Bombshell

First Hit: I thoroughly enjoyed the acting and how this story shines a light on a behavior that was kept under wraps for far too long.

This is a story about the pain, degradation, and humiliation caused by the sexual abuse of women by the President of FOX News, Roger Ailes (John Lithgow).

Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman) was the woman who sat between two men in the morning “Fox and Friends” television program. She put up with the snide and overly complimentary comments by her co-hosts and Ailes himself. As an integral part of the FOX News team, Carlson wanted to be seen as a peer and not a sexual object to be ridiculed. Her desire was to have her own show where she could call the shots. Over the years, she’d had many encounters with Ailes, many of them sexually charged and suggestive, but as a good reporter, she documented their meetings.

As she got older, Ailes wanted fresher and younger faces on the morning program, so he gave her a much-desired show of her own. However, it was placed it in the small audience afternoon time slot. However, that did not shy her away from doing some controversial stories, like older women without makeup show. This show, in particular, struck Ailes the wrong way, and we see him railing at Carlson and ended up not renewing her contract.

Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron) was an up and comer in the news organization. And we slowly begin to learn, she also had sexually charged encounters with Ailes.  However, Ailes did support her challenging Donald Trump on the campaign trail and at the debate. She hated becoming the story. The story shows how becoming the story opened her up to changing how she needed to work.

Then there is the story about the young woman, a conservative FOX employee, who wanted to be on air. Kayla Pospisil (Margot Robbie) was a charger and aggressively sought out a way to speak to the man in charge, Ailes. The film shows their one on one meetings and Ailes propositioning her about how she could get to the top. The scene when Ailes asks her to stand, twirl, and hike up her skirt so he could see her legs were incredibly humiliating.

The movie cuts quickly from scene to scene and assaults you just as the news stories on television do from time to time. Scenes do not languish in this movie but are weaved together to create an account about how one woman Carlson decided to stand up to Ailes by suing him personally in hopes that others would join her.

Kidman was terrific as Carlson. Her internal strength to bring on a lawsuit was well presented. Theron was Megyn Kelly. The use of archival footage of Kelly and then segueing into scenes with Theron was seamless. It was a dominant performance. Robbie, as Pospisil, was sublime. I loved how she was able to show wide-eyed wonder, wanting to please, and desire to be noticed by senior management, then turn on a dime and show complete humiliation. Robbie’s ability to explain all this in one scene and still give the audience a cohesive character was flawless. Lithgow was perfect as the angry slimeball Ailes. His displays of anger and indignancy were well-founded in his being caught being a predator. Allison Janney as Susan Estrich, Ailes's lawyer, was excellent. Kate McKinnon as Jess Carr, a co-worker of Pospisil on “The O’Reilly Factor,” was perfect. She hid that she was a gay liberal working for Fox because it was the only job she could get. Charles Randolph wrote a pointed and robust script. Jay Roach did an excellent job of portraying the slow shifting tide at Fox News.

Overall: The event documented in this story helped to give wings to the “me too” movement.

The Goldfinch

First Hit: In general, I liked it despite the slow pacing and the occasional, awkward movement between time.

Occasionally while watching this film, I thought of how this might have been a problematic adaptation from the novel. Because of the strengths and weaknesses of each medium, I make it a point to not read many fiction books.

Theo Decker (Oakes Fegley as the younger and Ansel Elgort and the older Theo), was traumatized early in life because as he and his mother toured a New York City museum, a bomb went off, killing his mother.

The traumatization of this event is carried throughout the film by the actors and how they respond to what is going on around them. Both the young and adult Theos are almost zombie-like at times, looking blankly at the people talking to them and responding with little emotion. What Theo uses, as a child and adult, is The Goldfinch painting he had taken during the bombing. This painting was his mother’s favorite, and it is the one thing he has left to remind himself of her and their time together.

Theo’s father Larry (Owen Wilson) is not in the young boy’s life because he drank too much and was a mean alcoholic. Because his father is not around and he’s got nowhere to go, the State puts him in the home of the Barbour’s (Boyd Gaines and Nicole Kidman). Mr. Barbour is gregarious while Mrs. Barbour is thoughtful, quiet, pragmatic, and reserved. The audience is presented scenes where we see how she is slowly becoming very fond of Theo and his relationship with her young son Andy.

Of the Barbour’s children, Andy (Ryan Foust) and Kitsey (Carly Connors as the young Kitsey and Willa Fitzgerald as the older Kitsey) are open to having Theo as part of the family. The oldest boy, Platt (Jack DiFalco and Luke Kleintank), however is a bit of a brat in his early scenes but comes to show his heart later in the film.

When the bomb exploded, Theo was standing next to Pippa (Aimee Laurence and Ashleigh Cummings) and her uncle, her primary caretaker. Pippa’s uncle was killed just as Theo’s mother was, and this circumstance creates a connection that runs deep. It was Pippa’s uncle, just before he died, that told Theo to take the Goldfinch painting after the bombing. He also gave Theo a ring and told him to deliver it to Hobie. Pippa and her uncle lived with the uncle’s antique store business partner Hobie (Jeffrey Wright).  

Just as the Barbour’s were thinking of adopting Theo, Larry shows up and takes him to where he’s now living, Las Vegas. Taking him out of this safe environment and all the way to Las Vegas to live adds to Theo’s trauma. The scene when Xandra (Sarah Paulson), Larry’s partner, gives Theo a valium for this anxious plane ride to Vegas, tells a lot about the situation Theo is headed.

In Vegas, he meets another outcast student Boris (Finn Wolfhard and Aneurin Barnard). Boris is originally Ukrainian, is without a mother, and has lived all over the world because his father is a mining engineer who is also a mean drunk and gets booted out of all the jobs he takes on. They both live in a housing tract where 95% of all the houses are empty because of foreclosures, and the whole tract was built in a remote area. This is emblematic of their lives, loners together, and in the middle of nowhere.

After Larry tries and fails to get money out of Theo’s educational trust to pay off gambling debts, he gets drunk and dies in an auto accident. Quickly seeing that life with Xandra will be hell, he runs out of the house, gets on a bus,  and heads back to New York City and ends up living with Hobie.

At this point during the film, we’ve seen various clips of the bombing some of them through the dreams that Theo continues to have even through adulthood. This is where the film spends most of the time from here on out.

As an adult, Theo continues hold the wrapped-up painting as solace over the loss of his mother and often, he does this while being on drugs.

Yes, there are a lot of pieces in this story, but they all are important as the film winds into the last 40 minutes. Pippa, Hobie, Kitsey, Platt, Mrs. Barbour, and especially Boris all have significant moments as Theo finally comes to grips with his life and the actions he took as a young boy and later as a grown man.

Fegley was fantastic as young Theo. His ability to be both lost and present was excellent. Elgort was perfect as the continuation of Theo into adulthood. He was able to seamlessly give me the sense that he was the older version of the young Theo. Wolfhard and Barnard were outstanding as the young and old Boris, respectively. The loyalty he showed and willingness to fix the problem he caused Theo was perfectly portrayed. Kidman was excellent as Mrs. Barbour especially as the older Mrs. Barbour when her softness and love showed through so delicately. Wilson was true to his character and enjoyable as the man trying to make his way through gambling. Wright was sublime as Hobie the antique craftsman. When he turns to Theo, after Theo had taken busses all the way from Las Vegas to NYC with a dog, and says, you both can stay as long as you want, I was deeply touched. Laurence and Cummings were wonderful as Pippa young and old respectively. When she tells Theo that if one of them fell, the other would not be able to save either of them, it was heartbreakingly sincere. Foust was superb as Theo’s close friend and companion. Peter Straughan wrote a strong script from the novel by Donna Tartt. John Crowley did an excellent job of making this complex novel and story come alive on the screen. This was a complicated story to film, but, for me it was worth it.

Overall: Unless the audience member is ready to let this introspective story unfold within themselves, then they could become frustrated with this film.

Destroyer

First Hit: Powerfully acted by Nicole Kidman in a story that teeters on the edge of oblivion at every turn.

After seeing Kidman in this film, I was struck by how amazing she is at morphing from innocent intense, edgy beauty, to a hollowed out, full of anger, women with one thing on her mind, revenge. When we see her becoming an undercover agent, I was reminded of this freckled face beauty in an early film, “Dead Calm.”

The film floats in and out of time. At first, we meet Erin Bell (Kidman) as a depraved, starved, focused angry addicted detective. Then we go back to seventeen years earlier when, as a brave, intense, and attractive police officer being assigned to work undercover with Chris (Sebastian Stan) to reign in a cult-like leader, Silas (Toby Kebbell), who robs banks.

Opening with a depraved Detective Bell walking onto a murder scene; she’s barely able to walk let alone articulate why she’s there. The officers at the scene, probe her, asking why she is there, and what she knows about it. She picks up a $100 bill that’s tainted with purple dye. She looks at a handgun that has been altered to be untraceable and says to the responding officers “I know who killed him.”

Beginning the story this way and Bell’s response lead you to believe, she’s now on a path to find and finish something that started many years earlier, to kill Silas.

Earlier, when Bell and Chris are fully embedded in the gang, they help plan to rob an out of the way bank that is supposed to have millions in their vaults. The film slowly uses these flashbacks to show how Chris and Erin began to care about each other and decisions they made that explain the hollowed, revenge-driven Bell and her goal to find and kill Silas.

At first, I didn’t entirely engage with the use of the flashbacks as used here; however as the film progressed, I found this process exciting and engaging. We learn of Erin’s discovery that she is pregnant. We see her attempting to have a relationship with her angry, rebellious fifteen-year-old daughter Shelby (Jade Pettyjohn) who lives with her stepfather.

In her search for Silas, she meets up with Toby (James Jordan), one of the former members of Silas’s gang. Toby has just been released from prison because he’s soon to die from cancer. Attempting to get information from Toby, Bell manually stimulates him to orgasm to get a name and location of another member of Silas’s gang.

Her search has her engaging with Petra (Tatiana Maslany) a former rich girl who falls into Silas’ spell. She bursts into the residence of a wealthy criminal attorney name DiFranco (Bradley Whitford) whom she suspects of laundering money for Silas.

The depraved intensity of Bell to complete her revenge on Silas after years of pain were etched on her face throughout the film. However, I felt the zenith of the superb acting in this film came at the last meeting of Erin and Shelby.

As Bell does her best to tell her daughter, who she barely knows, that she loves her, Shelby parries Bell’s attempts until a moment of realization that her mom is doing her best and does care. Shelby’s facial expressions and subtle movement towards the opening, were profoundly sublime as were Bells. Amazing scene.

Kidman was beyond profoundly amazing. Her ability to show this level of gut-driven intensity for revenge is unparalleled. In this one film we see Kidman as a young vulnerable police woman and as a singularly focused emotionally debt driven hollowed out detective. Stan was terrific as her undercover partner who would do anything for his partner. Pettyjohn was dynamite in this role. I loved her rebellious nature, yet in the last conversation with her mom, watch her subtle movement from disdain to respect and feeling compassion towards her mother. It is one of the most elegant pieces of acting I’ve seen in a long time. Kebbell was reliable as the semi-cult leader. The challenge he created for one of the gang with the pistol was telling of his exercising power over the group. Maslany was excellent as the once rich girl who has lost her way and feels stuck with her role in life. Whitford is perfect as the ego-driven lawyer that has lost his way. Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi wrote a compelling screenplay. Karyn Kusama got extraordinary performances from her cast and crew to create a fascinating story.

Overall: This is not a film of hope, but a movie about living with choices made and doing your best to the right the wrongs.

The Upside

First Hit: Both funny and pointed, the relationship between Dell (Kevin Hart) and Phillip (Bryan Cranston) highlights taking responsibility for where they find themselves and opening up to something new.

Kevin Hart can often overwhelm a film with a frenetic energy that can push the meaning of the film aside. However, director Neil Burger was able to reign in Kevin’s tendencies with a clear vision and focused script.

Here as Dell, newly released from prison, we are introduced to him attempting to get signatures on a form that proves he’s trying to seek employment. Dell makes it clear the jobs that the computer system spits out for him are not fitting while seemingly he seems to forget he’s a felon and if Dell doesn’t seek to prove he’s job hunting, he’ll end up back in jail.

Thinking that he’s applying for a position as a janitor in an extremely high-end apartment building in New York City, he ends up in a room with other hopeful people who are highly trained to be a full-time on-site caretaker of Phillip, a wealthy quadriplegic man.

Yvonne (Nicole Kidman) is Phillip’s executive taking care of all Phillip’s affairs, schedules, and hiring. As qualified people are interviewed, Dell gets impatient and barges in an interview, asking Phillip to sign a form. There is humor in the asking a person with quadriplegia to sign the papers, and as the exchange goes on, the hook is that Phillip senses or feels a challenge with Dell and someone he can trust not to try to resuscitate him if he starts to have trouble breathing. Phillip gives the impression he’s looking for a way out of his life.

Carrying his deep sorrow for his wife who passed because of cancer he blames himself for the choice he made to go paragliding in a storm. His accident caused him to lose function of his arms and legs. The guilt of this accident took away his ability for him to be available to his wife as she went to the stages of dying. Phillip carrying this pain is the burden he lugs through the film.

Dell, on the other hand, wants to be a father to his young boy Anthony (Jahi Di’Allo Winston) who he's rarely seen because of his time in prison. His son’s mother, Latrice (Aja Naomi King), is angry at Dell for not providing and not being there for his son. When Dell met his father in prison, and his father said “welcome home” he realized he had to change his ways, that is his burden through the film.

This story is about these two men, together, learning about how to live and grow from their mistakes while learning about how to unburden themselves from their past decisions.

There were visible signs throughout the film about how Phillip would find love again, and that was disappointing. However, there were amazing and funny moments as they discover what they have in common.

At times, I think the film dragged a bit. However, I don’t know what pieces I’d change.

Hart was elegantly constrained in this role which allowed a fullness of character. His interactions with Latrice were well done. Cranston was brilliant as the quadriplegic multi-millionaire. His ability to carry a level of remorse deeply hidden, and allow its uncovering was terrific. Kidman in a minor role was beautiful. She brought just the right amount of integrity and deep longing. Winston was great as the son who wanted his father to be there for him and was rejected numerous times. King was fantastic as a woman who loved Dell but was waiting for him to show up. Jon Hartmere wrote a sharp and well thought out screenplay. Neil Burger had a strong vision for what he wanted to see, and he was able to achieve a developed heartwarming film.

Overall: This was a very entertaining, funny, thoughtful and enjoyable film.

Boy Erased

First Hit: Outstanding cast delivers sublime performances in a powerful story about LGBT conversion programs.

Gay and lesbian conversion programs exist, and the number shown at the end of the film, astounded me. In this day in age, church supported Christian conversion programs believe they can change someone’s sexual preference by indoctrinating people in the “way of the lord.”

Here, we have Jared Eamons (Lucas Hedges) heading off to college with the support of his homemaker mother Nancy (Nicole Kidman) and his father Marshall (Russell Crowe), a local church pastor and car dealership owner. With Marshall being a Baptist pastor he firmly believes that LGBT people are an abomination of the bible and his beliefs.

During high school Jared has a girlfriend Chole (Madelyn Cline) who would like Jared to be more sexually adventurous, but he is hesitant. This is the only indication that the audience really has that Jared is gay. During college he meets Henry (Joe Alwyn) who lives in the same dorm building as him. They become running buddies until one evening after playing video games, Henry tries to rape and sodomize Jared. It gets interrupted by a neighbor pounding on the shared wall, and Henry breaks down and pleads with Jared to not tell anyone about this event.

When the school calls home and tells Nancy and Marshall about this event at school, Jared, at first, says it’s not true. Marshall calls in his preacher friends and they decide as a group to send Jared to a bible-based conversion program to help Jared get the devil out of him and straighten him out. Going to the program the audience immediately sees how horrible it is.

The rules, the belief that bible loving men with no real training in psychology, can fix the gay problem with moral inventories, confessions, and intimidation is astoundingly ignorant of the truth. As Jared begins his moral inventory, he writes down the name Henry, crosses it out and writes down Xavier (Theodore Pellerin). The film wonderfully shows how Jared and Xavier met and what it meant to Jared.

When the pressure to state that Jared hates his father in front of the others gets to be too much, Jared gets up and leaves the room. He knows about the mistreatment of the others in the program. Stating he’s going to leave the program, the team running the program try to stop him. I loved how Cameron (Britton Sear), one of the other boys trying to be converted, stands up for Jared and helps him escape.

The scenes when Nancy decides and states she can no longer support Jared’s conversion program with Jared and Marshall were brilliantly presented.

Hedges was extraordinary in this role. His ability to create depth of character and keep the audience wondering what he’s thinking was amazing. Kidman was perfect. She was a follower until, it came down to the survival and happiness of her child. You believed her when she states her total support for Jared. Crowe was excellent as the preacher father who realizes in the end, it’s him that must change. Joel Edgerton (playing Victor Sykes) the chief therapist at the conversion center was excellent. He effectively gives the audience a taste of misguided beliefs. Flea does a great job playing Brandon, a converted and sober co-therapist. Alwyn was dynamite as the gay college student that couldn't stop himself. Pellerin is excellent as the sensitive man who holds Jared’s hand all night. Sear was amazing as the young high school football player who is severely punished in-front of the other attendees. Jesse LaTourette as one of the girls in the program was stunning in a mostly non-verbal role. Joel Edgerton did a wonderful job with both script and direction. Granted he has amazing actors at his mercy but it takes a great story and direction to make it work this well.

Overall: I left the theater saddened to know that so many of the conversion centers still exist because it is a reminder of religious ignorance.