Creed

First Hit:  This 133 minute film flew by because it was engaging and well done.

I enjoyed the first 4 Rocky films. I didn’t see the 5th because they were deteriorating as the series went on. Of course, like many others, I thought the first Rocky film was wonderful and a great story.

This film feeds off of Rocky IV where Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) is killed by a Russian fighter. One of Apollo’s out of wedlock children, Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan), never met his father before he died and now carries resentment towards the Creed name and his roots.

He grows up going from foster home to foster home and getting into fights over everything and anything. He likes fighting. Apollo’s wife finds him in juvy and takes Adonis in to raise him, puts him through school and helps him get a great job. But even with a great job, he loves fighting and quits everything to become a professional boxer.

He goes to live in Philadelphia looking for Rock Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) to ask him to become his trainer. When we meet Rocky, he’s a little tired, isn’t engaged with boxing any longer, and runs Adrien’s, his deceased wife’s namesake restaurant. When he discovers that Adonis is Apollo’s son he begrudgingly helps him.

This film is about both Adonis and Rocky growing through their relationship to become better people - together. The boxing scenes are well done, not as violent as the scenes in “Southpaw” or a couple of the earlier “Rocky” films, but they are effective.

This script has Rocky talking to Paulie and Adrian's headstones was vintage Rocky and very touching. Having Adonis meet Bianca (Tessa Thompson) was a throwback to Rocky and Adrian’s budding and then lasting relationship.

Jordan was very good in this part and his ability to be touchy and touching are a wonderful strong point. Stallone was magnificent. I wouldn’t doubt he will receive award nominations for this performance. Subtle, true to the character, and very engaging. Thompson was a great conduit for and in this film. She rounded out the testosterone nature of this film. Phylicia Rashad was perfect as Apollo’s widowed wife and Adonis’s stepmom. Ryan Coogler and Aaron Covington wrote a wonderfully insightful script that brought together wonderful historical aspects of the old Rocky films. Coogler did a great job of putting the script and actors together to make this film really work.

Overall:  This was a thoroughly enjoyable film.

Trumbo

First Hit:  Although I didn’t like the main character much, this was an excellent well executed film.

This is one of a few new films that reach back into the 1950’s and the cold war with Russia. All of them, including this one, are very good.

This movie is about how Congress, more specifically a few Republican members, decided to railroad anyone in Hollywood that was connected with the Communist party. The fear based thought of these politico was a reminder of some of the fear based thought we have today in the Republican candidates.

The film doesn’t focus on Communism or anything other than people sticking up for their beliefs under the rules set forth in the Constitution and Bill of Rights in the United States. This is the heart of the story and how a group of writers, led by Trumbo (Bryan Cranston), were blacklisted from writing Hollywood scripts and therefore making a living because they were Communists.

Famous Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) was a major source for identifying Hollywood folks who had communist leanings. When actors and sympathizers like Edward G. Robinson (Michael Stuhlbarg) couldn’t find work, they named names as well.

Led by John (Duke) Wayne (Davis James Elliot), a group of Hollywood stars jumped on the Congressional band wagon and supported rooting out and keeping Communists from getting work. Trumbo’s family suffered and did everything he could to keep his family with a roof over their head.

He also helped his writer comrades as well. But of course it was hard and it hurt his relationships with his wife Cleo (Diane Lane), family, and especially his admiring daughter Niki (Madison Wolfe and Elle Fanning). On his side was B level film producer Frank King (John Goodman) and fellow writer Arlen Hird (Louis C.K.).

Bryan Cranston was very good. He embraced this character fully and made it work very well. Mirren was fantastic as Hopper – very believable. Davis James Elliot was very good as John Wayne. He embraced the man I ran into once in Newport Center coming out of a bookstore. Stuhlbarg was fair as Robinson however, my history of watching the real Edward G. on film this performance didn’t quite match up. Lane as Trumbo’s wife was perfect: Strong, intelligent and also devoted with perseverance. Both Wolfe and Fanning were great as daughter Niki. Extra kudos to Fanning as she showed once again how to command the screen and scene when needed. Goodman was very good as B film producer King. C.K. was very strong as blacklisted writer Hird. John McNamara wrote a very strong script. Jay Roach did a great job of piecing together real historical footage and filmed footage.

Overall:  This was a valuable story and came through the lens elegantly.

Brooklyn

First Hit:  This film shares a wonderful heartfelt story with remarkable acting and stunning visuals representing the 1950’s.

Irish immigration to the US and specifically to Brooklyn during the 1950’s (the 3rd wave) is highlighted in this film.

The film does give homage to an earlier 2nd wave of Irish Immigration to the US by sharing information about how they built a lot of the infrastructure in eastern US cities. Knowing that by 1860 or so, one quarter of New York City’s population was Irish, when we join this story we are aware of Irish influence in the city.

This story begins with Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) living with her mom and sister in a small Irish town. She works as a clerk in Miss Kelly’s (Brid Brennan) small store. Where Eilis has a quiet caring heart Miss Kelly is mean and spiteful. This life is weighing Eilis down, so her sister Rose (Fiona Glascott) sets her up with a Visa and a job in New York City.

Afraid and excited, she leaves on a ship only to land in a repressive boarding house run by Mrs. Kehoe (Julie Walters) and working as a clerk in a fancy department store. She is lonely and sad, misses her family, and is terribly homesick. All this changes when she meets a young Italian plumber named Tony (Emory Cohen). He is totally smitten by her and while she’s slowly warming up to the attention and affection, Tony blurts out his love for Eilis.

The scenes of them together are amazingly precious. The first meal at his family’s house is ripe for enjoyment. Then there are scenes at the Ms. Kehoe’s boarding house dinner table that are simply funny, witty and insightful to the plight of these young girls trying to find a life in New York City.

Then there are the heartfelt and decisive scenes back in Ireland when Eilis returns to pay her respects to her recently deceased sister. The heart pulling wish of her mother wanting her to stay and not go back to New York, along with her ability to see her old friends as well as being seen as someone who is beautiful and smart makes her wonder about staying.

Ronan is beyond wonderful. She gave the kind of performance that elevates her incredible resume. I loved her as a young curious and confused girl named Briony in “Atonement”. She sparkled physically and intensely as the assassin in “Hanna”. Here she gives a deeply moving and evolving portrait as a women coming into her own. This is a great actress. Cohen is so wonderfully charming in his role, you just cannot help but love him here. Walters is perfect as the strict matron of her boarding house, trying to keep her women on solid respectful footing. Glascott was perfect as the thoughtful sister. Brennan was on point as a sharp, pushy, and mean store owner. Jim Broadbent as Father Flood was flawlessly cast as Eilis’s rock during her first months in the US. Nick Hornby wrote a dazzling screen play capturing the feel of the time and the intent of Colm Toibin’s novel. John Crowley captured the innocence, despair, history, and feeling of the time perfectly.

Overall:  Wonderful to watch, beautiful to feel.

Spotlight

First Hit:  Excellent writing, outstanding acting, powerful scenes, and a story that turned out to be spot-on.

This is a story about how Catholic Priests took advantage of young boys (and girls) by molesting them and getting away with it for years.

It begins with the Boston Globe getting a new Chief Editor named Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber) and while doing his due diligence of current staff, discovers that the Globe has a small group of reporters called “Spotlight”. This team digs deep to uncover meaningful stories that make a difference to Boston and beyond.

An old article comes across his desk about priest abuse and he asks Walter “Robby” Robertson (Michael Keaton), head of the Spotlight team, if this is the kind of story they work on. The team of Mike Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo) Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams), and Matt Carroll (Brian d’Arcy James) are asked to take a deeper look. As they begin to dig, the level of cover up by Cardinal Law (Len Cariou) and his crew of Bishops and Priests becomes grossly apparent.

Many people are involved with the cover up including the creation of a cottage business where lawyers and their law firms defending the church reap high fees while the abused is paid next to nothing and told to keep quiet. There were many heart breaking interviews with the abused including Eric Macleish (Billy Crudup) who, with needle marks in his arm, tells how this has affected his life and his family.

The script was sharp, always on point, and reflected a caring towards giving the audience a clear understanding of the problem. This film never lagged and reflected the urgency required to make a difference.

Ruffalo was superb. His ability to be smart, urgent and both careful and reckless and the same time was perfect. Schreiber was excellent as the steady hand looking to make the paper relevant again and seeing that this story was worthy of the effort being put in by his staff. Keaton was amazing as the leader of Spotlight, knowing when to reign in or let his staff loose. The confrontation with Ruffalo was respectfully wonderful and intense. McAdams was strong and especially good in her interviews with the abused. Her empathy and ability to obtain information was excellent. James was wonderful. I loved his caring about the home near his house and how he wanted to ensure everyone knew about the danger lurking inside for young kids. Crudup was so strong in his portrayal of an abused man that I felt his pain while he spoke. Cariou was very good as the Cardinal who tried to come across as Teflon. One of the most outstanding parts is by Stanley Tucci as an independent attorney working for the abused. His role was amazingly great because of him. McCarthy and Josh Singer wrote a remarkably strong pointed script. There was no fat, just great dialogue. McCarthy directed this film with a purpose, to tell a difficult story with clarity of purpose.

Overall:  I was fully engaged and entrenched in this story in every way.

Suffragette

First Hit:  Just before the final credits roll, the audience gets a strong message about just how difficult it has been for women to have a voice in the country they live.

This story takes place in Britain, but when the end of the film comes, it is a testament to every woman in every country in the world.

In the US women didn’t get to vote until 1920. In Switzerland 1971. And there are many countries that women do not have the right to vote. It is one of the primary downsides of Muslim countries and some interpretations of Islamic law – women who make half the world’s population had little say in the way the world is run. It makes me incredibly sad, filled with disappointment and to me shocking that although we can make huge forward leaps in the world technology, we have silenced so many people by not giving them a voice in how the world is run.

The Suffragette movement in Britain was an underground affair where women would meet, with the support of a few men, in clandestine ways to organize marches and protests against the English government. Leading this movement is Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep) who in a couple of scenes sets the tone for the real foot soldiers, Edith Ellyn (Helena Bonham Carter), Violet Miller (Anne-Marie Duff), and Maud Watts (Carrie Mulligan). Watts has a young boy and she’s worked at a laundry company her whole life. She tries to stay out of trouble, but as her bravery begins to grow with the injustice she sees around her, she ends up being one of the stronger voices and leaders of this group of women trying to make a change.

The cost is high. Men run the country and families and she loses her son to her husband who then sends the boy off with another family. She’s living in the street, family gone, but sees that this is the only path for her – getting the vote, and getting more say in her life and country.

The dialogue is very strong and many of the scenes/sets are perfectly attuned to the time and feeling of this darkness coming to light.

Mulligan is terrific. She is believable and carries the inner strength needed to make her choices congruent with the part through and through. This is a wonderful role for her. Duff is equally strong as a woman having to also make hard choices, especially when she becomes pregnant again. Carter is very strong as a medical practitioner, who uses her connections and supportive husband to keep the movement going. Finbar Lynch as Carter’s husband Hugh is incredibly wonderful in his very subdued background supportive role. Abi Morgan wrote a great script which evoked strength and fear in strong reflective ways. Sarah Gavron had excellent control of the script and subject. She made this come alive in an intelligent manner.

Overall:  The film was very good, but when the list of countries appeared on the screen listing the years they gave women the vote, it put a very loud and strong exclamation point on the subject.