Downsizing

First Hit:  Slow, tedious, and, at times, funny and the only thing that made it worthwhile was Hong Chau as Ngoc Lan Tran.

Tran doesn’t appear until the last third of the film, but she changes the film and energetically makes the film interesting and better. Up until then the main character, Paul Safranek (Matt Damon), is generally depressed and lacks any energy.

Damon is too good an actor to phone it in, and therefore he must have been delivering what director and writer Alexander Payne wanted.

There is a point to the film and it’s about how humans are systematically destroying the planet. Norwegian scientist Dr. Jorgen Asbjornsen (Rolf Lassgard) wanting to find a way to slow down the destruction, comes up with making people smaller. In this case a normal 6’ person gets shrunk to about 5”. Asbjornsen figures it will allow humans to consume fewer resources and give us time to figure out how to save the planet.

The upside to downsizing, as it is called, is that your money is worth about one hundred times as much. This makes it worthwhile for people to downsize as they can afford to live a life of luxury. Paul and his wife Audrey (Kristen Wiig) are struggling financially and if they choose to downsize they can life a great life.

As Paul finds himself living a less than stellar life as a downsized person he has some regrets. When he meets, and spends a bit of time with his neighbor Dusan Mirkovic (Christoph Waltz) his life begins to change.

However, it really begins to change and the film begins to get interesting when Paul gets involved with helping Tran. Tran organized and led protests in Vietnam, survived prison time for her involvement, was downsized by the government, and escaped Vietnam inside flat screen shipping box. She became famous for this escape from Vietnam so Paul recognized her when he saw her.

Given her past, she works to help anyone who is struggling to survive in the downsized city they live in. Paul becomes inspired by her.

The visuals of the downsized world are excellent. The comedy comes from this and some of the interactions between the characters.

Damon was mediocre and I don’t know if this was a poor performance by him or by the script and direction. There were times I could sense and feel Damon trying to make the scene better but to no avail. Waltz was mediocre as well. He’s another reliable actor who can deliver and I’ve got to believe that script and direction failed him. Lassgard was OK as the discovering scientist and leader of the movement to downsize and survive. Wiig had a very small part in this film and her scenes seemed strained and pressed. Chau was priceless. It was worth the price of admission just to watch her perform in this film. She was spot-on sublime. Payne and Jim Taylor wrote the script which ended up being restrictive and pressed. Payne had no business directing this because the vision was too restrictive as the acting showed. He had great tools but it didn’t work.

Overall:  I had high hopes for this film and liked the characters, but it came up short, real short.

The Shape of Water

First Hit:  Beautifully crafted and acted, and I didn’t find it all that interesting.

Although most of the scenes are dark and have a green color tint, they are beautifully crafted. The greenish tint is in the walls of the lab, the color of the hallways in the facility, the color of the water in which the beast lives and the van that was used to transport the beast. To break up this hue, color, like the deep dark red velvet seats in the movie theater, would be used to signify boldness.

The movie theater plays a role in the film because it is the home of Giles (Richard Jenkins) and the amazing star of the film Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins). They live upstairs in small apartments.

Sally is a mute and works at a laboratory as a janitor. Her workmate, friend and protector is Zelda Fuller (Octavia Spencer). One day, when they are cleaning a secret room of the lab Sally is startled by the beast (Amphibian Man / Doug Jones) when she places her hand on a chamber he's being contained in. The amphibian has been captured and is being studied by Dr. Robert Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg) who is also happens to be a Russian spy.

The US government is trying to keep the amphibian secret and has hired Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon) to keep tabs on the creature. Strickland is cruel and thinks himself superior to everyone, especially Zelda and Elisa. He shows his cruelty by carrying around a cattle prod which he uses to  control the amphibian.

Eliza’s days are monotonous and the same. After sleeping; she gets up goes into the bathroom, masturbates in her tub, makes a sandwich for herself to take to work and one for her neighbor Giles (Richard Jenkins), goes to work, cleans the lab and bathrooms, returns home and spends time with Giles in his apartment where they watch dancing films on television.

Loved the scenes when Giles and Eliza do dance routines while sitting on the couch. Sweet and touching and added a heartfelt feeling to the characters.

Dancing is nice aspect of this film and it brings a lightness to this, otherwise, heavy film. The dance routines were directly from some of the films of the 1940s and 50s.

The obvious set-up is that Eliza feels a deep connection with the amphibian partially because they both don’t speak. However, they find a way of communicating with each other. She falls in love with him and is stressed because of the cruelty Strickland imposes on the amphibian. The question becomes, will she fight for the amphibian?

One of the failings of this film were the scars on Eliza’s neck. This detail was too obvious and allowed me to see the end before it came.

This film is a love story and in many ways, it really works well. I’m not sure of the necessity of having Hoffstetler be a Russian spy and I’m not sure why the pie store owner needed to be a racist. I just didn’t think it enhanced the story.

Hawkins was perfect for this role. Her clarity of purpose, her portrayal of being mute and desire to be seen as a person, was divine.  The development of her finding the strength to act on her love was compelling. One of the best performances of the year. Just as Hawkins was purposeful in her role, Shannon was equally intense as the man who wanted to control the amphibian. His driven personality to succeed at his job, his way, was perfectly played. Jenkins was great as the scared and scarred neighbor that had been let go from his job as product illustrator. Stuhlbarg was fantastic as the Russian agent who wanted science and this discovery to prevail over the wants of the Russian Government. Spencer was great as Eliza’s friend and protector. I sensed that writer and director Guillermo del Toro wanted this film to be both an interesting and emotional journey, but I found it lacking in interesting department, except when I was thinking about how the scenes were shot and the detail of the well-crafted pictures, like the cracked tile in Eliza’s bathroom. However, the direction by him of this cadre of actors was exquisite and keep me engaged.

Overall:  Although exquisitely beautiful in its crafting, it did not leave a lasting impression of greatness.

Wonder Wheel

First Hit:  Although well-acted, there's too much telling versus showing in this film.

I’m not a fan of longish monologues where the actor is telling their history to another actor as a way to tell the audience the necessary or semi-necessary information about themselves. It can work if kept to a minimum, but here it is incessant.

Much of what was told was unnecessary for the character to be seen more fully. The long monologue of Ginny (Kate Winslet) telling her lover Mickey (Justin Timberlake) as to why she felt like she was a disaster of a woman was totally unnecessary. It didn’t add to the film because Winslet is fully capable of making the audience believe her depth of sadness without all the information.

Additionally, I’m not a big fan of talking to the camera as a way to move the film along and to provide a backstory to what we are seeing and why. But Woody Allen (writer and director) felt it necessary to have Mickey talk to the camera several times and the first offense is at the beginning of the film which took me right out of film from the get go.

What we have is Ginny who is unhappily married to Humpty (Jim Belushi) who is an angry drunk so she keeps him sober. They're raising Ginny’s son Richie (Jack Gore) from a previous relationship. Richie is a handful because he’s a pyromaniac. Ginny feels both trapped and grateful for her current relationship with Humpty.

Humpty’s daughter Carolina (Juno Temple), from a previous marriage, shows up one day because she ratted out her gangster husband to the cops. She’s decides to visit her dad because she’s broke and because her husband won’t look for her at her dad's because of the strained relationship.

One day Ginny meets up and talks with Mickey and they start an affair. Hoping to enjoy love in her life once again, she becomes jealous when Carolina also becomes interested in Mickey.

This is the set-up and as we wade through lots of explanatory dialogue we a story is presented in the Coney Island boardwalk setting.

Winslet is excellent. It is her facial expressions that really shares the story despite all the lines and dialogue she's given. Belushi is perfect in this role. A barely educated guy who is a bit brutish, thinks the world of his wife, likes fishing and loves his daughter. Gore as the pyro son is an odd character in the film but he carries the role well. Timberlake is strong as the affable lifeguard who is honest in his dealings with the women. Temple is fantastic. I enjoyed her scenes and her look fit perfectly with the story. Allen wrote his typical screenplay filled with unnecessary justifying lines for the behavior of his characters. I really liked many of the sets and scenes that he put his characters in. The noise of the boardwalk and the overriding ragtime music set a wonderful tone.

Overall:  This is not one of Allen’s better films because the excessive dialogue got in the way.

The Disaster Artist

First Hit:  This is a very out loud funny film.

I’ve never seen The Room which has a reputation of being the worst film to ever be released. The basis of The Disaster Artist is about the making of The Room. Tommy (James Franco) plays Tommy Wiseau an odd person who seems to have unlimited funds, has a very peculiar accent, and would like to be an actor. Our first introduction to him is when he gets in front of an acting class and dramatically over does a scene. The looks on the other acting students’ faces? Priceless.

Contrarily Greg (Dave Franco) is in the same acting class and he freezes and cannot emote in front of his classmates. So, Greg reaches out to Tommy and asks him if he would help him learn to emote. The scene in the restaurant where the first lesson happens is hilarious.

Because they both want to be actors and do not see an opportunity, they decide to make a film together. Tommy ends up writing, directing, producing, financing and starring in this film called The Room.

They hire a team of people including actors for the film. Tommy, in the lead role of Johnny, gives Greg a major part as Mark. To play Johnny’s love interest, Tommy hires Juliette (Ari Gaynor) to play the role of Lisa. Additionally, he hires Carolyn (Jackie Weaver) as Claudette, Lisa’s mom. As someone to guide the actors with the script and help Tommy direct the film, Tommy hires Sandy (Seth Rogen) who has experience in filmmaking.

The rest of the film is about the poorly acted and scripted scenes of making this film, The Room. The difficulties of working with Tommy and worse, his unclear vision, are filled with hilarious scenes. Although Greg and Tommy are friends, this friendship gets tested in both the acting scenes as well as the scenes where Greg decides to live with his girlfriend Amber (Alison Brie).

Do I want to see the room? I’m not sure because just prior to the credits the film shows scenes from the initial film, The Room, next to the same scenes from this film of filming the room. I was struck about how close the scenes were done and now think that seeing The Room won’t enhance my overall moving going experience. This is because I don’t think I’d act like the audience in the film’s opening night.

James Franco was fantastic as Tommy. I loved how he gave this character an air of otherworldliness. Dave Franco was great. I loved his enthusiasm towards the character and giving this role a wonderful appeal. Weaver was really good. I loved her line about her announcing that she has cancer never appears again in The Room. Brie is wonderful as Greg’s supportive girlfriend. Gaynor is engaging as the film’s love interest. Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber wrote an ingenious script to capture the story of the creation of the film The Room. James Franco did an excellent job of putting a very funny story together by getting strong situational comedic performances out of the actors.

Overall:  This was probably the funniest film I’ve seen this year.

Darkest Hour

First Hit:  Maybe the brightest and best two hours in the theater this year.

If my memory serves me correctly, my middle school history teachers painted Winston Churchill as a roundish, heavyset, and controversial bull-doggish sort of man who saved England from Nazi Germany. But what did that really mean? How did he do this? This film sorts out the enigmatic view I had of him.

What this movie does is shine a light on a controversial 3-week period in England’s history about whether to negotiate a peace agreement with Nazi Germany or to fight them to the end.

When the film begins Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) is losing the support of Parliament’s conservative party and Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax (Stephen Dillane) doesn’t want to be elevated to Prime Minister while he’s pushing for a negotiated peace. Parliament is in an uproar and King George VI (Ben Mendelsohn) is deeply concerned about his country.

Chamberlain floats and gets traction for the idea to hand over conservative power to Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman). Being a controversial person, not well liked by anyone, the conservatives figure if Churchill fails then Halifax and his solution will step up to save England from what is happening in Europe, wide-spread destruction and surrender.

Churchill’s reputation as being difficult and having backed failed campaigns in Africa and Gallipoli proceeds his ascension to Prime Minister. But as he would state  in his defense, these campaigns weren’t all his doing. He also had backed England returning the Pound to a pre-WWI gold standard parity, which had caused its fair share of problems.

When summoned to accept the position of Prime Minister from King George, the clock starts and the film effectively marks the passage of the days and decisions by displaying the day and month prominently every so often.

What makes the situation so incredibly difficult is that most of England’s active army has been corralled onto the beach at Dunkirk with the German army closing in. England’s ships have been all but destroyed by the Germans, their airplanes have been mostly shot down by the superior German Luftwaffe and last but not least, the United States has vowed to stay out of the war to this point and cannot assist England. This last item is poignantly shared in a desperate phone call Churchill places to President Roosevelt.

To save as many of their troops as possible, Churchill sends out a command asking all private boat owners having boats from 30 – 100’ long, to set sail to Dunkirk to save the British troops. (Note: See one of the other best films to be released earlier this year Dunkirk to witness this amazing event.)

In a moment of desperation Churchill asks Halifax to begin exploring a negotiated peace with Nazi Germany. But as Winston was known to do, he deviated from the script and reached out to the people of England to ask what they wanted him to do. As we all know, he chose the path of “We will never, never, never surrender.”

The way this film is shot, we believe we’re in the early 1940’s. The darkness of the time is expressed though spending a lot of time in small underground rooms and darkened hallways moving with him as he finds a way through his own dark depressive drinking way of creating his answers through the inspirational speeches and talks he gives. The final speech he gives to Parliament is frightfully stirring. I also loved how he made England sound big and small by referring to it as an island instead of a country.

That Churchill drank all the time, smoked cigars, and was depression prone was duly present, but the strength, power, and encouragement he brought to his country shines through from beginning to end.

Oldman quite simply is the best actor in a lead role this year. His embodiment of Churchill is full, complete, and by every measure extraordinary. Lilly James as Elizabeth Layton, Churchill’s assistant, typist, and confidant was sublime. Her enthusiasm, struggle and devotion was the heart this film sits upon. Mendelsohn was perfect as the stuff-ish King George VI who learned to embrace and trust Churchill. When he shared with Winston that his family, the royals, wanted to know if they needed to exile to Canada, the bond was made. Kristen Scott Thomas (as Churchill's’ wife Clementine) was wonderful. She provided support when needed and was a perfect sounding board for Winston. Dillane was strong as Viscount Halifax, who didn’t think England stood a chance and believed that a negotiated peace was the best way to save the people, culture and country. Anthony McCarten wrote an amazingly rich script. The dialogue perfectly reflected the times. Joe Wright’s direction was sublime. The story was told with genuine care and creates power of the decisions made at the time. What made it even better was I wanted the film to go on and tell me more of the story.

Overall:  This is truly a contender for best film of the year.