Snowden

First Hit:  Oliver Stone is on his game – excellent film about a man who wanted to let us know that the US Government has been spying on us without our permission.

I won’t often get political in film reviews, however, nearly two years ago I saw a film called “Citizenfour” which was a Laura Poitras documentary film about Edward Snowden. I indicated then that I thought everyone needs to see how the US Government could use their existing technology to spy on anyone they wanted to.

This new Stone film uses the filming of the Poitras’ documentary as it’s center point plot device to fill in the picture in a fuller way. Stone tells the story leading up to Snowden (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) making the choice to copy data files from the NSA’s database and share them with the media (Briton’s "The Guardian" newspaper was the first) from his hotel room in Hong Kong. This hotel room is where most of Citizenfour was shot and those events were effectively reproduced here by Stone.

Playing Poitras in Oliver's film was Melissa Leo, “The Guardian” correspondent, Ewen MacAskill, is played by Tom Wilkinson and Zachary Quinto played Snowden’s lawyer Glenn Greenwald. These were the people Snowden entrusted with the absconded data.

The film traces Edward’s path from a young man trying to get into the “Special Forces" because he wanted to do something for his country after 9/11. However, because of his weak and broken leg bones, he receives an Administrative Discharge from the Army. He then interviews with and joins the CIA. After joining the agency, he begins to date Lindsay Mills (Shailene Woodley) who teaches a creative dance, is a photographer and is very liberal.

This relationship is important to Snowden and it is a key to his seeing the everything more openly. The film has to tell a convincing story and, in my book, effectively does so. It provides enough information about how the data collection systems work. It gives you Snowden slowly realizing that what he’s doing, in his mind, is wrong. It gives you the struggle Edward and Lindsay have about his secret work, and how their love helped him make his decisions.

The sets of where Snowden worked were wonderfully constructed and gave the sense of the power behind computer data gathering. And although this film is 134 minutes long, I cannot think of where one scene could be cut to reduce the running time. Yes, this film is weighted towards Snowden’s view of the world and the rightness of the data he collected and distributed. And in my view it needs to push this view because the US Government is one hell of a spying machine and you do not know if you’ve been in their sites.

Gordon-Levitt was a perfect Snowden. And during the end and in the credits, where the real Snowden appears on the screen, you can see why Gordon-Levitt was selected. He not only looks like him, but he got Snowden’s speech pattern down as well. Leo, Wilkinson and Quinto were wonderful as the team supporting Snowden in the Hong Kong hotel room. Woodley was sublime. It was her that created the chemistry that made the relationship and much of the film work. I also appreciated Nicholas Cage as Hank Forrester an older, one-time coder, instructor to Snowden and one who fell out of grace with the CIA and was left to manage their cyber museum. Kieran Fitzgerald and Oliver Stone wrote an effective screenplay which wonderfully bounced from period to period without losing momentum. Stone did a fantastic job of bring this story to life in a way that made it interesting. Scenes were set up beautifully. I suggest that everyone see this film and Poitras’ film "Citizenfour".

Overall:  This was a fully engaging film about someone who has bucked our government and made them think (and blink).

Sully

First Hit:  An amazing, crisp, and well-acted film about a remarkable event showing how this pilot made an extraordinary set of decisions under extreme pressure.

I was profoundly affected by how much Tom Hanks (as U.S. Airways pilot Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger) embodied the deeply rooted sense of responsibility for the 155 people on the plane he had to land in the Hudson River.

Like Sully, I was fully engrossed in wondering about everyone on the plane. The concern is demonstrated in so many ways:  1) Sully going up and down the aisle ensuring everyone is out of the plane. His last look towards the back of the plane before he exited was telling.  2) When he asked one of the officers of the pilot’s union to help him find out if everyone got off the plane.  3) the release of the subtle out-breath while being given a physical when he’s told, the survivor's count was 155.

We get multiple views of the event. We get a glimpse of what the air traffic controller went through, his heart being in the job. We get to see how the airline's insurance company and investigators aimed to have the water landing be pilot error. We see the closeness and distance Sully has with his wife Lorraine (Laura Linney).

We get to embrace the pilot and co-pilot (Aaron Eckhart as Jeff Skiles) relationship and how this event brought them closer together. Lastly, we the audience, see a public hearing about the event. All of this in a crisp well executed 96 minutes.

The dream sequences were powerful and were reminders of how a commercial airline plane can create enormous damage to a city. The film editing of the differing views of this event, was perfect. The conclusion, even though it is already public knowledge, is wonderfully suspenseful and gratifying.

Hanks is superb. He embodies the weight of the role of pilot and all the decisions Sully has made over the years. I would want all my pilots to be this man. Linney is good as Sully’s wife. While we never see them together, and her relationship with Sully during this film is solely by phone, it works, she’s able to bridge the gap. Eckhart is wonderful and strong as co-pilot Skiles. He was perfect. Todd Komarnicki wrote an very strong engaging script. Clint Eastwood’s direction was sublime. He captured so many aspects of the event and did this in a clear concise manner.

Overall:  This is a wonderfully executed film depicting a set of life saving decisions made clearly and with concise conviction.

Complete Unknown

First Hit:  Although I liked the film, story and the acting, this film is not for everyone.

The opening sequence is a little confusing because it slips focus on the character’s face as it shows a montage of Alice Manning/Jennifer/? (Rachel Weisz) as a hippie botanist, a focused and in charge nurse in a trauma situation, and then as magician’s assistant in China where she drops through a trapdoor.

We get reintroduced to her as Alice Manning a woman who has just come back to the US from doing research deep in the jungles of Tasmania. She makes friends with Clyde (Michael Chernus) at a cafeteria as a way to connect with Clyde’s workmate, Tom (Michael Shannon). As it turns out, Clyde invites her to Tom’s birthday party at Tom’s house.

Alice enthralls the party’s guests with her travels and stories of her past jobs and life. When Tom walks in, there is this sense that he is questioning Alice’s stories and motive. When he goes outside, she follows, and we learn of their previous connection.

The rest of the film, for the most part, is dialogue between these two about her disappearing act. One of the most interesting statements is by Tom, when he says, he’s been working for 10 years to make a difference by writing emails in his job. He’s forever hoping that he’ll make a difference; and that is what his life is all about, hoping. He's afraid of what he'll feel and what he'll do if he actually makes a difference. During their walk they help an elderly woman who’s fallen. Helping Nina (Kathy Bates) home they meet her husband Roger (Danny Glover) and Tom discovers how easy it is to impersonate someone else.

Will Tom join Alice in making up new jobs and lives, or will he stay with the live he has, or is there another path? Regardless of the choices they make, the film suffers from scenes like them walking out to visit the frogs. It seemed extraneous. That, and other scenes, seemed to take away from the intent of the film.

I did like the thought and premise of this film where someone, in this case Alice/Jennifer, could find a way to successfully be a different person over and over again. I was reminded by the Bob Dylan song lines: "like a complete unknown, like a rollin' stone".

Weisz was strong as Alice/Jennifer and I bought her ability to change characters. Shannon was good as the intense man whose life is built on hopes. Bates and Glover were fun in their minor roles. Joshua Marston and Julian Sheppard wrote an interesting script, however it would and will only have a limited audience. Marston directed this and outside a few scenes that seemed unneeded, I liked the premise of the story.

Overall:  This film will have a limited audience but, for some, it will be worth seeing.

Mechanic: Resurrection

First Hit:  Entertaining enough to make it fun to watch.

I recall the first “The Mechanic” film I saw in 1972, which starred Charles Bronson as Arthur Bishop. I liked the concept of an, almost heatless, assassin for hire. Bronson didn’t talk much and let his body, action and eyes do his speaking for him. He was rough but very thoughtful in his preparation to carry out his mission.

In 2011 “The Mechanic” was remade with Jason Statham playing the role of Arthur Bishop. The plot of these two films were closely aligned and Statham did a really good job of recreating this role that Bronson played so effectively. He also brought a glint of heart to the role.

In this reprise of the same character, Bishop has attempted to hide away and live a quiet life in Rio de Janeiro. However, he gets a visit from an agent of Crain (Sam Hazeldine) who wants Bishop to do 3 more assassinations. Bishop refuses and heads to another small shack in Thailand.

Here Mei (Michelle Yeoh) helps him get settled. When a tourist name Gina (Jessica Alba) gets in trouble Bishop saves her but it is all a plot by Crain to get Bishop do to the assassinations. Leveraged, Bishop ingeniously does his work but also goes after Crain.

The setups of the assassinations are interesting and engaging. The overall plot is a bit weak, but the way the actors play their roles keeps the whole film entertaining and the audience engaged.

Statham is a great choice for this character as he leads with intelligence before brawn. You also get to see that Bishop cares. Alba is OK and helped the plot along. Yeoh was good as the person Bishop once helped and will do anything to help him. Hazeldine was sinister enough. Tommy Lee Jones has a minor, yet key role as one of Bishop’s targets but becomes an ally. Philip Shelby and Tony Mosher wrote an engaging script and didn’t push plot devices too far. Dennis Gansel did a good job of keeping the film moving and made this film an extension of the Statham’s Mechanic film.

Overall:  This movie was action packed and engaging.

Southside with You

First Hit:  This was a very sweet story about how Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson’s first date might have gone.

Based on publicly available facts, Richard Tanne developed a wonderful script and directed this film creating a space for two amazing actors Tika Sumpter (Michelle) and Parker Sawyers (Barack) to reflect our current first family’s initial date.

I liked the feel of this very uplifting story and how it transferred to film. It showed the intelligence of both our President and First Lady. Their personal charm, goals, aspirations, and willingness to cautiously open up to each other about their upbringing and future ambitions were nicely presented.

The film follows the couple from when he first picks Michelle up in a car that has part of the floorboard missing; then they trek to a museum, take a walk in a park, go to a community meeting where Barack speaks, see a Spike Lee film, and have ice cream together.

Throughout these events, their dialogue is wonderfully scripted and brings out information that gives the audience a peek at the how and why they are together.

Sumpter is very strong at showing an intelligent strong Michelle while being cautious about starting a relationship with someone who works in her firm. Sawyers was very good as showing us the articulate well-spoken President we’ve come to know. Tanne did a wonderful job of creating a script and directing his two actors.

Overall:  I found this story and film to very sweet and enjoyable.