6/15/14 Her, Best Original Screenplay, 2013
Ah, Spike Jonze, how you vex me. When I saw the preview for Her, I was initially intrigued by the concept of a human/Operating system relationship, then I thought, eh, don't really care, and then it was nominated and won an Oscar and it ended up on my list. Her is set in the future where you can personalize your own Operating System and have a virtual relationship with it. Joaquin Phoenix is Theodore Twombly, a man who redefines morose; Theodore just isn't very happy with life, he misses his soon to be ex-wife; has a great, but platonic relationship with Amy (Amy Adams) a video game designer; and isn't having much luck in the dating world. Theodore gets a new operating system with artificial intelligence and she names herself "Samantha" (Scarlett Johannson). Samantha evolves and eventually develops emotions and feelings, and helps Theodore to shed a good part of the dark cloud that hangs over him like Mount Doom. Theodore and Samantha can't have a physical relationship, but it does become intimate in a virtual way. Unfortunately for Theodore, Samantha has constant desire to grow and learn and have more relationships with others, including other Operating Systems. I like Joaquin Phoenix, even when he's in a crap movie (The Master), he is fully committed to the role and I am quickly becoming a Scarlett Johansson fan (I think I was indifferent before), and she did a great job as this disembodied character, using only her voice to act (even in animation, there is a character to relate to), and as I mentioned, I was interested in the concept. But, I guess, as the movie wore on, I was less and less interested. Whatever emotional or intellectual chord Spike Jonze strikes in other people, totally misses with me. I guess it made some people cry at the end. Her was nominated for several Oscars, but with the fields so deep in the acting, picture, song and other categories, it was a long shot.
6/21/14 Ernest & Celestine, nominated for Best Animated Feature, 2013
Haven't heard of it? Unfortunately, that's probably a pretty common response. Ernest & Celestine is not a blockbuster, it's not filled with special effects, CGI or a big soundtrack, but what it is is more important. It's a wonderfully small, cozy, charming movie. Ernest & Celestine was nominated for Best Animated Feature, going up against Frozen, Despicable Me 2, The Croods and The Wind Rises; if Frozen wasn't such a box office monster, Ernest & Celestine might have had more of a chance. Ernest is a bear (voiced by Forest Whitaker in an English version) who is very hungry and he goes into town. Celestine (Mackenzie Foy) is a young mouse, living in what seems to be an orphanage and is governed by The Grey One (the inimitable Lauren Bacall) who tells stories of big bad bears and what they want to do to little mice. Celestine is the only one who doesn't have this fear. Ernest and Celestine meet in some unusual circumstances and forge a strong bond (half the fun was being surprised at the turn of events, so you will have to see it for yourself). There are several other notable actors voicing characters, including Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman, William H. Macy and Paul Giamatti. There are some very dramatic scenes that younger kids may find scary, but they don't last too long and they are in between funny and heartwarming scenes. The story is wonderful and it would be nice to have a few more movies that are suitable for all ages (I actually watched this with my usual movie family sans the kid this time) and we all loved it. The animation is very subtle, with a watercolor feel and a muted palette. There's always a discussion about strong role models for young girls, and even though Celestine is a mouse, she's very brave and loving and wants to follow her dream (being an artist). Her relationship with Ernest is anything but traditional, but in a time where the definition of "family" is constantly being updated, this film accomplishes a lot in less than 90 minutes. I would give this two fist pumps and encourage you to get this from Netflix or your local library for your next family movie night.
6/22/14 The Abyss, Best Visual Effects, 1989
This movie suffers from a sever identity crisis. Is it a suspense film, an alien film, a sci-fi film? Yeah, I don't know either. A US submarine is inexplicably sunk, the crew is lost, but the Navy has to get it back because it has nuclear warheads on it. They don't have the equipment to go down, but a private oil firm does, and they send Ed Harris and his crew, with some Navy S.E.A.L.S. along for expertise with the armaments. Visually, the movie is pretty cool, and just reading about some of the filming techniques, very cool, but otherwise, I didn't care, don't care and you can't make me. It is like a waterlogged version of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I thought this would be suspenseful, it really wasn't; I thought it might be scary, it wasn't either; the aliens weren't even very cool. James Cameron is in love with himself; there is a director's cut of the movie that runs 170 minutes - that is almost three hours. I don't know, I just kept waiting for something else to happen. Maybe they should have just made it a rescue movie, a la The Poseidon Adventure. It won for Best Visual Effects, beating out The Adventures of Baron von Munchausen, which I saw in the theaters when it was first released, and I thought the effects were spectacular. I guess I'm glad I don't get a vote. There are scarier movies, more suspenseful movies and better acted movies, so unless you have a list to check, I'd skip it.
6/19/14 Crazy Love, Documentary, 2007
I don't remember how I stumbled upon this documentary, I probably saw something somewhere and followed it down the Wikipedia rabbit hole. Crazy Love is a documentary about Burt Pugach and Linda Riss; Pugach and Riss dated in the late 1950s, early 1960s, until Linda found out that Burt was still married. Linda tried to break off the relationship, but Burt was extremely possessive and jealous. He infamously hired some thugs to throw lye in Linda's face which ultimately blinded her. Pugach was found guilty and sentenced to jail time. Throughout this whole thing, Burt continued to profess his love for Linda. After Burt was released, fourteen years later, Burt and Linda began dating again and eventually married. Yes, that would be the "crazy love" part. They actually remained married until Linda died a few years ago, and despite some bickering captured during the interviews, they seemed to be in love. Burt Pugach really comes across as a schmuck, and you have to wonder what Linda saw in him before or after, although several people close to them say he treated her very well. There are a lot of documentaries out there, and unless this story really grabs your interest, you can probably skip it.
6/19/14 Rabbit-Proof Fence, 2002
This movie kept popping up in my Netflix recommendations and I kept ignoring it until I found out that Peter Gabriel had done the movie score, so I got it from the library and finally watched it. Rabbit-Proof Fence is set in Western Australia in the 1930s and is about the treatment towards young mix-race aboriginal children, called half-castes by the Australian government's protector for the aborigines, A.O. Neville. The movie is based on a true story and taken from a book written by aboriginal writer, Doris Pilkington Garimara about her mother. Kenneth Branagh plays A.O. Neville with just the right amount of paternalism and fervor, who believes in his righteous course of actions, actions that include tearing children away from their families to make them be 'more white'. Molly, her little sister, Daisy and their cousin, Gracie, are taken from their mothers and grandmother over 1500 miles away to the Moore River Settlement, where they can only speak English, must pray in the 'English way'. Girls who try to escape are inevitably caught by Moodoo the Tracker and whipped and put in an isolation box. Despite this threat, Molly is determined that the girls will find their way back, using the rabbit-proof fence, going through wilderness, going hungry, with the territorial authorities and Moodoo looking for them. Neville is beside himself that these three little girls could escape, and elude capture. Everlyn Sampi plays Molly with a strength and determination that is rarely found in grownups, much less a child, but she knows she will get home to her mother, she refuses to give up. Cool Hand Luke would have been proud of her. This film tells a story of the Stolen Generations that is probably not widely known in America, although America has its own parallel with the Native American Indian boarding schools where Native American children were taken from their homes and sent to schools to learn the European-American culture, speaking English, etc. Both practices were continued through the latter part of the 20th century; and they were carried out by people who really believed that they were doing these things in the best interests of the children. It does make it hard to watch at times, but it's worth it. Gabriel does his usual brilliant job at capturing the atmosphere of the moment (Birdy, Passion) and uses a vast array of international musicians.
6/21/14 The Way, Way Back, 2013
I had seen the trailer for The Way, Way Back in the theater and knew I wanted to see it; and then of course, there were a million movies I had to see and it didn't happen. Do you remember sitting in the back of your parents' or family friends' station wagon, and sitting in the 'way, way back'? Yeah, it was cool then, you were away from your parents' hearing and you could just hang out and be cool and perhaps make inappropriate gestures to the cars behind you, or wave, if you had manners. But, there is something uncool about Duncan (Liam James)sitting in the way, way back of his mother's boyfriend's station wagon on the way to the beach; it isolates him and separates him from his mom. Trent (Steve Carrell) is a total jerk, belittling and harassing Duncan in the guise of 'making it work'. Pam (Toni Collette) is Duncan's mom and is torn between her son and her boyfriend. Duncan doesn't really fit into the beach scene and stumbles across Water Wizz and Owen (Sam Rockwell), who has a don't give a shit attitude about most things. Duncan starts working at Water Wizz and finds a place he belongs and is happy, although he doesn't share his new-found happiness with his mom. The movie does a great job of balancing the humor of being an adolescent with some difficulty of coming from a divorced home and the usual angst of being a teenager. We had some laugh out loud moments, usually attributed to Allison Janney, who plays the intrusive, but well-meaning neighbor, Betty or Lewis (Jim Rash), the Schleprock of Water Wizz. Owen and Duncan forge a strong bond and you get the feeling that both actors really enjoyed themselves, and actually the whole cast. If you haven't seen it, add this to your list; it might be one to watch with your older kids (if you have them, I mean, don't go get some kids just to watch this movie). The soundtrack was really good and fit well with the movie. I wish I had seen this sooner, but I imagine I will watch it again. Collette and Carrell were both in Little Miss Sunshine, a movie that surprised me by how much I loved it; Janney was in Juno, Finding Nemo and "The West Wing", among others and can be funny or dramatic; Sam Rockwell pops up in movies, and some of those movies aren't very good, but he works as Owen, who could easily become overbearing and obnoxious.
June 2014, Above Suspicion, Series 1-4, TV series
"Above Suspicion" is an ITV series based on the novels of Lynda LaPlante, the same write who brought us "Prime Suspect". "Above Suspicion" stars Kelly Reilly and Ciaran Hinds as DI Anna Travis and DCS James Langdon. They frequently butt heads, Langdon being a very demanding governor. I binge-watched the series over the past two weeks, and I hope they do more. You can see Travis get her footing and feel more comfortable in challenging her co-workers and Langdon. The crimes in "Above Suspicion" are very graphic, especially in the first series, very similar to what was shown in "Prime Suspect"; it's no Miss Marple or Midsommer Murders; it's violent and full of profanity. Ciaran Hinds is so good; he portrays Langdon as blustery, somewhat chauvinistic, a flawed, but good copper. Reilly as Travis is also flawed, sometimes forgetting she is part of a team, annoying her co-workers; let's face it, nobody's perfect, but you are interested to see if maybe one day she will be the next DCI Tennyson.
Whew. I probably would have had a few more movies, but I took a little road trip down to Winterset and Van Meter, Iowa. In Van Meter, I went to the Bob Feller Museum to pay homage to one of the best pitchers, and gentlemen, in baseball. If you're a baseball fan, and close to Iowa/Minnesota, make a stop. And also of interest to a cinephile is the birthplace of Marion Morrison, better known as John Wayne, in Winterset, Iowa. The birthplace is only 12 miles away from Van Meter. The tiny house packs a wallop with a lot of memorabilia from The Duke's over 150 movies (that's right over 150 credited roles), including an eye patch (I think it's from True Grit), replicas of shotguns and revolvers, signed letters and photographs from Hollywood legends like Bob Hope, Ronald Reagan, Maureen O'Hara and others. They are building a new museum near the house. The guide for our tour was very knowledgeable about Wayne's career and had stories about other visitors who knew Duke. I also saw two of the Bridges of Madison County, and while I thought they were cool, my heart didn't go pitter patter when I saw them; but bridges aren't my thing. So, for those of you who thought Iowa was just flyover country or a place where political pundits gather every four years, think again. It's really nice down there and perhaps I'll venture out and visit the Amana colonies next time.
