The Hundred-Foot Journey, 2014
The Hundred-Foot Journey is a nice enough movie, but it left me thinking director Lasse Hallstrom missed a great opportunity. Helen Mirren (who rivals Meryl Streep in the name that accent department) co-stars as French chef Madame Mallory who runs a Michelin star restaurant in France. She embarks on a food battle worthy of The Food Network with Papa (Om Puri) and his family, led by chef Hassan (Manish Dayal). Papa and Hassan initially move to England after a rioting mob kills Papa's wife in India. England is less than hospitable to the family and they move to France to begin a restaurant featuring recipes from Mama. Their new neighbors, including Madame Mallory, are not totally welcoming, although Hassan makes friends with Marguerite, a sous chef for Madame Mallory. The movie features some of the xenophobic actions and attitudes that have been in the news for the last several years. While Madame is not a big fan of Indian cuisine or her neighbors, she realizes that being a true patriot is accepting the newcomers and not tolerating any hate crimes against them. Things turn around, and Hassan, Papa and Madame Mallory become allies, even as Hassan heads to Paris to become an award-winning head chef. Food has often been used to help tell stories in film, sometimes as a way to bridge cultural differences or as an inspiration, as in Babette's Feast, Big Night, Julie and Julia, The Chef. I love food, I love movies and I love Helen Mirren, and yet, the movie was just not everything it could have been. It was good, but not great.
4/3/15 Rust and Bone, 2012
Rust and Bone is a French/Belgian film starring Marion Cotillard. The film and Cotillard were nominated for Golden Globe awards as well as the Screen Actors Guild, but somehow not quite nominated for an Oscar. Cotillard was nominated for her second Oscar this past year, losing out to Julianne Moore, and is definitely a force to be reckoned with whether she is in a French film or an American film like Inception or Public Enemies. So, since I figured I was not going to knock my big list down too much, it wouldn't hurt to watch another non-nominated film. Cotillard is Stephanie, an Orca trainer at a marine park in France who suffers a devastating accident at work, losing both of her legs. She spends some time feeling low and getting used to her new life with prosthesis and without her beloved whales. Stephanie meets Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts) a down on his luck boxer, supporting his son with odd jobs, while living with his sister. When Ali and Stephanie first meet, it's more as friends or companions, not lovers. One of my favorite scenes is when Ali and Stephanie go to the ocean and Ali wants Stephanie to go in the water, but she is self-conscious about her legs; eventually she asks Ali to take her in, and she comes alive. There is something visceral, but definitely joyful, about watching her in the water, which was almost her natural habitat in her former job. Ali and Stephanie make their relationship physical, but it's not necessarily love, which complicates things for Stephanie. She also becomes his manager, helping to arrange and collect the money for his illegal fights. Ali eventually leaves Antibes to go to Strasbourg to start serious training and his son, who is there for a visit, has a terrible accident. Ali realizes he loves and misses Stephanie, and the two are reunited. Both Cotillard and Schoenaerts are very strong in this film, both portraying characters who have a lot of emotional baggage that bubbles to the surface in some very self-destructive ways.
4/9/15 Big Hero 6 Best Animated Feature Film, 2014
Sometimes I think my inner child is tied up in a dark, dank dungeon somewhere, and this is one of those times. I would really like to know how votes are cast for Oscar-nominated films, but especially the animated features. I have now seen four of the 2014 nominated features, and I still think that The Boxtrolls should have won. Big Hero 6 was fine, but it didn't move me or make me smile the way The Boxtrolls did. Big Hero 6 is apparently based off of a Marvel comic and tells the story of Hiro Hamada, a young inventive genius, some might say precocious, who irritates his older brother, Tadashi, who gets frustrated at Hiro's reluctance to follow rules or formalized study. Hiro invents a type of bot that will revolutionize everything, and off course, there is an evil genius who tries to steal it and ultimately, gets Tadashi killed. Hiro bonds with Baymax, a medical robot, and Tadashi's classmates, who develop/create super powers. Hiro and the Big Hero 6 try to find out why Tadashi got killed and defeat the microbots and the man behind them. Honestly, I didn't care. I get why kids would like it, and there is a great message of brotherly love, friendship, etc., but, I was just bored.
4/12/15 The Tale of Princess Kaguya, 2014 nominated Best Animated Feature
The Tale of Princess Kaguya was one of the other nominated films for Best Animated Feature of 2014. Stylistically, it is miles apart from Big Hero 6 or The Boxtrolls, and it was produced by Studio Ghibli, the same group that produced The Wind Rises, Howl and the Moving Castle and Spirited Away (although by a different director). The story is more complex than some of the other animated films, but older children may appreciate the fairy tale aspect and adults may be drawn to the story of the bamboo cutter and his wife raising this mysterious girl they find in the forest. The bamboo cutter (voiced by James Caan in the American/English version) finds an abandoned infant in the forest and brings her home to his wife (Mary Steenburgen), and they both think she is a miracle and a gift to them and call her 'Princess'. Princess (Chloe Grace Moretz) has some interesting qualities, namely that she grows and matures faster than a normal child; she goes from being practically immobile as an infant to crawling and walking within a very short period of time. As Princess grows older, the bamboo cutter decides to take her to the city and raise her as a princess, with a tutor to train her in the manners of a fine lady. There are many things that happen as fine lords vie for her hand in marriage and she sets them on seemingly impossible tasks. As the film ends (it was a little on the long side for a younger or otherwise impatient audience), we learn that Princess is a special young woman, and not long for this world. I enjoyed the gentle storytelling even though I occasionally struggled with the pacing of the film (it was over two hours), and I finally got used to James Caan's New York tinged dialogue. If you are a fan of animation, you should check out The Tale of Princess Kaguya.
4/11/15 Blade Runner, 1982 American Film Institute #97, National Film Registry Trylon Microcinema
Blade Runner has become part of the cultural lexicon, certainly among movie lovers, and it was just a matter of time before I saw it for myself, especially since it is on two of my lists (AFI and the National Film Registry). Some movies beg to be seen on the big screen, and if not a BIG screen, then a smaller screen at a microcinema, and that's how I saw Blade Runner. A friend and I got tickets to the Trylon Microcinema's showing (sold out, as it happens). I vaguely knew the story; I knew that Harrison Ford starred with Rutger Hauer, Darryl Hannah and Sean Young; and I knew that for it's time, it was very futuristic and original. Blade Runner is set in the future, where replicants are created to do certain tasks, and they are built with an expiration date; if they try to escape their assigned location or change their 'destiny', a Blade Runner is sent to terminate them. Harrison Ford is one such Blade Runner, Rick Deckard, who almost has a Humphrey Bogart world weary way about him. Hauer, Hannah and Young are the replicants. Apparently, replicants come with no acting skills whatsoever, so the casting is perfect. One by one, Deckard gets rid of them, except for Young who plays Rachael, with whom Deckard seems to fall in love. Ridley Scott directed, and I was quite shocked that it was less than three hours (happily shocked). Blade Runner came after Scott directed Alien, and it definitely has the dark cinematic feel that we saw in Alien. The 'future' that is in the film, is actually just a few years away from now, 2017. I get why the movie made such a wave thirty years ago, the cinematography was fabulous, the suggestions for our future were real enough to stir imaginations, and this was the beginning of the landmark movies in which Harrison Ford starred (The Star Wars trilogy and the Indiana Jones franchise among a few). When the movie ended, I looked at my friend, held my breath so I didn't say something offensive, and then we both agreed that we were glad we saw it, but did not need to see it again. We also do not need to see the proposed remake. Once was enough.
4/12/15 The Oxford Murders, 2008
Some of you may be thinking that if I stopped watching movies not on my lists, I would be under 800 movies by now. And you would be correct. But sometimes you have to follow your own path, or you get bored of sticking to a list. I'm not sure what my justification is, especially considering this was a HORRIBLE movie. HORRIBLE. I probably should have taken the hint from the fact that I could barely finish the book, and that was less than 300 pages. When you get an uncontrollable urge to poke your eyes out, you may want to take that as a sign to run the other way. The Oxford Murders is based on the book of the same name by Guillermo Martinez. As you might infer, the film is set in Oxford, England, and features mathematicians and logicians trying to solve a series of murders. Elijah Wood is Martin, an American graduate student (in the book he is Argentinean) working on his thesis at Oxford, under the diffident guidance of Arthur Seldom (John Hurt) (Seldom is much more likable in the book). Martin's landlady, and Arthur's friend, Mrs. Eagleton (Anna Massey) is murdered and the two men work with the police to find the killer. There are a few more murders, a red herring or two, some bad acting from normally good or great actors and a story that is so convoluted as to be total bullshit. At least it was free from the library.
4/15/15 An American Werewolf in London, Outstanding Achievement in Makeup, 1981
In full disclosure, I really dreaded this movie; I think I was fixated on the 'horror' aspect instead of the 'comedy' aspect (which I didn't realize it had). An American Werewolf in London was directed by John Landis, and I supposed if I would have put together the fact that he also directed the video for Michael Jackson's Thriller, I might have less 'afraid' (this is not a surprise to you longtime readers, you know I'm a big fraidy cat). The movie had a suspense element reminiscent of old time horror movies, with the strangers in the village, but it also had a comic element (the song selection featuring songs with 'moon' in the title, like "Blue Moon", "Moondance", etc.) that made the movie fun to watch. David Naughton stars as David Kessler/the werewolf and Griffin Dunne is his doomed friend, Jack Goodman and Jenny Agutter is Nurse Alex Price. David and Jack are on holiday in England when they get lost in Yorkshire and wander into a pub called "The Slaughtered Lamb" (this is one of those horror movie moments where the viewer is totally SHOCKED when bad things start to happen - said with sarcasm in case you missed it). David and Jack get the heebie jeebies in the pub and start walking int he dark when they are attacked by a wolflike creature. David is hurt, but Jack is brutally killed. David turns into the titular werewolf and Jack is a lost soul who haunts David. The movie won the Oscar for the makeup used on Naughton and Dunne, and considering it was over 30 years ago, it is really quite amazing. I don't often watch movies again, but I would probably watch this movie again with a group of friends. If you have been avoiding it because you're chicken like me, don't be. Or give me a call and I'll watch it with you.
Joan Armatrading 4/22/15 The Kent Stage, Kent, Ohio
4/25/2015 Flashdance Best Song, 1983
This movie clocks in at 95 minutes, but I swear it was ten hours long. If the movie was not on the list, I can honestly say that I would never have watched it at all. I went 32 years without seeing it and felt not one whit of deprivation. Now, having seen it, well, it's off the list. Flashdance is about Alex, a welding/dancing young woman in Pittsburgh and her older, divorced boyfriend, who is also her boss. It's really like one very long and bad music video. Jennifer Beals is Alex and Michael Nouri is Nick Hurley, her boss. The premise of the film is that Alex loves to dance; she dances at night at a cabaret/diner, she dances at warehouse/home and she longs to dance for a professional dance company. Hanna Long is her inspiration and cheerleader; we don't know very much about their relationship at all, except it seems to be a pseudo mother/daughter relationship. There are little bits of story pieced together by music sequences. It really seemed ridiculous (the scene where the dancers are working out was hilariously stupid), and seemed liked bad adult film, and this was another that I wanted to turn off. The movie won the Oscar for Original Song, "Flashdance...What a Feeling" sung by Irene Cara. I do like the song, and I liked some of the other music from the movie, but not enough to get the soundtrack or ever care again. Overall, I would say 1983 was not a stellar year for music in films (two songs nominated from Flashdance, two from Yentl and one from Tender Mercies). Another one bites the dust.
