Stan & Ollie

First Hit: This is an outstanding, beautiful, love story about how two men spent their lives together making audiences laugh.

Like a married couple, Stan Laurel (Steve Coogan) and Oliver Hardy (John C. Reilly) spent years of their lives together. In that time together, their bond of respect and friendship developed while on the road doing shows and making films making people laugh.

This film begins with the men doing a scene for a movie in their heyday. They are kibitzing in a trailer talking about the number of marriages Oliver had, all the money he had to give to these ex-wives, and his love for the ponies. The scene they shoot is one of their favorite dance routines, and it is a sight to behold.

Stan, on the other hand, was always working, writing, and thinking of gags for the duo to use in their films or stage act. As they enter the set to shoot a scene, Stan wants Oliver and himself to start their own production company because they do all the work and manager-producer Hal Roach (Danny Huston) and the film company is making all the money. Stan can get out of his contract, but Oliver cannot. They split up.

We see a brief scene where Oliver does a movie (“the elephant film”) with someone else.

The film then shifts to sixteen years later, and they are in their sixties. Their old movies still show in theaters, but few people see them, and they receive no royalties for their work. They both need money and Stan, who has never stopped working, is attempting to get financing together for a Laurel & Hardy film version of Robin Hood. To help them finance the film and to demonstrate their draw, they decide to tour England, Ireland, and Scotland to drum up interest. The hope is that the possible financier will see them in a London show.

The tour starts slowly, and they play tiny second-rate houses, stay in second-rate hotels, and the crowds are small. However, the people who do come to the shows, love them. Harry Landon (Richard Cant), their tour organizer decide they have to do some promotional newsreels. So, the film shows them promoting their shows and all of a sudden, the theaters are packed and their playing in front of audiences of 2,000.

When they reach London their respective wives, Lucille Hardy (Shirley Henderson) and Ida Kitaeva Laurel (Nina Arlanda) show up to see the big show in one of London’s most prominent theaters.

Lucille and Ida are a hoot together and separately as they are very different people and care about their husbands differently. However, the tour has been tough on both, especially Oliver. His weight challenges his heart, and his ability to move has been difficult. Then the underlying animosity, because Oliver did a film without Stan, comes out in a public argument.

Oliver has a mild heart attack and decides to retire. Stan tries to go on with a British replacement, but he cannot, it’s not Oliver, his partner, friend, and original cohort.

As the film winds up, Stan and Oliver do one more show and do their dance routine, it is sublime and brought such joy to my heart watching them.

Reilly was amazing. His expressions and ability to be Oliver Hardy was beyond anything I thought he could do. I was transported to 1957 as a little boy laughing out loud watching Laurel and Hardy on our black and white television. Coogan was equally fantastic as Stan Laurel. His routines, the one with the egg, were sublime. Arlanda and Henderson, Laurel and Hardy’s respective wives, were hilarious. I loved watching them snipe at each other and then, when watching their husbands’ last show, holding hands. Huston was superb as Hal Roach as was Cant in his role. Jeff Pope wrote a divine script. Jon S. Baird took this script and these amazing actors and made superb, finely crafted film.

Overall: I thoroughly enjoyed watching this film and would watch it again.

The Sisters Brothers

First Hit: This film had drama, comedy and interesting moments that were really strong, but overall it was an odd film.

The title alone will tip you off that this is an unconventional film. It opens with Eli and Charlie Sisters (John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix respectively) in a night time fire fight with some hombres in a cabin. The brothers are deadly and kill everyone and because the barn catches fire as well, the horses burn. One of the scenes that stuck with me throughout was when one of the horses runs out of the barn, on fire. This scene led me to believe that this film could have some difficult to watch scenes, and it did.

Think spider. Think horse mauled by bear. Think suicide. Think chemical burns. Think amputations. Yes, this film has large number of overtly horrible scenes, but there are also thoughtful scenes.

The Sisters Brothers work for the Commodore (Rutger Hauer). They are his hit men. When he wants someone killed, he sends them. After the initial scene, there are a few scenes that attempt to show the brother’s dynamics. Charlie is the younger and wilder of the two brothers. His back story, of killing their father, is briefly explored. Charlie also, like his father, drinks and gets drunk a lot. Eli works at being more thoughtful and progressive. Watch his look in using a toothbrush for the first time. Yet, when push comes to shove he’ll do anything and kill anyone to protect his brother and himself.

Their latest job for the Commodore is to track down Hermann Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed) who has created a secret formula that, when poured into water, highlights the gold. It makes the gold glow and thereby easy to pluck out of the water bed. Warm is being tracked by John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal) for the Sisters brothers. He leaves them letters at towns along the way telling them where they are headed.

In one town, Mayfield, named after the town owner, Mayfield (Rebecca Root) the brothers run into a little trouble. She is controlling and decides she can make a name for herself if she kills the brothers. Sending groups of men after the Sisters, they all find their demise at the end of the Sisters Brothers' guns.

When the brothers finally catch up with Warm and Morris, they’ve a change of heart about their plans of working with the Commodore and together with Warm and Morris decide to create riches for themselves and move on.

The ending was a nice surprise and it did complete an odd and interesting story.

Reilly was fantastic as the older more thoughtful but loyal brother. I enjoyed his thoughtful dialogue about his life. The bit with the shawl and the hooker was interesting and moving. Phoenix was strong as the slightly touched, yet smart brother. The intensity of the brother’s dinner conversation in a San Francisco restaurant was excellent on both actor’s part. How their conversation elevated was wonderfully done. Gyllenhaal was wonderful as the bookish, thoughtful tracker and writer for the Commodore. Ahmed was wonderful as the chemist and dreamer of an egalitarian society. Root was strong as the matriarch of the town named after her. Hauer had a minor, yet pivotal role. Carol Kane (as Sisters Brothers’ mother) was great. Loved seeing Kane in a role again. Perfect casting decision. Jacques Audiard and Thomas Bidegain wrote an odd, yet interesting and thought-provoking script. Audiard made some amazing choices about scenes and the scenery that this movie was shot in. I thought the San Francisco city scenes to be interesting as well as the Sisters’ dialogue while in the city.

Overall: Despite some difficult scenes to watch, this was an odd film, but the chemistry between the actor’s characters was amazingly wonderful.

King Kong: Skull Island (3-D)

First Hit:  Although a couple of characters were OK and the CGI was strong, the film’s story lacked in generating any interest.

Really? The reason our government paid for this team of people to explore Skull Island was to beat the Russians to it. That this island had never been seen before, was clouded in its own weather system, and Bill Randa (John Goodman) believed it held secrets to ships sinking was neither believable nor explained.

What we got were strongly divided characters, a pacifist photographer named Mason Weaver (Brie Larson), mercenary James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston), angry Army helicopter platoon leader Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) and an oddly lost WWII pilot Hank Marlow (John C. Reilly). All of these, except Marlow, make it through the island’s protective weather in helicopters and as they begin dropping sonic bombs to develop an understanding what is underneath the island’s surface, the disruption wakes up King Kong who knocks helicopters out of the sky.

Now they all think that Kong is the enemy. Because he hurt his team, Packard is hell-bent on killing Kong. The audience knows this is a stupid idea. While the remaining exploratory team members try to find each other, they run into very tall spiders and some mean flying reptiles.

During all the commotion, one group finds themselves surrounded by a silent tribe of painted and scarred men and women. Just as this tribe is about to hurt them, Marlow appears in a jokingly funny sort of way. He has influence with the silent tribe because they let these new island invaders go.

We are given the story that Kong protects the tribe and humans from the skull eaters which are lizard like animals that live below the surface. This storyline can get worse and it does, however the CGI of Kong fighting the skull eaters was effective and interesting.

The storyline is weak and made up to only have these great fights between these large creatures. The filmmakers have some of the landing team be kind and helpful towards Kong which makes Kong become a  positive sympathetic character as he helps them survive the attack of the skull eaters.

Goodman is mediocre as someone who lost his son and wants to uncover the mystery of this island. Hiddleston is OK and is above the fray of this film's poor story and poor script. He’s believable in an unbelievable story. Larson is good as the photographer who is looking for shots that make her known. Jackson is fine but it is his character that I didn’t like. He was way too hawkish and illogical to make me care or want him to succeed. Reilly was the most interesting and amusing character in the film. He brought levity and fun to the overall experience. Jing Tian had a minor part and seemed out of place.  Dan Gilroy, Max Borenstein, and Derek Connolly wrote a very mediocre screenplay that had little depth. There were moments that they tried to create back stories for the characters, but there was little effort in this and therefore it failed. Jordan Vogt-Roberts did what he could with the story. Many of the shots were well crafted, but it is hard to make a good film with a mediocre story and script.

Overall:  This film fails to entertain and is lost because of the story and script.

The Lobster

First Hit:  A strange, different and odd film about forced coupledom.

This film is set in the near future and everyone in society must be coupled or face going to an oddly sterile hotel where they have 45 days to find a mate. If they don’t find a mate they will be turned into the animal of their choice. They can extend their time by hunting down and shooting and tranquilizing others who are escaping. If they are lucky enough to find a mate they can live in a couple’s room, then a yacht for a couple weeks, and if successful they can return to the city as a couple.

Upon entering the hotel, they are given a strict protocol to live by, including no masturbation, along with deciding the animal they want to be turned into if they don’t find a mate; hence the film’s title “The Lobster”. This is the type of animal David (Colin Farrell) selects.

There are some macabre scenes (like the punishment for masturbating), amazingly darkly funny scenes (shooting range practice scene), and simply weird scenes (how do the loners survive in the forest day after day). One of the traits in choosing their possible partner is the sharing physical or mental aspects like; shortsightedness, or limps, or lisps, or cold-heartedness, or the love of biscuits.

Another odd part about this film is that it portrays everyone being so subservient to people who’ve placed themselves in authority. How everyone minds the hotel managers (Olivia Colman and Garry Mountaine) is really bizarre because I would have probably rebelled.

Even more perplexing was how the escapees (“Loners”) minded the direction and instructions of Loner Leader (Lea Seydoux). I kept wondering who empowered these people in this way? Why did others follow their instructions?

The cast of characters in this story were really oddly interesting as well:  Nosebleed Woman (Jessica Barden), Biscuit Woman (Ashely Jensen), Lisping Man (John C. Reilly), Short Sighted Woman (Rachel Weisz), Limping Man (Ben Whishaw), and Heartless Woman (Angeliki Papoulia) among others.

Farrell did a terrific job with his character. He gained so much weight for this role which seemed to also affect his natural intensity. Seydoux was clearly strong as the leader of the Loners. She was very commanding. Reilly was funny as the lisping man who got caught masturbating. Weisz was wonderful as the Short Sighted Loner who loved to eat rabbits and was the narrator of this film. Papoulia was very good as the Heartless person. Barden was amazingly sweet as the Nosebleed person. Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippu wrote this strangely effective script even though it was filled with obvious logical holes. Lanthimos did a great job of getting the actors and scenes to coalesce and wonderfully execute this story and idea.

Overall:  The film was very entertaining most of the time, yet the holes in the story kept my mind wandering and asking questions while the celluloid rolled.

Carnage

First Hit:  This film definitely shows how easily adults slide into bad behavior when they justify their actions in the service of the protection of their children.

During the opening credits we silently see an act where there are two kids engaged in a pushing match.

Then Zachary Cowan hits Ethan Longstreet with a tree branch he’s carrying. After the credits we’re in the Longstreet’s home with Ethan’s mother Penelope (played by Jodie Foster) at a keyboard typing a statement of the event. She types that Zachary was "armed" with a stick. 

Zachary's dad Alan (played by Christoph Waltz), a lawyer, opposes the word "armed" and suggests "carrying" a stick. Standing by and supporting Penelope is her husband Michael (played by John C. Reilly), and supporting Alan is his wife Nancy (played by Kate Winslet).

This short scene defines the differences between the four people. We discover that there are four different people with differing opinions about what happened and what they should do about it. The discussion continues as it waves from one slightly off topic subject to another. Alan continues to receive phone calls during this meeting.

As the discussion continues opinions start to get stronger and anger begins to raise its ugly head. Occasionally they head back to the original reason why they are together to discuss their children’s actions but when alcohol enters the picture it becomes a story about what each thinks of the other. What didn’t work about this film is that it is unbelievable that they would have stayed together continuing to have these discussions without someone leaving.

However, the nice touches like dog barks in the background and a neighbor peeking through their door as they engage in hallway discussion, gave this a feel like it was being filmed in a real building.

Foster is the most intense and high minded opinionated of the four. Although I didn’t like her character she did it well. Reilly changed the most during the discussion. At one point he was very supportive of his wife but then blurts out that she's screwed up. Winslet was great as the quiet demur one who then, when her buttons are pushed and with a little alcohol becomes a tiger. Waltz was the most fun to watch. He’s articulate, disengaged and present all at the same time. His cell phone behavior is pointed and reflective of our current societal behavior. Yasmina Reza wrote the screenplay from the play “Le Dieu du carnage”. Roman Polanski adroitly directed this film and ensured that slowly built steam as these parents turn more behaviorally childish.

Overall: This was fun to watch as each of the characters crystallized their behavior through 18 year old single malt whiskey.