Winter's Tale

First Hit:  A wonderful and heartwarming flight of fantasy film that may hold some truth.

This film moves between three periods of time, current time, the early 1900’s and the mid-late 1800’s.

Peter Lake (Colin Farrell) washed up ashore in New York because his newly deported parents wanted him to live in America. So while they were leaving on a boat back to their home country, they put their son into a model boat in New York harbor (the mid-late 1800’s).

Lake is partially brought up by Humpstone John (Graham Green) and then tutored in theft by Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe) who is also an agent for the devil; in this case it’s The Judge (Will Smith). While in the midst of robbing a large home he runs into Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay), a sick with consumption woman who will be dying soon.

The chemistry between them in this first meeting is palpable and comes through the screen and into your lap. This love transforms him to want to stop being a thief and to open his heart to love for the first time. He thinks he’s there to save her from dying and makes a promise to her young sister Willa (Mckalya Twiggs) that he will kiss her sister and bring her back to life if she dies.

Because Lake was supposed to be the heir apparent to Pearly and Lake crosses him, Soames is out to kill Lake. Peter is fighting to keep himself safe and connected to Beverly and at one point meets her father Issac Penn (William Hurt) who accepts the thief Lake.

The film then moves to current time which has Lake not knowing who he is and trying to understand why he keeps drawing pictures of a girl with red hair on the sidewalk in Central Park. He keeps thinking that his existence is about Beverly, but soon learns that she got him to the current time and it is now about a young girl, Abby (Ripley Sobo), who is sick with cancer. Cutting across these time and generational divides with Lake is his beautiful angel white horse.

This film is about light, love and miracles.

Farrell is excellent. He does scruffy and heart-filled so very well. Findlay is very strong as the consumptive woman and love interest. Crowe is superb as the evil agent of the devil. Smith is an interesting choice as the Judge. Twiggs is sublime and incredibly endearing as the young sister. Hurt is great as the father of these two girls. Sobo is fantastic as the young girl in current time. I enjoyed seeing Green and appreciated his part. Jennifer Connelly as Abby's mother was perfect casting. Akiva Goldsman wrote a wonderful screenplay and knew what he wanted in directing this cast to tell this story.

Overall:  I thoroughly enjoyed watching this romantic film.

Monuments Men

First Hit:  Disappointing execution of what was probably a marvelous story.

The cast was stellar. The story was probably interesting. However the result was a disjointed, lackluster, and mediocre film. When you have; George Clooney (as Frank Stokes), Matt Damon (as James Granger), Bill Murray (as Richard Campbell), Cate Blanchett (as Claire Simone), John Goodman (as Walter Garfield), Jean Dujardin (as Jean Claude Clermont), Hugh Bonneville (as Donald Jefferies), and Bob Balaban (as Preston Savitz) there is an anticipation, if not expectation, of seeing a great film and story.

What hurt this story was that it seemed like a bunch of vignettes strung together to meet the end result of the story. Some of these side stories had me scratching my head and wondering why they were there, one such side piece was the dental work piece featuring Murray and Balaban. Couldn’t understand why it was important to show this.

Then there were the cutaway scenes following Damon when he first came to France, while riding in a cart - what was the point of showing these without some conclusion or reasoning? These are just a couple of moments in this film that just seemed to be there for no real reason or point. There were also awkwardly shot moments, like when Bonneville makes an attempt to kill a German, the whole scene was poorly conceived and executed.

This scene seemed like an afterthought. However, there were also touching moments, like when Damon and Blanchett were having dinner, or when Bonneville gives his thanks for a chance to prove his worth after his alcoholic ways.

Clooney as an actor here was OK, but his direction and screenplay contributions seemed lightweight or maybe he didn’t take this seriously enough. Damon was good, as always, but there wasn’t enough meat in the part to have him give a great performance. Murray appeared to be trying to make something out of nothing and when the audience sees this – it is disappointing. Blanchett was one of the best in her role as a mistrusting woman who finally believes the motive of the US forces. Goodman was OK, nothing special. Dujardin was somewhat interesting as he brought some European flair to the film. Bonneville was nothing special in a minimal role. Balaban seemed to capture the screen when he was in a scene which says something about his strong skills. Clooney and Grant Heslov wrote this screenplay and it seems that they were unclear about direction as was Clooney as director.

Overall:  This film was better as an idea than its execution. I left the theater disappointed.

Labor Day

First Hit:  What was disappointing about this film was that it didn’t seem realistic.

Why would someone who’s hiding from the law, be so openly visible through the front windows and in the backyard? He was supposed to be hiding.

This is what I kept thinking while the story on the screen unfolded. Did I like the basis of the story? Yes, but it was this poor direction about the story that made it not work. We had great actors working with a reasonably good script/story and ignore the reason behind the story - one of the main characters was hiding out. An emotional and feeling based story, such as this, must also be logical in its execution.

Adele (Kate Winslet) is a depressed mother of a young pre-teen boy who, as we learned, is depressed because of 4 miscarriages and a stillborn child she had. These events put her into a tailspin from which she couldn’t escape. Her then husband wasn't strong enough to help her so he left. Her son, Henry (Gattlin Griffith), tries to be everything to his mom, her only friend, her housemate, and the man to do the chores around the house to help her survive.

In an infrequent outing to a store, Henry gets corralled by Frank (Josh Brolin) who is an escaped criminal. Frank talks Henry and Adele into letting him stay there a few hours which turns into a weekend. What we learn is that Frank, despite his physical presence of strength, is thoughtful, kind, wants to be helpful, is smart and cares.

His background story is told in flashbacks, that aren't very well scripted or put together - but the audience does figure it out. His strength of character comes through as he becomes a strong male role model for Henry by showing him how to hit a baseball (yes, they’re all openly in the backyard though he’s supposed to be hiding out). He cleans the house and fixes things a "man" might around the house. His coup-de-grace is that he shows Adele and Henry how to make a pie (this is a turning point scene).

However, despite engaged actors, the scenes weren’t congruent with the story – someone hiding out trying to escape being captured.

Winslet clearly knew how to take this role and deliver it. Griffith is really engaging as Henry and he did a good job of being both protective and open to change. Brolin was commanding of the screen when he was in it. Almost too commanding. Jason Reitman wrote and directed this film from Joyce Maynard’s novel. Felt that the screenplay was more effective than the direction which seemed too loose with the hideout theme.

Overall:  Just didn’t hit the mark.

The Invisible Woman

First Hit:  This film had possibilities but really failed to deliver feeling.

This is a film about a famous writer (Charles Dickens) who meets a younger woman and keeps her as a secret girlfriend. So what is the interesting about this story - not a lot. Therefore it would have to be the acting of this story to make it compelling to watch. 

From that end Ralph Fiennes (Dickens), Nelly, the younger woman, (Felicity Jones) and her mother Francis Ternan (Kristin Scott Thomas) did a good job of making the story interesting. However, by the next day it was gone, the thoughts, feelings and the story.

Even though there were strong attempts to share a story about breaking free from the norms of that society, there just wasn’t enough there to make this film unique or stimulating or even thought-provoking.

Fiennes was strong enough to be a good Dickens. Jones was the most interesting character. Her intelligence and clarity of action was very good. Scott Thomas was good as well. Abi Morgan wrote an adequate screen play about a mostly conventional subject matter. Fiennes had a good hand on the tiller of this story, but it was the story itself that lacked punch.

Overall:  This was a many told story that lacked something unique.

August: Osage County

First Hit:  Overly dramatic with dysfunctional characters and for a story that started as a black comedy it just stays black.

I’m not sure what it was I was supposed to see; a black comedy or drama. What I saw was a drama that was overly dramatic.

That the story, as presented, was not believable from the father dying (Why did he commit suicide?) to the newly discovered brother, it just seemed like a string of strong dramatic scenes. Violet, the mother, (Meryl Streep), and her three daughters Barbara (Julia Roberts), Ivy (Julianne Nicholson) and Karen (Juliette Lewis) are all together to honor Violet’s husband Beverly (Sam Shepard) who committed suicide.

The dinner with other relatives meeting at the house after the funeral is the time that is suppose to set up everything else in the film, but the way Violet and Barbara dominate the scenes it loses momentum. One character that seemed to find the right tone was Lewis as Karen the youngest daughter. Her looseness, attitude, and philosophy seemed to “get” the black comedy part of the script. Did I feel sad for Ivy? Yes, I thought her predicament of being the “one” who lived closest to her mom and having to be the go-to sister was difficult enough but then the information that her love was misplaced added to this tragic character. From the character standpoint I like her the best.

Streep, seemed to want to play this character as dark as possible with little thought towards seeing anyone else but herself. Just a glimpse of seeing would have helped the film. Her role seemed overly self-indulgent both character wise and story wise. Roberts was good and I enjoyed watching her, but it seemed she was taking Streep’s lead and over darkening her character. Nicholson, was someone the audience could actually care about and I liked her involvement. Lewis was both dark and funny. She was one of the best parts of this film. Margo Martindale playing Mattie Fae Aiken (Sister-in-law to Violet) was another role that seemed to overstep the bounds of the character. I could see her delivering what the director wanted and enjoying it, but…. Shepard was good in his very limited role but there wasn’t a reason for his actions. Tracy Letts wrote both the screenplay and play so there wasn’t a reason why it work from a scripting point of view. Therefore, it was the direction by John Wells that moved this film this way – poorly.

Overall:  Not a film I could recommend – it was forgotten the very next day.