexual innuendo.  The movie never leaves the setting of the palace and we only hear about the war through the reports that some English nobles provide.  In fact, all but the main three women in the cast fulfil fairly minor roles.  The movie is completely carried by Colman, as the ailing Queen who requires constant attention from the staff, Wiesz, who constantly manipulates the Queen to get what she wants and Stone, as she apples her womanly charms to gain favor in the Queen’s eyes.  Sarah and Abigail spend most of the film finding ways to better one another and become the Queen’s favourite friend and advisor.  I would say the movie portrays a completely irreverent depiction of English royalty which contributes to its success.  I believe the movie will be rewarded when awards time comes around and thoroughly recommend it.  Also, the movie reveals a little known fact, that there were plenty of lesbian love affairs going on in the English palace in this period, something I had not heard in any history courses.

Boy Erased

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Boy Erased          4 stars

Writer-Director-Actor Joel Edgerton brings to film the true story of Jared (Lucas Hedges), an eighteen year old boy who is outed as gay to the shock and disapproval of his parents.  In order to get over the shame felt by his father (Russel Crowe) young Jared is convinced he should undergo gay conversion therapy and be sent away to a camp for an undetermined period of time where little is known of the practices there.  The movie gives us a peek into the world of Conversion Therapy, as it is usually carried out on underage children, where they are to be converted into heterosexuals.  This practice is nearly unanimously condemned by psychologists as ineffective and harmful, but it still exists in most states.  The leader of the therapy sessions is Victor Sykes (Joel Edgerton) who employs techniques that can only be described as cruel and disturbing.  The methods used only seem to instill a sense of self-loathing in the young subjects.  The movie also shows us the attitudes toward homosexuality held by most in certain religious institutions, in the case, Southern Baptist and the weight of guilt that can be placed on young people.  Despite the dark material of this movie there is eventually an uplifting feel to it by the time the credits role.  Last year’s “Call Me by Your Name” gives a sharp contrast of a parent’s reaction to realizing they have a gay son.  In that movie, the father had an accepting and even loving treatment toward his son.  In “Boy Erased”, there is the threat of being expelled from the family if the gayness is not removed.  I found all of the performances in the film to be first rate, especially that of young Hedges who is building a long resume of significant dramatic roles.

Welcome to Marwen

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Welcome to Marwen                     4 stars

Welcome to Marwen from director Robert Zemeckis employs some very imaginative techniques to tell the story of Mark Hogencamp (Steve Carell), an illustrator who lost his memory after being beaten by some local thugs.  Having lost his drawing talent Mark has created a fantasy world made up of miniatures dolls and models in an imaginary town in Brussels during World War II.  Mark has an alter ego named Hoagie represented by an American airman doll who frequently takes on Nazi soldiers aided by some very courageous women who make up the town’s population.  Each of the women figures represents a woman who plays a part in Mark’s life.  Mark lives alone outside of town and seems to be a broken man, but he manages to stay connected to people through his town called Marwen which he photographs creating intricate stories about his characters.  I found the movie quite engaging with the way it moves from the fantasy world to reality and how the events in Marwen are related to things going on in Mark’s real world.  The special effects are well done using stop action photography and animation to create some great action sequences.  The story is based on the actual true events of Mark Hogencamp who created this imaginary world and became famous through exhibitions of his photography.  I found the movie uplifting and entertaining which apparently most movie critics don’t see based on the mostly negative reviews it has been getting.  Robert Zemeckis has been making movies for ages and I am sure most viewers have seen some which includes Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Cast Away and Forrest Gump.  In my opinion he has another winner that more people should be seeing.

Golda

Golda                    2 stars

If you are as old as me, you can remember the days in 1973 when there was a war raging when Israel was attacked by the armies of Syria and Egypt that was called the Yom Kippur War. This was the fourth of the Arab-Israeli wars and a very closely fought one that lasted for 19 days. The outcome was uncertain until Israel succeeded in trapping and isolating an Egyptian army forcing a cease fire. The movie Golda tells that story, but mainly from the perspective of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir with an unrecognizable Hellen Mirren buried in makeup in the role of Meir. The movie focuses primarily on her interactions with the cabinet and the generals as they struggle to make the best decisions to save Israel and her conversations with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (Liev Schrieber of Asteroid City and Ray Donovan: The Movie). There are also frequent scenes of Meir, who is suffering from lymphoma, being cared for by her personal assistant (Camille Cottin of A Haunting in Venice and House of Gucci). What’s missing are any battle scenes showing what is going on in the field. Instead, we have the generals discussing the situation over battle maps and radio transmissions from commanders and soldiers yelling of how they are being swarmed and killed by the Egyptians. We get no background of what led to the war or even much about the general international situation. While Mirren’s acting talents are on full display here, showing Meir’s pain over the casualties suffered by the Israeli troops, we don’t get much in the way of her own background. Golda is mainly a history lesson about this war of long ago and not a very good one.

Stieg Larsson: The Man Who Played With Fire

Stieg Larsson: The Man Who Played With Fire.  4 1/2 stars

This documentary by Henrik Georgsson tells us much of the life story of the renowned author Stieg Larsson who wrote The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Before he died in 2004 he worked tirelessly as a journalist dedicated to exposing the right wing racist groups who were and continue to become a stronger political force in Sweden. This he did despite the attacks and death threats against the small group of reporters working at his publication. The movies follows him from the time he was a small boy until his death. It shows the rise of the hate groups in the nineties after nobody in the seventies imagined that Nazi type organizations could resurface again. The director used his access to those close to the subject and his materials to give us a vivid picture of this man who believed in Democracy and that it is necessary to defend it from those who would undermine it because of their fear of those who look different from them. The movie serves a warning to those in many other countries as well that fascism is not yet defeated. In that respect it has much in common with The Edge of Democracy which I viewed earlier. Both are my highest rated documentaries.

Society of the Snow

Society of the Snow        4 ½ stars

You have probably heard the story before. I know I have a few times. In 1972 a plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team and friends and family crashed in the snow-covered Andes mountains while on their flight to Chile. The plane had 40 passengers. Several of the passengers survived the crash. Weeks later after the search was abandoned two members of the team crossed the Andes on foot and told the world that they were alive. 16 people were still alive having survived in part by resorting to cannibalism on the bodies of those who died. The incredible story was previously made into the English language movie Alive in 1993. Society of the Snow is a Spanish language telling, made by J. A. Bayona, who previously made The Impossible, the story of a family caught in the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. The new film depicts the events of the tragedy including acts of heroism performed by several of the young victims who were mostly young men in their twenties. It shows the initial crash that most of the passengers somehow survived, the hope for a rescue that didn’t come, and an avalanche hitting the fuselage taking more lives. The movie shows how they were forced to choose to use the dead as nourishment and how a select few had the task of retrieving the food so that the rest would not know who it was they were consuming. The film also focuses on the emotional aspects of the ordeal and the members’ devotion to one another. Bayona and the actors have made the film one about survivalist adventure but also about spirituality. At times it is a tough one to watch but is certainly worth it. It was nominated for two Academy Awards in 2024. The film is available on Netflix. If you see it be sure to check out the How the movie was made, video. The roles were all filled with non-actors, and they had to do the scenes chronologically so they could lose weight progressively during the filming.

Flamin’ Hot

Flamin’ Hot         2 ½ stars

A few years ago, we saw the release of Flamin’ Hot, a movie about the inventor of a new flavor of Frito Lays Cheetos, matching the name of the movie. Although I had heard of the film at the time I hadn’t seen it until now. It tells the story about Richard Montañez, a poor, young Mexican-American man trying to support a family who snagged a job at the local Frito Lay plant in the early eighties as a janitor and then had and sold the idea of making a new, spicy flavor of Cheetos that came to be known as Flamin’ Hot. This is another of the corporate success movies that have shown up in recent years, like Air, Tetris and Blackberry that tell of the people behind a successful product. It is also the directorial debut of Eva Longoria who you may recognize from TV shows like Only Murders in the Building and Desperate Housewives. There are appealing things about Flamin’ Hot like the enthusiasm of the main character, Richard (Jesse Garcia) and his never say quit attitude toward his mission to save the jobs of those who work in the factory and his love of family. His story is inspirational as he goes against the protocol of the corporate structure to try to sell his idea of a product that would appeal to the Hispanic community despite his being just a janitor. Unfortunately, according to a few sources the story is mostly untrue with events in the movie being exaggerated. Parts of the movie I found corny like the narration that Garcia gives and scenes where the executives speak like Mexican fighting cholos voiced by Garcia. Though parts of the movie were entertaining, I couldn’t lose sight of the fact that it was selling a story of identity consumerism that apparently is not quite true. The movie earned an Academy Award Nomination for Original Song for “The Fire Inside” in 2024.

Vice

Vice                                       4 stars

In what has to be one of the zaniest movies of the year screenwriter Adam McKay and actor Christian Bale take on a biopic of Vice-President Dick Cheney, following him from a drunk and college drop out to becoming the most powerful man in the world as the VP to George W. Bush.  Bale does an amazing job of immersing himself in the part, gaining over 40 pounds to become the short speckles wearing Cheney.  He has the speech patterns and mannerisms down perfectly.  The film takes us through many decades as Cheney takes an assignment working for Donald Rumsfeld (Steve Carell), becomes Chief of Staff for President Ford, Secretary of Defense for President George H. W. Bush and finally the VP to George W. Bush (Sam Rockwell in another great performance)  The film does an outlandish take on everything you may remember from the Bush administration, the Iraq war, the surveillance of US citizens, the enhanced interrogation techniques and the black sites for holding prisoners.  We see how he took control of the situation during 9/11 while Bush was still on Air Force One.  Cheney’s brashness is sometimes shown in comedic fashion as he doesn’t hesitate tell others what needs to be done.  Especially enlightening is his conversation with Bush before he accepts the nomination when he suggests that the Vice President take care of mundane things like foreign policy, intelligence, budgetary matters and defense leaving the president take handle the important things.  The film also takes time to show a softer side of him in the moments with his wife Lynne (Amy Adams, which you have to see) and his two daughters.  He even handles Mary’s coming out as gay well.  Though it is mostly a comedy, it leaves us something to contemplate as it alludes to the current administration and how it is that we have reached this point in history.  Look for Vice to get substantial attention this awards season.

Mary Queen of Scots

Mary Queen of Scots                      2 ½ stars

Mary Queen of Scots is a partly historical, partly fictional account of sixteenth century England when Mary Stuart (Saoirse Ronan), the teenage queen returns to Scotland to claim the crown and threatened the rule of Queen Elizabeth I (Margot Robbie) over England.  The film is remarkable in its sets, costumes and dialogue, but gets bogged down in the story that focuses on the men who serve the monarchs as they scheme to gain power and influence for themselves.  We are frequently bombarded with the message that these two “sisters” could accomplish great things if they could find a way to work together and unite the two kingdoms.  Elizabeth’s authority is questioned by the fact that she has not produced a royal heir and Mary is despised by many of her own people because she is both a Catholic and a woman in a mainly Protestant land.  I was confused a bit by the multitude male characters all sporting beards with their English accent, so had some trouble keeping them straight.  Since there are two different kingdoms involved, the two main characters never come together except for one seemingly fabricated scene near the end.  The film does deliver one clear message being most of the men are unwilling to accept the authority of a woman which is still a relevant message today.  The film is still worth seeing for the performances of both Ronan and Robbie who are genuine talents in Hollywood.  David Tennant appears as John Knox, the Protestant leader who preaches against the whorish ways of Mary and is unrecognizable in the long beard and heavy accent.  This year a more entertaining movie than Mary Queen of Scots about British royalty is The Favourite.

Darkest Hour

Darkest Hour                      4 ½ stars

I finally got to see Darkest Hour, the 2017 release about Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of England during World War II.  This film starring Gary Oldman follows Churchill through the first four weeks of his service in the office.  It is the time of greatest peril to the country, when the Nazi war machine was raging across Europe conquering one country after another.  Not long after assuming office the Germans invade Belgium and France and threaten to destroy most of Britain’s army as they are caught facing the coast at the English Channel.  Besides this threat, Churchill has to deal with opposing Parliament members who are scheming to cause his downfall.  Gary Oldman puts on an inspiring performance as he captures Churchill’s mannerisms and his style of speaking under some very convincing makeup.  We only get some glimpses of what is happening in Europe as the bombing of the British forces continues.  Most of the action centers on Churchill’s interactions with the King (Ben Mendelsohn), his wife Clemmie (Kristin Scott Thomas), a secretary (Lily James) and a collection of common people he encounters in public.  The scene stealing moments come when he delivers his greatest speeches though, including the memorable We Shall Never Surrender speech before parliament.  I am just sorry I waited so long to see it and that I missed the effect it would have in the theater.  The picture won two Oscars last year including Best Makeup and Best Actor for Oldman.