Bridge of Spies

First Hit:  The difference between Spielberg films and other director films is always attention detail through craftsmanship – this film excels in every way.

When a film supplies and fulfills details around my childhood memories and does it with great storytelling, I’m hooked.

I remember the cold war. We use to practice diving under our desks and covering our necks with our hands in case “The Bomb” went off. We were told, we’d see the flashing light of the bomb in LA (I grew up in Southern California) and when we did see the flash we were to "drop, duck and cover".

The way Spielberg crafts the era and the story of three men, Rudolf Able (Mark Rylance) accused Russian spy, high altitude U2 surveillance pilot Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) and lawyer turned negotiator James B. Donovan (Tom Hanks) was sublime.

The director takes his time, gives the audience relevant information, and then crafts a story that is interesting and fully engaging. Every scene is crafted to share an emotion or add to the audience’s understanding of story. The CIA agent following Able when the camera moves around the car to introduce the suspicion – perfect.

The story is about how an insurance lawyer, Donovan, is hired by the US Government to first defend Able in the US Court of law and then he’s recruited to negotiate a prisoner swap. The swap was for Powers who was a U2 pilot that was shot down over Russia. Because we were in the midst of the cold war with Russia neither government would acknowledge that they were talking with each other.

The feel of East Berlin, where the swap happened, was perfectly dreary. The relevant side story was that Donovan wanted an additional person included in the trade, Fredrick Pryor (Will Rogers). In this side story Pryor, a student, had gotten caught on the wrong side of the wall and was being used by the East Germans to make a name for their government. It also showed the strength of conviction of Donovan to get what he wanted, to be a humanitarian and how good he was at negotiating.

My favorite line spoken a few times in the film was:  “Would it help?”

Hanks was superb. He’ll probably be nominated for an award during award season. I would also say that Rylance was equally superb in his supporting role. He’s perfect and his ability to portray a subdued man on a mission who can be trusted is brilliant. Stowell was good as the U2 pilot. Matt Charman, Ethan and Joel Coen wrote a compelling, interesting engaging story, but it was Spielberg’s direction through clear vision that makes this film absolutely great.

Overall:  This is a perfect slice of history presented in a way that is simply great storytelling.

The Walk

First Hit:  This film kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time.

Yes there are parts of the film I wanted a fast forward button so that I could see Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) walk the wire between the twin towers, however all the parts are necessary and they provide a great lead up to "The Walk".

In fact, I almost felt as though there wasn’t enough information in the film to make me feel sure that he’d practiced walking the wire enough to meet the challenge and goal he wanted to complete:  To string a high wire between the World Trade Center (WTC) towers and walk between them.

There’s enough biographical information to set the stage that Philippe marches to his own drum – regardless of the circumstance. He meets Annie (Charlotte Le Bon) whom he connects with, romances, and she becomes his muse. There are wonderful scenes with her and Philippe, but my favorite is when they come out of the subway and she sees the twin towers for the first time and says:  “woha" - it was perfect.

The team Petit put together to assist him were perfect, and each had their beliefs, strengths, and foibles. As they prepare for “The Walk”, it is easy to get engaged with the challenge. To provide expertise, Philippe seeks out wizened senior wire-walker Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley) who teaches him the most important aspects of rigging and safety. Their interaction and mutual respect is obvious.

The use of 3-D is absolutely perfect. This film must be seen in 3-D. The magnificence of the feat, the view of NYC, and the view down from the wire is almost too hard to watch. This film is about courage, single mindedness, and commitment. This film is so filled with tension that there were times I had to close my eyes.

Gordon-Levitt, despite the slightly odd French accent was fantastic. He held single mindedness and the air of invincibility, perfectly. Le Bon was sublime. She was perfect as a muse, friend, lover and believer, all wrapped into one person. Kingsley was very good as the mentor and guide. Everyone in the support team was fantastic. The NYC policemen were amazing as were the WTC construction workers. I also loved that the writer and director included the mysterious visitor that came to the top of the tower viewed what Petit was doing and left. The use of voice over was also very effective. Robert Zemeckis and Christopher Browne wrote a wonderful screenplay and Zemeckis’ direction was perfect.

Overall:  This was a jaw dropping, interesting, and powerful film.

99 Homes

First Hit:  Great and disconcerting story delivered by very strong acting.

The real estate game and crisis is highlighted in this film.

This film highlights families that are not able to continue paying their mortgage and get foreclosed upon. The person who takes charge of the eviction is aggressive real estate agent Rick Carver (Michael Shannon).

When he forecloses on Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield), his mother Lynn (Laura Dern), and son Connor (Noah Lomax), Dennis finds a way to earn some money back and he hates the way he’s doing it. He now works for Carver as his right hand man.

Dennis likes the money, he likes that he’s able to provide for his son and mother, and he hates what he’s become. The film ensures the audience can, at a visceral level, relate to the people evicted from their homes. This is truly an American story.

Garfield is magnificent. He carries the greed and guilt perfectly. Shannon is perfect as the guy who has one focus, money and more of it. Dern and Lomax are great as Garfield’s mother and son. Ramin Bahrani both wrote and directed with film with a deft touch. He was able to create the sadness of loss and the greed of getting more perfectly through this screen play.

Overall:  I thought this was a really good film because it reflected a true American tragedy and the acting was great.

Sicario

First Hit:  A strong drug war film that digs into ways the government is bending rules to gain some control over Mexican cartels.

I liked this film more the day after (the day I’m writing this) than I did watching it.

I’m not sure why, except maybe the jurisdictional confusions created by Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) of the CIA and Kate Mercer (Emily Blunt) of the FBI and assorted other agencies like the DOD and local and Mexican police agencies continued to process in my brain through the night.

While watching it I wanted more clarity about why Mercer was involved, why Graver’s associate Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) seemed so cold, perverse and with purpose.

The story revolves around a way that the US Government is trying to control the influx of drugs from Mexico along with the mindless killing of Mexicans that come across the border into this country. The initial scene is what sets this tone.

Blunt is wonderful. She plays the rule following toughened agent very well. Brolin is good and at times I thought he was too flippant to be a government agent. Del Toro was superb. His steely resolve in this character was perfect. Daniel Kaluuya (as FBI agent Reggie Wayne) was very good and a great co-companion of Blunt’s character. Taylor Sheridan wrote a script that, at times, seemed overly complex or confusing. Dennis Villeneuve did an excellent job of directing this story, through the complexities as well as the more direct violent scenes.

Overall:  This film grew on me after seeing it, which is a good thing.

Pawn Sacrifice

First Hit:  Fascinating story about a complicated fascinating man.

I learned chess because of Bobby Fischer in the late 1960's early 1970's. I had heard about this young man who was lighting up the chess world and wanted to know what this game was about. Learning more about chess I immediately saw the complexity of the game and wondered about the minds of people who played this game for a living.

In this film Fischer (played by Tobey Maguire) grows up in a household he found confusing and distracting. His solace – chess. He played all the time - day and night and early on he was out in the streets playing in the public parks in Brooklyn. He then started playing multiple people/boards at one time, winning most all the time.

This film follows the story from his youth until he plays Boris Spassky (Liev Schreiber) in Reykjavik, Iceland, then follows up with pictures and information as to what happened to the reclusive Fischer. Although the American public was supportive of the way he defeated “The Russians” in an intellectual discipline the Russians excelled in; Fischer spouted anti American and anti-semitic remarks to media through his paranoid nature which caused him to be at issue with both the government and many of the public.

As his friend and fellow chess coach Father Bill Lombardy (Peter Sarsgaard) said, Bobby went down the rabbit hole and would never come out. The mixture and use of real video/film of the time in this film was very good and added to a realistic view of this story and joy of these performances.

Maguire was really good at flipping from appearing sane and then being unstable. Schreiber was great as Spassky, his command of arrogance and humility at his loss to Fischer was perfect. Sarsgaard was really good as his friend, coach and understanding priest. Steven Knight wrote a very strong script while Edward Zwick’s directional use of old footage as well was excellent.

Overall:  I loved seeing this film because of the memories of the time, the memories it sparked within me and getting to learn something about a very driven person.