The Mustang

First Hit: The acting was excellent and what still stays with me was deep breathing of the horse and Roman as they dealt with their caged circumstances — powerful.

The opening shots of the wild horses running the plains of the United States was a perfect set-up for this story.

Then, helicopters drop into the frame to herd the horses into a pen where some will be “broken” and sold at auction. Thinking about how these beautiful animals are taken from their habitat and used by others is both heartbreaking and hopeful.

Hopeful; in that, some of the horses are captured and trained by prisoners to be horses that will be fed and used to help society. The prisoners benefit as well.

Heartbreaking; in that the US Government thins these herds because of what happens to land and other livestock when a hundred thousand horses are left free to run the ground as they wish. Nothing likes its freedom taken away.

One of the captured horses is locked in a single wood sided stall, and he continually bangs against the walls — he wants out of his pen. He’s a wild one.

Caging a man is much the same, it can be both cruel and helpful. In this case, Roman (Matthias Schoenaerts) has been in prison for twelve years. He’s quiet, and his anger at society and himself is palpable throughout the film. He is like a walking volcano.

His opening scenes are with a prison psychologist who is asking him questions. He says nothing as he’s being asked his preferences. The psychologist asks him a few questions about how and why he’s been in solitary, and he mumbles, “I’m not good with people.”

At one point, she touches an emotional button, and he springs up in anger. His temper quick, decisive and filled with rage. The focus of his disposition is made clear to the audience.

This completes the setup of this film’s story, two wild beings caged, stewing and expressing their angst and anger at the drop of a hat.

How will these two meet each other and help each other is the journey this film takes you. To improve the story along, the prison has Myles (Bruce Dern) as the crusty, well-worn guy who helps prisoners train the horses. His demeanor tells you he’s in-charge from assigning what horse goes with what prisoner and whether a particular horse or prisoner is in the program. No one questions his authority over the program nor his understanding of the relationship between horse and man.

Roman gets the roughest assignment to help train the wildest of horses.

The scenes with Roman and the horse in the corral together are priceless. They are horrifying at some level and beyond sweet at other times. Through this experience, the audience begins to learn the depth of Roman’s pain and anger.

But the scene when a group of select prisoners talk about how quick they went from their anger to the crime puts them in prison is not only powerful but puts things into perspective.

We are grateful to learn what Roman did to get himself into prison during one of the visits from his pregnant daughter Martha (Gideon Alden). The pain both Roman and Martha have are poignantly expressed.

There are so many powerful scenes in this film that I could not point to anyone that makes this an excellent movie. However, when Myles gives Roman a hint as to how to save his wild horse, I was moved deeply. The unspoken caring was palpable.

Schoenaerts was amazing. His ability to carry his volcanic anger around in his eyes, face, and body was outstanding. Dern was phenomenally perfect. He carried his scenes with perfected aplomb. Jason Mitchell as Henry a fellow prisoner who really helps Roman find a way to communicate with his horse was excellent. Adlon as Roman’s daughter was beautiful. Her wanting to protect herself from and also love her father was well done. Connie Britton as the psychologist was excellent. Her strength during Roman’s outburst was sublime. Brock Norman Brock and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre wrote a moving and pointed script. Clermont-Tonnerre’s direction was fantastic in how she captured the feel of prison life with a slight dash of hope. The ending scene was tear evoking. In the credits, I liked that they had real prisoners and the horses they trained showing on the screen.

Overall: This is a beautiful story about one way to help men come to grips with their past actions and find a new way to grow.

Red Sparrow

First Hit:  Although long at 2h 19min, it had enough twists, turns, and detail to keep me fully engaged.

Jennifer Lawrence (here as Dominika Egorova) is a strong actress and is able to project anger, sadness, and determination with only her eyes. It is this skill that sets her apart from many actresses.

As a Russian ballet dancer Dominika is revered more for her beauty than her dancing. However, she is good enough for the ballet company to give her an apartment and provide medical help for her sick mother. Her uncle Vanya Egorov (Matthias Schoenaerts) is part of Russian Intelligence and occasionally looks in on Dominika and her mom Nini (Joely Richardson).

When Dominika breaks her leg, Vanya recruits her to work for Russian Intelligence. He wants her because of her steely determination. He promises here that if she joins him, he’ll make arrangements for her mom to keep the apartment and her medical assistance.

Her first job is to seduce Dimitry Ustinov (Kristof Konrad). When he tries to rape Dominika, Russian Intelligence kills him while he’s on top of her. Because of her success she’s recruited to become a Sparrow. Sparrows use seduction and sex to get what they want from the people they seduce. They are trained in passionless seduction, hand to hand combat and how to use guns.

The Headmistress (Charlotte Rampling) of the Sparrow school is referred to as “Matron.” And it is her goal to make sure they become passionless seducers and combat ready spies.

Dominika is sent on a mission to Budapest to seduce American spy Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton). The goal is to find out the Russian Intelligence mole he was working with so that this mole can be destroyed.

Throughout the film, we see Dominika developing a path and plan to survive and persevere while keeping her mom’s health, safety, and welfare on her mind. However, as an audience member, we don’t always know what her plan is and how it will work out. That's the best part of this film. The unknowing, underscored with believing that Dominika will, in the end, get revenge, makes this story work.

Lawrence was excellent as the cold-hearted Sparrow who had a soul. I didn’t fully buy her being a premiere ballerina (jumps were barely 6 inches high), but this was completely overshadowed by her ability to embody the role as a spy. Rampling was perfect as the cold-hearted Matron of the Sparrow school. Edgerton was strong as the American spy who risked his life to keep his mole secret. Richardson was good as Dominika’s mom. Mary-Louise Parker (as Stephanie Boucher) was strong in her role as a US Senator’s Chief of Staff. Jeremy Irons (as General Vladimir Andreievich Korchnoi) was perfect. His cold intimidating voice and manner worked well. Justin Haythe wrote a good complicated screenplay. Director Francis Lawrence did a good of not tipping the story’s hand.

Overall:  I enjoyed the film’s puzzle and it was the acting that made it work.

A Bigger Splash

First Hit:  This film lacked clarity of purpose partially because the actors and characters weren't well mixed in this uninteresting story.

The film starts with the illusion that Tilda Swinton (as Marianne Lane) is a middle age rock star still able to bring in stadium full audiences.

Attempting to convince the audience through brief clips of a stadium filled with rock fans, the band on the stage, and Lane, with a black wig, comes out to the microphone was inadequate. We don’t hear her sing nor do we hear her music.

This lacked credibility, and Swinton’s look and presence didn’t carry the energy of a stadium filling rock star. The audience is asked to take this at face value, what makes this worse is that we do not get to hear her speak because she’s just had throat surgery and isn’t supposed to speak so her character's story is limited.

Because she has these two strikes against her, it is like the old saying, "two wrongs to make a right". She’s vacationing with her husband Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts) at some unknown rural (possibly Mediterranean) location where the village is small and population sparse.

Unbeknownst to Paul and Marianne, her old boyfriend and former music producer Harry Hawkes (Ralph Fiennes) is coming to visit them. Harry talks all the time and he’s full of hyper energy, takes over every conversation, and makes a big scene everywhere he is.

Although Marianne is more interested in seeing Hawkes, Paul,  even though he and Harry are lifelong friends, doesn't. Overall, it appears they’d rather not have him as a guest, but no one stops the madness. The madness begins at one of the first scenes when they pick him up at the airport by surprising them by bringing his underage unknown daughter Penelope (Dakota Johnson).

The rest of the film attempts to extrapolate each of their personalities given their restricted behavior. However, I never felt that their relationships with themselves were real or flushed out, nor were their connections with each other valid. One of the few good scenes was Harry’s lip-syncing and dancing to the Rolling Stones' classic song “Emotional Rescue”.

One of the more painful scenes was the horrible karaoke singing and dancing by Harry and Marianne in a local bar.

Swinton was miscast in this role because there is just no way she resembled or acted as a stadium rock and roll star. Adding to this that she wasn’t supposed to speak, which added to the difficulty in making her believable. Fiennes was also miscast as there is no way he could pull off being this obnoxious, unthinking, arrogant, producer. He carries too much integrity and therefore it didn’t work. Schoenaerts was good and the best part of the film. His character was believable as a brooding, somewhat depressive, friend and mate of Harry and Marianne respectively. Johnson was mediocre as the young girl who was manipulative and questioning of her father and his friends. She didn’t make me believe her as a seductress – it was way to obvious. David Kajganich wrote a very mediocre screenplay that didn’t really dive into the characters and their history. Every setup of the character's history seemed too overt and lacking curiosity. A film audience needs to be curious about the characters. Luca Guadagnino directed this and probably made the most of the story as written. The casting was, for the most part, poor.

Overall:  I was bored by the story, actors, and the way this film unfolded.

A Little Chaos

First Hit:  As with most period pieces it was slow in its development, yet it kept my interest to the expected conclusion.

Sabine De Barra (Kate Winslet) is a woman that has focused her single and alone life towards gardening. We learn later it wasn’t always that way, she wasn't always alone. Her work is noticed by Andre Le Norte (Matthias Schoenaerts) who is the King’s head garden designer.

King Louis XIV (Alan Rickman) decides to build the Palace of Versailles and wants the grounds to be exquisite. Andre is more conventional in his garden designs and likes organization. Sabine uses organization in a different way which includes natural flows (a little chaos). In those days, men had lovers and wives which, in this film, affects the King, Sabine and Andre in different ways.

The best scene in the film was when the King and Sabine are in an enclosed garden together and have an open peer to peer type conversation.

Winslet is great as the grieving and growing woman finding her place and love. Schoenaerts was a little too reserve for me, but that might have been the direction. Rickman is good and his natural tendency is reserved arrogance. As a King, it works. Jeremy Brock and Alison Deegan wrote this script. It’s a period piece so the dialogue is long winded, but the points they make about society in the time we’re well done. Rickman directed the film.

Overall:  I enjoyed moments of the film. Those times were when the King and Sabine were in conversation.

Far From The Madding Crowd

First Hit:  Strong acting on all fronts and with luscious photography this was a good film but its length took away from it being better.

This long famous Thomas Hardy novel has Carey Mulligan as Bathsheba Everdene;  a woman whose parents died while she was young.

She works on her Aunt’s farm, tills the soil and rides horses like a man; meaning in Victoria England women rode side saddle whereas Bathsheba rides straddling the horse. She is very strong, self assured, independent and wants to stay that way. Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts), the sheep herder neighbor, is fully smitten by Bathsheba and after a few friendly visits, asks her for her and in marriage. She is shocked and says "no", explaining she doesn’t want to be married. She ends up inheriting a large home and land. After arriving she takes charge and immediately begins to make the land profitable.

Her wealthy neighbor William Boldwood (Michael Sheen) takes a liking to Bathsheba and also asks for her hand in marriage because he wants to take care of her (“provide safe harbor”). She turns him down as well. Then she becomes smitten by handsome and reckless soldier (Tom Sturridge) who touches her in more ways than one. She agrees to be married and soon regrets the decision. He fritters away her farm on gambling and eventually confides he loves another. This leaves Bathsheba to make some difficult decisions.

The movie is lusciously filmed and many details are exquisitely shared. The cast was well chosen, however the script is a little long winded in the way this story was shared.

Mulligan is very good. She definitely has grown as an actress and reverentially delivers this character role. Her semi-smile is her strong suit as it says so much. Schoenaerts is perfect as the noble, strong, silent, friend and suitor. Sheen is fantastic as the once spurned noble neighbor that sees and wants to have Bathsheba in his life. Sturridge is great as the charming, sexy soldier that has his way with Bathsheba. Jessica Barden is wonderful as Bathsheba’s assistant. Juno Temple as Fanny Robbin is great in the small and pivotal role as Sturridge’s true love. David Nicholls wrote an extended yet colorful screenplay. Thomas Vinterberg directed this well, just a little long.

Overall:  This was a film to just watch and luxuriate in its tone and tenure.