Movie Review

World War II almost ended in May 1940 when Hitler tore through Europe and set its sights on Britain. Darkest Hour explores that momentous month when appeaser Neville Chamberlain resigned, Churchill became Prime Minister, and 300,000 British troops were about to be stranded at Dunkirk.

Darkest Hour (Gary Oldman, Stephen Dillane, Kristin Scott Thomas) – As the Nazis completed their lightning-quick conquest of Europe, Britain faced the realization that its failed policy of appeasement toward Hitler could have sealed its own fate.  Dunkirk was about to fall and, with it, more than 300,000 British troops retreating to the French coast.  The English Channel was all that separated England from the fall of the home of the once mighty British Empire.

It was clear to Parliament and the King that Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister, had to go.  The Conservatives preferred Viscount Halifax (Stephen Dillane in a Oscar-worthy performance), the foreign minister, but he was one of the architects of appeasement and was unacceptable to the other parties needed to form a coalition government.  So it fell to the outspoken, enigmatic Winston Churchill to lead the government.  The King (George VI) and the Conservative Party leadership were less than enthralled but times were desperate.

That is the set-up for the Darkest Hour, a truly remarkable biopic about Churchill that covers only about one month – May 1940.  So much hung in the balance and history tells us that Churchill was the man for the moment. Dark Hour takes us deep into Churchill’s world. It paints a picture of an ambitious man who dedicated his life to public service at the expense of his loving wife, Clementine (Kristin Scott Thomas) and their children. 

Many actors could have tackled this part but few (or none) could have done it as expertly as Gary Oldman.  Oldman’s distinguished and varied career includes only one Oscar nomination (for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) but his portrayals are legendary.  He has played Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK; Dylan Thomas in Dylan Thomas; Dracula in Bram Stoker’s Dracula; Shelly Runyon in The Contender; Sirius Black in four Harry Potter movies; Bob Cratchit/Marley/Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol; Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy; Commissioner Gordon in two Dark Knight Batman films; and the bad guy who takes over Air Force One.  All memorable characters and all fabulous performances.  At 59, he has reached a pinnacle playing Winston Churchill.

Almost unrecognizable beneath the make-up and prosthetics, Oldman is simply otherworldly in his portrayal of the maverick, crude, visceral, egotistical, hard-drinking patriotic Churchill.   A Golden Globe nominee for Best Actor, there is little doubt that he will be rewarded with an Oscar nomination, too.  Don’t miss his perfect performance in Darkest Hour.

Go inside the underground world of high-stakes poker games in Molly’s Game, Aaron Sorkin’s debut as a director.  Oscar-worthy performances by Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba makes this one of the top films of the year.  Opening Christmas Day in most cities.

Molly’s Game (Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera) – Another poker movie!  Molly’s Game is the best poker film since Rounders (with Ed Norton and Matt Damon) though the standard was set in 1965 by The Cincinnati Kid (starring Steve McQueen).  

Jessica Chastain plays Molly Bloom, the smart, gorgeous hostess of the highest stakes poker games from Hollywood to New York.  After serving as the assistant to a slimy real estate agent who ran a high-stakes game for some rich guys, she eventually takes over the game, supplants the derelict, and becomes the go-to contact to an underground world.

As the movie opens, Molly narrates her life story, which begins as she is competing as a teenager in the Olympics trials as a mogul skier.  Ultimately, this narration leads to her arrest for running an illegal card game.  The story is then told in flashbacks as we meet the gamblers, the enforcers, the other women she employs to run the game and, most notably, the lawyer she hires to defend her.  Much of the movie is filmed in the law office of Charlie Jaffey (Idris Elba) as Molly tries to convince the skeptical attorney to take the case and fight for her good name.  Molly swears the games are legal, that she never took a “rake” (the skim off the top), and that she won’t name names.  But, of course, it is more complicated than that.

She had already published a book, titled Molly’s Game, that names four people as players.  But, she points out that those four people had already been named in an indictment that had come from prosecutors based on the testimony of one of Molly’s former poker players.  She hadn’t named anyone else, swearing that she didn’t want to ruin their lives or their families. This is a woman with integrity, grit and guts who is in big trouble and looking for help.  The government has seized all of her money and is squeezing her hard to implicate players who are part of the Russian mafia.

Molly’s Game is a first-class cat-and-mouse game with Molly as pawn.  Jaffey eventually goes all in and clears a path for Molly’s redemption.  But the feds aren’t his main obstacle; it is Molly herself.

In a performance reminiscent of last year’s box office disappointing Miss Sloane, Jessica Chastain is luminous.  At times immovable and other times totally vulnerable, she plays Molly as vixen, villain, abuser, timid, sexy, brilliant, tough, compromised, and principled.  It is absolutely one of the strongest performances of the year.  Already one of the most sought-after actresses in world after her Oscar-nominated performances in Zero Dark Thirty and The Help, she was fantastic in The Martian and The Zookeeper’s Wife.  While Miss Sloane was a disappointment, Chastain wasn’t.  And Molly’s Game is very likely to land her another Oscar nod.

This is a rich look into the world of high stakes poker played by guys with too much money on their hands and a ruthless sense of self-destruction.  That Molly gets pulled into this world then finds it exhilarating, exhausting, demeaning and destructive is engrossing.

Molly’s Game is likely to garner Oscar buzz for the film, both lead actors’ performances, for the script and perhaps first-time director Aaron Sorkin.  This is one of the most anticipated films of the year due to Sorkin’s debut behind the camera.  The famed author of The Social Network, Moneyball, Steve Jobs, Charlie Wilson’s War, A Few Good Men and, of course, The West Wing, Sorkin is a Hollywood wunderkind who calls all of the shots in Molly’s Game.

And while he makes some rookie mistakes (it is too long; he fell in love with his own script), Sorkin manages to make you fall in love with Molly and her many games.

The Disaster Artist is counter-programming to the happy holiday fare we have come to expect in December.  It is an artsy movie for those people who are prepared to be introduced to a strange guy who made a bad movie.

The Disaster Artist (James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogan) – If you have never seen The Room (not to be confused with Room or In The Bedroom), you aren’t alone.  The Room is one of the worst films ever made.  We’re talking way worse the Ishtar or Waterworld.  Off the charts BAD.  As a result, it has become a cult favorite in those big city midnight shows where people dress in costumes and recite dialogue.  Yes, I know this sounds like The Rocky Horror Picture Show but don’t confuse the two.  IRHPS is a real movie that was made to be camp and hip.  The Room was a serious attempt at art written, directed, and starring Tommy Wiseau and featuring his friend Greg Sestero.  It failed!

The Disaster Artist is an attempt to tell the story about Tommy, Greg and the making of The Room.  Anyone who has followed the career of James Franco knows that he is a prolific and talented actor, producer, and director.  He has done grunge comedy and serious parts, having been nominated for Best Actor for 127 Hours.  He doesn’t seem to care much about the commercial success of his projects.  He likes to push the envelope and to induce discussion, debate, and controversy.

The Disaster Artist accomplishes this.  It is a really odd film about a really odd film.  Nobody knows much about Tommy; how he got his money; where he actually came from; and how he ended up making a movie almost no one ever saw.  After seeing James Franco’s salute to The Room, you will have no further insight.  James’ performance, already nominated to a Golden Globe, is over-the-top and unrepentant.  His brother, Dave, plays Greg, the wide-eyed theater student who has little talent but lots of ambition.  At least Dave’s performance as Greg seems natural and real.  But it is James who will get the attention and rightfully so.

Tommy was clearly a wacko.  He could be petty, jealous, volatile, and warm.  But, unlike so many stories about misunderstood geniuses, Tommy proves to be none of these.  He’s a guy with money, a story (no one understands) to tell, and a commitment to become famous.  He is one weird dude who made one really bad movie.

The question is whether telling the story of that film is enough to intrigue an audience to the theater.  I doubt it.  But the Franco Brothers hope you will come and sample this quirky dramedy.  

I enjoyed the small supporting performances of Seth Rogan, Jacki Weaver and Ari Graynor and got a kick out of the cameos from Zach Efron, Megan Mullally, Sharon Stone, Melanie Griffith, Bob Odenkirk, Keegan-Michael Key, Kristen Bell, and J.J. Abrams.

But those appearances don’t make this a good movie.  It just means that James Franco can attract his friends to a day or two of work in an artsy movie about a movie.

One of the best pictures of the year, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, is an unequivocal must-see film.  With a great ensemble cast led by Oscar winning actress Frances McDormand, Three Billboards is better than its quirky title and comes from the writer/director of In Bruges.

Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Lucas Hedges, John Hawkes) – Mark it down: Frances McDormand will get an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a relentlessly sour mother whose drive to find the killer of her raped and murdered daughter tears a community apart.

Martin McDonagh, who wrote and directed the fabulous In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths pens and helms this gut-wrenching small-town tale of damaged people in the middle of nowhere.  Like In Bruges, Three Billboards is a dark comedy amidst seriousness and murder.  Both movies’ characters are deep, sad, and caring.  The storyline is heartbreaking and tragic.

Frustrated by the lack of progress in finding the killer, Mildred/Millie (McDormand) rents three abandoned billboards on a back road near Ebbing to prompt action and embarrass Chief Willoughby, the head of the local police.  Woody Harrelson, whose eclectic career includes unquestionably memorable and quirky characters in exceptional films (including McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths), plays the police chief suffering from pancreatic cancer in an excellent and straight performance.  Willoughby can be both crass and caring while putting his job and his family ahead of his own suffering.  The town wants no part of Millie’s campaign against the Chief even though they empathize with her.  Even her son (Lucas Hedges) and estranged husband (John Hawkes), who is now shacking up with a 19-year-old, think she is doing the right thing the wrong way.

But she won’t give an inch or an ounce.  She is hanging on by a thread and gaining closure for her daughter’s death is all she allows herself to think about.

Meanwhile, officer Dixon, a drunk and crude slob of a cop, can’t abide Millie’s campaign against his boss.  Known as a racist, Dixon is tolerated, even enabled, by his fellow cops and Willoughby.  He will do anything to stop Millie, even if it means harassing her friends and the guy who rented her the billboards.  Played adroitly by the underrated Sam Rockwell, an Oscar nomination could be forthcoming for hi portrayal as this badly flawed, angry character.

With exceptional performances and a fantastic script, Three Billboards is a multi-layered, character-driven film with the feel of great independent flicks like Hell or High Water, No Country for Old Men, Nebraska, and In Bruges.  It never fails to keep the audiences’ attention, to make us laugh, and to feel connections to the characters.  

This is one easily one of the best films of the year and will almost certainly be nominated for Best Picture.

Lady Bird (Soirese Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Lucas Hedges) – Christine McPherson (Soirese Ronan) wants to be anything but who she is.  Now 17 going on 18, she is desperate to get out of Sacramento, out of Catholic high school, out of her modest house, and away from her disapproving mother (Laurie Metcalf).  She wants to go to New York for college and get away from everything she knows.  She hangs with the nerds but wants to be popular no matter what it takes.  Her first boyfriend (Lucas Hedges from Manchester By The Sea) turns out be gay.  And she doesn’t even like her name, demanding that her family and friends call her Lady Bird.

Director/writer/actress Greta Gerwig seems determined to tell this coming-of-age film from a female perspective, which is both refreshing and enlightening.  Diablo Cody wrote Juno, the movie this most resembles.  But Gerwig’s script is less smart-ass and more reality based.  And she waited to shoot it for almost a year until Soirese Ronan (her first name is pronounced SHEER sa) was available.  Ronan, who blasted into stardom with phenomenal Oscar-nominated performances in Atonement (2008) and especially in Brooklyn (2016), is perfectly cast.  

Born in New York but raised in Ireland by her Irish parents, the 23-year-old convincingly plays younger here in a multi-layered performance as memorable (and Oscar nominated) as Ellen Page in Juno and both Hilary Swank and Chloe Sevigny in Boys Don’t Cry.

This film has a 100% rating by critics on Rotten Tomatoes and 86% score by moviegoers.  It doesn’t get much better than that.  However, this is not fun and quirky like Juno, which I enjoyed more.  It does provide serious insight into adolescence circa 2007-2008.  Why it is set in that period is a mystery to me (perhaps that is when Gerwig began writing it or maybe the author believes that 10 years ago was a more innocent time).  

But no matter.  Lady Bird is a “small” independent film that should be prominent with Oscar buzz.

As Oscar season rages in full force, here are two films well worth your time and money.  Denzel Washington makes Roman J. Israel, Esq. an intriguing character study.  Soirese Ronan is teenager “Lady Bird” McPherson in an occasionally painful coming-of-age tale of female adolescence.

Roman J. Israel, Esq. (Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo) – Denzel Washington belongs in the pantheon of great American actors.  Since his first starring role in the feature film Carbon Copy (with George Segal) in 1981, he has commanded the screen in a way few actors not named De Niro, Pacino, and Hoffman have.  He has won two Oscars (Glory, Training Day) and been nominated for five others.  He won a Tony for Fences in 2010.  And he directed the aforementioned Fences plus Antwone Fisher and The Great Debaters.

In Roman J. Israel, he plays one his most intriguing characters.  Israel is a 60-ish attorney who is a socially inept, (perhaps) autistic savant.  He can recite statutes from memory but he is a loner who has worked behind the scenes in the same very small law firm for over 30 years.  In the first Act, we find him dealing with the sudden death of his mentor and partner, a legendary social justice advocate and criminal defense attorney.  The law firm is forced to close down, and the practice is being turned over to slick mega-attorney George Pierce (Colin Farrell), who was a student of the founder, but who may have lost his passion for socially conscious work.  After unsuccessful attempts at finding another job, Roman lands with Pierce in what seems to be a match made in hell.

Roman takes on a few cases himself, always awkwardly and sometimes disastrously.  In a pivotal scene, he finally succumbs to temptation, gets a taste of the good life, and sacrifices a principle of two in the name of becoming successful.  

But Roman has had an impact on Pierce, who decides that his own assembly line-like lucrative practice of law needs to provide him with more meaning.  Before long, the two seemingly mismatched lawyers find equilibrium.  However, Roman’s turn to the dark side has consequences, too, leading to an unlikely denouement.

Washington plays this character as morally righteous, slightly disturbed, and physically frumpy.  The film is essentially a character study. 

When the movie tries to be more, it misses.  This is particularly true in a side story about a woman running an inner city non-profit agency, Maya (Carmen Ejogo), who finds inspiration in Roman’s commitment to criminal justice.  It is almost like Gilroy said to himself: “I need a female character dedicated to social justice and potentially a love interest for Roman.”  Maybe he did but this sub-plot just is not well developed.

Roman J. Israel, Esq. is a fine vehicle for Washington, who continues to churn out exceptional work at age 63.

As I have mentioned before, we belong to the San Diego Cinema Society, which is great.  We see a lot of first-run films before they go public.  We also get to watch documentaries, foreign films that often never make it to the U.S., and some art-house films that do not get wide distribution.  Most of these movies are excellent.  And then there is Goldstone.

Goldstone  (Alex Russell, Aaron Pederson, Jackie Weaver) – Making the rounds of film festivals is the Australian homage to the modern western Goldstone.  Think Hell or High Water meets Wind River. Goldstone is a cop drama set in the Outback.  With a cast you have never heard of except for Oscar nominee Jackie Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook), Goldstone is a snooze fest of the first order.  

Slow.  Was it slow?  Well, for the first time I can remember, both Julie and I fell asleep, apparently in the same place at one point.  It isn’t that Goldstone doesn’t have its moments.  When the shooting begins and the local cops take on the bad guys, the movie feels like the climax of Wind River.  But when it bogs down in the dialogue-heavy story of two policemen enforcing the laws in very different ways, it becomes somniferous (sleep inducing).  

The sweet cop, Josh (Alex Russell), goes about his job gently, dealing with the drunks and the trespassers.  He’ll turn a blind eye to the questionable practices of the local major employer, a mining company that provides most of the jobs in the area.  There’s the morally compromised mayor (Weaver), who is having an affair with the manager of the mine and whose ever-present smile and cryptic dialogue is threateningly spooky. And then there is the driven, perpetually drunk cop, Jay Swan (Aaron Pederson).  He is looking for a missing Asian girl who had no business in the Outback.  The cops are diametric opposites who eventually end up working to expose a human trafficking ring that provides an ongoing supply of prostitutes to the mine’s workers.

Is there too much going on here?  Oh yes.  Could they have told this in a more boring way?  No.  Can the producers and director Ivan Sen make excuses for the slow pace, which mirrors the laid-back, forgotten world of rustic life in the country?  Sure.  Is that enough to make this movie worth seeing?  Only if you need a nap.

So I have two suggestions for you.  Watch Hell or High Water and Wind River.  And if you find this film and decide to see it, buy a caffeinated beverage, some chocolate, and a vat of popcorn to help get you through it.

It’s that time of year when every film released is a potential Oscar nominee.  That means that I will be seeing lots of movies over the next couple of months.  Today’s contender in the acting and cinematography categories is Kenneth Branagh’s remake of Sidney Lumet’s classic, Murder on the Orient Express.  It is mighty good.

Murder on the Orient Express (Kenneth Branagh, Michelle Pfeiffer, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Willem Defoe, Daisy Ridley, Leslie Odom, Jr., Josh Gad, Johnny Depp) – Remakes of famous and excellent movies are destined to failure and obscurity.  The original Murder on the Orient Express (1974), based on the Agatha Christie novel, won one Oscar (for Ingrid Bergman) and was nominated for five others.  That all-star cast included Albert Finney as the brilliant detective Hercule Poirot and featured Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Vanessa Redgrave, and Richard Widmark as the soon-to-be-murdered Ratchett.

Who would dare remake it?  The answer is five-time Oscar nominated writer, director and actor Kenneth Branagh, who has also re-done Henry V and Hamlet.  Branagh casts himself as the mustachioed Poirot and performs brilliantly.  He is deadly serious, sarcastically funny, permanently fastidious, and egotistically passionate about his work.  He surrounds himself with an all-star cast that, while not quite as prestigious as their predecessors, includes Oscar nominees Michelle Pfeiffer (3 times), Penelope Cruz (one win from 3 nominations), Willem Defoe (2 times), Judi Dench (1 win from 7 nominations), Johnny Depp (3 times), and youngsters Daisy Ridley, Leslie Odom, Jr. and Josh Gad.

By now, most of you know the story.  Poirot, fresh off solving a crime in Jerusalem, is summoned to London via the Orient Express, the famous train known for its luxury travel from Istanbul to England.  Shortly after arriving, a shady businessman named Ratchett (Depp) is murdered.  By deduction, Poirot determines that the killer must come from the luxury compartment.  He sets about solving the crime, which of course he does in the climactic scene of the film.

Branagh’s version is grand.  The photography in Jerusalem and Istanbul is stunning.  The soundtrack soars.  And the shots in and around the train are compact and glorious.

As reluctant as I was to see yet another remake of this whodunit whose ending I knew well, I walked away having totally enjoyed this version.  As long as you don’t much compare this to the 33-year-old original, you should love Branagh’s take on Christie’s cunning story.

Rob Reiner’s LBJ bears no resemblance to Oliver Stone’s JFK.  This is a biopic covering only 1960-65, which was both a good and bad decision by the director of The American President and A Few Good Men.

LBJ (Woody Harrelson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Richard Jenkins, Bill Pullman, Michael Stahl-David) – Lyndon Johnson, the accidental president, towered over the Senate and later cowered late in his presidency.  His Great Society program stands as his greatest achievement, having shepherded Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start and numerous social programs.  Vietnam resulted in his undoing.  But Rob Reiner’s LBJ, the movie, doesn’t take us that far, choosing to focus exclusively on the period between the 1960 presidential campaign and the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination.

Woody Harrelson, perhaps the unlikeliest of Johnson impersonators, is actually exceptional as LBJ.  He manages to captures the dialect, the cadence, and the gestures of the tall, powerful Texan.  Harrelson’s LBJ is earthy yet savvy; confident yet vulnerable; and ambitious yet insecure.  There is a Trump-like quality to LBJ in that he is more interested in the deal than the policy.  This son of the Confederate South, always agnostic on Civil Rights in his Senate days, becomes the champion of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 following Kennedy’s murder. 

Johnson appears genuinely devastated by JFK’s death and committed to the fallen president’s agenda.  He chooses to oppose his sponsor, mentor and colleague, Georgia Senator Richard Russell, to get the bill passed because it was Kennedy’s signature domestic goal.

This very sympathetic glimpse into Johnson portrays him as closer to Jack Kennedy than most other accounts.  It also captures the pure animosity that Bobby Kennedy (Michael Stahl-David) had for Johnson, culminating in a scene shortly after the assassination where  Johnson asks Bobby why he doesn’t like him.  “Your brother likes me.  Why don’t you?”  It is this insecurity that drives the film if not the real man. The best scenes are between Harrelson and Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight) as Lady Bird as well as those with Richard Jenkins (The Visitor) as Russell.

Reiner chooses wisely to start the film during the week of the Kennedy assassination, then flashes backwards and forwards to create an energy that the recent Mark Felt/Deep Throat film did not.  But it does falter by hustling us through the 1960 Democratic election run-up and the early years of Camelot.  It then bogs down a bit in the immediate aftermath of the assassination. It then runs out of time before getting to Johnson’s real achievements and ultimate decision not to run again in 1968.

In this sense, the TV movie, All The Way, starring Bryan Cranston as LBJ, was superior.  But Reiner’s film is more a character study than the end of the age of innocence in America.  It could have used more of the latter.  On its own, it is a fine portrait of American’s 36^th president over a five-year span.  And Harrelson was a surprisingly good vehicle to give us some insight into this larger-than-life man.

Opening this week is a promising film from the writer-director of Boyhood, Richard Linklater.  Big stars, famed director, so-so movie.   Read all bout it below:

Last Flag Flying (Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne, Steve Carell) – Last Flag Flying is yet another example of a movie with a top director and talented stars performing very well in a surprisingly mediocre film. 

Set in the early 70s, Last Flag Flying is a slow-moving character study with an improbably premise.  Steve Carell, in another serious role, plays Doc Shepherd, a former Vietnam War corpsman who shows up one day at a dive bar owned by Sal Nealon, an old Army vet with whom he served.  Nealon is an over-the-top, uncensored burnout who doesn’t recognize his old friend even though Doc served two years in the brig for something the two of them and another friend did.  

Doc is there for the worst of reasons.  His son recently died in combat, and he wants to bury him at home instead of at Arlington National Cemetery.  He is looking for help.  Nealon drops everything and goes with Doc to find their old buddy, Richard Mueller, only to find out that he is now a soft-spoken minister rather the hellion he was in his Army days.  The three of them then set out on a road trip to recover the body and make funeral arrangements. 

The film, contrived as it is, then becomes a buddy flick with serious overtones and an occasional laugh.  It never seems real.  Rather, it feels like a play, and it might have been better on a live stage.  The trio’s interactions are both the strength and the weakness of the movie.  Cranston plays the opposite of his restrained Dalton Trumbo character (in Trumbo).  Here, he is flamboyant and almost out of control.  Carell is totally constrained, playing against type.  Fishburne plays Reverend Mueller as reformed, repentant, and reluctant to join the mission to fight the Army’s intent to bury Doc’s boy as a hero in Arlington instead of back home in New Hampshire.

In the end, Last Flag Flying is a character study lacking the intimacy of a live performance but featuring three versatile actors outperforming the story.  Oscar nominated writer/director Richard Linklater (Boyhood, Before Sunset, Before Midnight) over-wrote the film, fell in love with his own script, and produced a marathon (2 hours, 4 minutes) heavy in dialogue and light on drama.