The Foreigner

First Hit: Entertaining and nice to see Jackie Chan back in action.

This film is in the same bucket as Liam Neeson’s Taken series of films. Here, Quan Ngoc Minh (Chan), runs a restaurant which supports him, his daughter Fan (Katie Leung), and Lam (Tao Liu) who runs the day-to-day of the restaurant.

Quan takes his daughter to select and buy her homecoming dress and while she’s in the store the “Authentic IRA” bombs a department store that kills Fan. Quan, a former special forces operator from Vietnam, is heartbroken and distraught because Fan was his last living relative. After grieving for a short period of time, we know he’s going to make someone pay.

We get a back story of his losing his wife and other daughter when they fled Vietnam and now all he has are a couple pictures and a lot of sadness.

The good part is that at 60+ years old Chan can still fight and he makes it all look good and appropriate for his age and skill set.

His protagonist is the Irish Deputy Minister Liam Hennessy (Pierce Bronson) who led the IRA for years and now curries favor from the British Government for keeping the peace between the IRA operatives and Britain. Holding this peaceful co-existence together means he has compromised his Irish independence values and, per some of his peers, he’s gone soft towards the British Government.

Quan presses Hennessy for the names of the bombers and adds that he will not stop his quest until he has their names. He plans to revenge his daughter’s loss and exercise his demons for the all the losses he’s had.

Hennessy is also trying to find out who bombed the store and then it gets worse when they bomb a bus loaded with people. The peace in Ireland and his cushy job are in jeopardy.

The film becomes a cat and mouse game and Quan holds his own while following through on his objective. Hennessy also follows through on his goal to clean everything up and his ruthlessness comes through. In one of the last scenes in the film he directs his nephew to tie up one last loose end.

Chan is strong in this role and uses his impressive skills appropriately. What didn’t quite work was the use of the same sad face as his primary go-to for dramatic effect. It was a look that was suppose to express his deep sadness for his losses in life and that he was about to explode like a volcano. Bronson was very good in this role. He created a right level of being settled into a bureaucratic job, but still having the fire of being an IRA patriot. Niall McNamee as Hennessy’s nephew Patrick O’Reilly, was excellent. Appropriately responsive to his powerful uncle’s requests. Liu was wonderful as Chan’s restaurant assistant and friend. Her honorable sweetness stood out. Dermot Crowley as former IRA leader Hugh McGrath was very good. I loved how his anger towards the state of the IRA peace pact with Britain was expressed. David Marconi did a great job of writing a script that worked for all the characters. Martin Campbell directed this film with a good eye towards using the skills and strengths of his actors in this story.

Overall: It was an entertaining film.

The Mountain Between Us

First Hit: Although a predictable story, it was touchingly well acted.

The story is relatively simple. Two strangers with very specific needs hire a private plane to fly them from Boise, ID to Denver, CO because their Denver flight has been cancelled, and there are no other flights that will get them to their destinations on time. Ben Bass (Idris Elba) is a surgeon and is expected in Baltimore the next day to perform surgery on a 10-year old boy. Alex Martin (Kate Winslet) is a news photographer who needs to head east because she’s getting married the next day. They are both motivated.

Hiring Walter (Beau Bridges) a veteran pilot, they get in his small plane, and without a flight plan, head out over Rocky Mountains towards Denver. Walter has a heart attack and during his struggle the plane crashes. Walter dies, Alex breaks a leg but is alive and Ben has some cracked ribs and bumps and bruises. Walter’s dog, who came along for the ride, also survives the crash.

They hang out in the partial fuselage that remains hoping to be seen in the mountain snow, but as commercial planes fly thousands of feet above them, they have an argument about what to do. Alex is a chance taker and wants to climb out of the mountains, while Ben is conservative in thought and action and he wants to stay at the plane. Neither of them believe they are going to make it out alive.

One morning, she heads out hobbling along through the deep snow with a temporary splint on her left leg. The dog goes with her. Ben stays back at the plane but decides to catch up with Alex and, reconciling their different views, decide to make an attempt to get out together.

Because they are so different, this story is excellent to have the characters learn about each other in their own ways. Ben is quiet and doesn’t want to talk about his personal life while Alex shares about herself and spends energy coxing more feelings out of Ben.

The excellent script, photography and acting allowed the audience to feel how cold they were, the pain of their injuries, the sadness of almost dying, and their developing relationship. We feel their focus on staying alive and getting down the mountain. We participate in what they go through together and their hopelessness.

Winslet is very good as the adventuring photographer who takes risks. We could sense her adventurous spirit. Elba was excellent as the conservative acting surgeon. His slow unfolding and sharing of his life in the film was wonderful. Bridges was wonderful in his short lived role. J. Mills Goodloe and Chris Weitz co-wrote an excellent screenplay which captured a slow developing caring of the characters. Hany Abu-Assad directed these two gifted actors with clear intention. They were strangers when they started and were both from very different worlds, and Hany elicited a slow revealing of these actors to the audience and to each other.

Overall: Although it had a predictable ending, the meat of story of how they worked together to get themselves down the mountain was worth watching.

Marshall

First Hit:  One of many inspirational stories about this amazing man and his power to change racism in our country.

One of the best things about this film was that Thurgood Marshall (Chadwick Boseman) was not allowed to speak in court for the accused he was defending. Marshall was sent by the NAACP around the country to defend blacks (colored people) in courts of law. In some cases, because he didn’t have a license to be a defending attorney in some states, he needed a sponsoring attorney.

It’s December 1940 and Sam Friedman (Josh Gad), a soft-spoken insurance lawyer, just finished a case. His office manager, his brother Irwin (John Magaro), surprises Sam that they need publicity and extra money, so he sponsors Thurgood who is going to defend a black man against a white woman’s rape charge. Their first meeting doesn’t go very well as Sam doesn’t like the idea of being involved in a criminal case, let alone one that is defending a black man. Sam’s worried about public opinion and what it will do to his business.

After meeting with the defendant Joseph Spell (Sterling K. Brown), Thurgood and Sam believe him to be telling the truth that he did not rape Eleanor Strubing (Kate Hudson). Entering court, Sam tries to tell the judge that Marshall will be trying the case and presents the sponsoring paperwork. Judge Foster (James Cromwell) obviously has a thing against the NAACP and refuses to honor Marshall being allowed to try the case. In fact, he states that Marshall can sit at the defendant’s table but cannot utter a word and if he does, Marshall and Sam will be charged with contempt.

The film does a wonderful job of showing how Marshall was able to influence, engage, and mentor Sam into being a great criminal lawyer.

This film is about the power and influence of Thurgood on people to do the right thing and how he was able bring out the power of belief in others.

I thought the film did an excellent job of showing the 1940's and how the fight against racism was slowly evolving and that Marshall was one of leaders and influencers.

Boseman was excellent as Marshall. How he demonstrated and showed the swagger and the inner belief needed to lead racial change in our country was wonderfully convincing. Gad was amazing. I loved his evolving understanding of how to be a good lawyer on the side of right, which was congruent with his inner belief structure. Brown was very strong as the defendant, he showed a perfect level of fear. Hudson was wonderful as the husband abused woman looking for a little love in her world. Cromwell was the perfect judge. His gruff nature was excellent. Jacob and Michael Koskoff wrote a powerful script. Reginald Hudlin did a great job of creating a feel and mood of the times while making the audience see the ways change in America came to us, one case at a time.

Overall:  It was a pleasure to watch this film as it provided a small glimpse of history.

Spoor (Pokot – original title)

First Hit: Somewhat confusing, as this film tries to make too many sociological points and wants to be a mystery as well.

What I didn't walk away with was knowing if this film was about honoring and living with nature, gun control, the state of a fading Polish democracy, or women’s rights and a willingness to change all these.

Janina Duszejko (Agnieszka Mandat-Grabka) is a women who lives alone in the Klodzko Valley in Poland. She had two dogs, is an astrologer, vegetarian and teaches part time at an elementary school. She is loved by her students as she teaches them about nature and joy.

Early on, she comes home to find her dogs missing. She searches far and wide, puts up posters everywhere, asks friends and the police department, and even her students help her, but to no avail.

There are lots of hunting scenes in the film and to make this point a calendar is shown at key segments listing what can be lawfully hunted in that particular month. There are scenes that saddened me greatly as they show animals being killed by hunters. There is also a local man who captures and cages foxes only to skin them for money. We see these foxes in their cages.

Often when Janina hears the gunfire of the hunters, she either races to where the hunters are located and yells at them to stop, or she goes to the police and asks them to do their job as hunters are killing animals that are not on the monthly list.

The police think she’s just a crazy old lady who is an advocate for gun control and strict hunting regulations.

There are lots of scenes where you notice how men treat women poorly and as second class citizens.

One day one of her neighbors comes to her house and says another neighbor, whom she calls Big Foot, is dead. Together they go to this man's house. She’s not very sad that he’s died but neither is her neighbor. She hated Big Foot because he used illegal traps to snare animals. Waiting for the police to come she finds a picture in his home that she keeps.

Shortly after the death of Big Foot, other hunters start dying. She and others find these bodies and the only tracks around the bodies are deer hoof prints. At one point, she rants to the police that the animals are attacking the hunters for revenge. But when the church burns down the mystery of who is killing the hunters opens the question even wider.

Anyway, there are lots of points being made in this film. The darkness of the subject matters are enhanced because of the clouded sky, the location, and because many of the scenes are shot with little lighting. It is not a bright film. Conversely, there are some funny moments in this dark film and many of them have to do with Duszejko’s interest in astrology and the young man who helps her.

Mandat-Grabka was strong as this in-touch with nature and idealized woman who has strong beliefs. Wiktor Zbrowski as her neighbor Matoga is great. Jakub Gierszal as the young man, who works for the police office, is very capable with computers, and has befriended by Duszejko, is wonderful. His enthusiasm and simplicity of living is great. He's a bright spot in this film. Patrycja Volny is fantastic as the beautiful shop keeper who is being kept by the man who cages the foxes. Her movement towards breaking herself free is wonderful. Miroslav Krobot as the entomologist who teaches Duszejko about how beetles and bugs work together to clean up dead flesh was great. His singing of ‘House of the Rising Sun’ was perfect. Olga Tokarczuk and Agnieszka Holland wrote a slightly over complicated screenplay that felt like it carried too many themes. Holland and Kasia Adamik co-directed this film. I cannot tell you if they purposefully created all these themes or if I projected them, however it complicated my viewing and understanding the film. There were too many physically dark scenes, and this didn’t help the overall film. I thought some of them could have used more lighting, thereby helping engagement to the story.

Overall:  This film couldn't seem to decide if it wanted to make a point of if it was a mystery.

Battle of the Sexes

First Hit:  Thoroughly enjoyable, entertaining and educational.

What makes this film work really well are the actors and clear direction that added insight into one of the most outrageous and important moments in women’s sports history.

Being old enough to recall the original battle of the sexes tennis matches (both one and two), it was important to make it true to the story while adding depth of character. That is what this film did. Learning more about Billie Jean King (Emma Stone), her husband Larry (Austin Stowell), Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) and their paths was powerful, clearly defined and heartwarming.

King wanted equal money for the women who played in the same tournaments that men played in. Receiving less than 10% of what the men earned in winning the U.S. Open was degrading to women and women’s tennis everywhere. She wanted equal pay because they put people in the seats just as well as the men.

USLT (United States Lawn Tennis) leader, tennis great, Jack Kramer (Bill Pullman) told King that this wasn’t possible and that men were just better, stronger, and more interesting tennis players. Being rebuffed on her request, she and Gladys Heldman (Sarah Silverman), founder of World Tennis magazine decided to start their own tennis tour.

This tour got off to a rocky start but when Virginia Slims (cigarette maker) started sponsoring their events with real prize money, women’s tennis started to take hold and capture their supportive audiences.

Then there was incurable gambler Bobby Riggs who lived very well off of his wife’s money. Priscilla (Elisabeth Shue) loved her husband, his funny ways but struggled with his constant gambling. Fed up after he comes home with a Rolls Royce he won in a card game, she kicks him out of the house.

Nowhere to go, Bobby as a former Wimbledon singles, doubles and mix doubles tennis champion, he carries through with an idea one of his gambling buddies comes up with. Could a fifty-five-year-old former Wimbledon champ beat the best women’s tennis player? Capitalizing on this idea, he hounds Billie Jean to play him and offers her $35K. She refuses him and eventually Bobby calls on the new women’s #1 player, Margaret Court (Jessica McNamee) to take on the challenge. She does and gets publicly trounced by Bobby in two straight sets. As expected this hurts women's tennis and therefore Billie Jean decides to make this right.

All through this Billie slowly is discovering she is attracted to women, which in those days was not well accepted. The scene where Billie becomes gob-socked by her attraction to a woman was amazing. As she’s getting her hair done for photos just prior to their first Virginia Slims tournament, the hairdresser Marilyn Barnett (Andrea Riseborough), starts touching Billie’s hair and you can feel them both melt away. This was one of the best, most effective scenes in the film because of the acting and direction. I sat there and felt Billie Jean breaking down and opening up with barely any words spoken.

Of course, as we all know, after the Court fiasco, King plays Bobby and makes history.

The tennis was extremely well done. The director recreated many of the winning points just like they actually happened. Billie and women’s tennis did get invited back into the USLT tour for equal pay because of Billie Jean’s perseverance and skill.

Learning what drove Billie Jean as a little girl to excel in tennis, how her husband supported her throughout her personal discovery and how chauvinistic men thought of women was superbly covered.

Stone was amazing. The scene of her sitting in the hair salon meeting Marilyn for the first time was amazing. How she slowly evolved Billie’s character towards acceptance of both her tennis greatness and her attraction to women was sublime. Carell was perfect. He played Bobby just as we saw him on television. But what made this really work besides the physical likeness was giving his home life honest depth. Risenborough was wonderful as Billie’s first lover. Pullman was great as Kramer. Silverman was exquisite as the woman who put together the Virginia Slims tour together out of nothing. Natalie Morales as co-tennis player Rosie Casals was super. She reflected the persona of the real Rosie. Shue as Riggs wife was perfect. It was wonderful to see Shue again and her reflection of a wealthy woman of the era was spot-on. Stowell was good as Billie Jean’s understanding and supportive husband. McNamee was good as tennis rival Margaret Court. In real life Court’s current homophobic rants echo the subtle opinions her and her husband expressed in the film. Alan Cumming as Cuthbert ‘Ted’ Tinling tennis clothing designer for the women on the Virginia Slims tour was excellent. I liked his encouragement to King at the end of the film. Simon Beaufoy wrote an excellent script. He caught all the nuances of the time and I appreciated it. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris as co-directors were spot on in all ways. I loved how they integrated television clips of the time, 1973, (Howard Cosell and Chrissy Evert among them) into a film made in 2017. Their vision was sublime.

Overall:  For anyone interested in knowing how today’s women’s tennis stars got the equal money recognition they deserve, see this film.