John Wick

First Hit:  The best thing is how Wick handles a gun and there’s lots of that in this film.

Wick (Keanu Reeves) is a retired hitman assassin for a Russian mob. He retired because he fell in love and then his wife dies. Because it was long-term illness, after her death she pre-arranged to have a puppy sent to John. After a few days of dealing with a puppy, he becomes totally engaged and loves this dog.

Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen), son of John’s former boss Viggo (Michael Nyqvist) wants John’s car and decides to rob him by invading his house, killing his dog and stealing his car. This does not go over well and the rest of the film is about Wick getting revenge.

The plot, although weak, is an interesting way to make Wick have a soft heart while giving him a vehicle to kill everyone in Viggo’s organization and he does. The best part was the choreography of the shooting scenes, Wick is a master at movement and shooting and Reeves voice, body language and movement makes it work.

Reeves makes this script and film work with the aloofness that comes naturally to him. His body awareness and abilities, probably gained from the “Matrix” series, are an asset here. Allen is perfect as the spoiled, unthoughtful, and stupid son of the Russian Mafioso. Nyqvist is excellent as the head of the mob, by being cynical, irreverent, and mean. Willem Dafoe as Reeves friend Marcus is very good at having Wick’s back. I also thought Adrianne Palicki was strong as a woman assassin who wanted to cash in on the price on Wick’s head. Derek Kolstad wrote an OK screen play which tried to create a backstory but it was all about killing lots of people. David Leitch and Chad Stahelski co-directed the film and despite a weak plot, the execution of choreographed killing scenes worked out well.

Overall:  It was entertaining but is was also simply a vehicle for guns and killings.

Dear White People

First Hit:  Extremely well written script about race as viewed by blacks. 

Race as it exists in our college campuses and elsewhere is the subject of this extremely well written script. Sam White (Tessa Thompson) does a video blog called “Dear White People”.

She makes pointed observations about how white people interact with blacks on her campus. She’s got a white lover named Kurt (Kyle Gallner) who appears to not care about her color, but is hurt by her hiding their relationship. Lionel (Tyler James Williams) is a somewhat timid gay black writer who moves from one fraternity house to another because he’s always rejected.

The issue with this film is the direction of the actors and some of the actors themselves. It just felt pressed. It was hard to watch sections of the film when the dialog and script was so amazing in what it says, while the visual on the screen was so weak and stilted.

The film covered many aspects of the race issue in the United States, including the well to do black Dean of the school Dean Fairbanks (Dennis Haysbert) and his unending competition with the white school President Fletcher (Peter Syvertsen). Fairbanks son Troy (Brandon P. Bell) tries to please his father, but is very lost and has to learn to find out what is important to him.

The climax of the film is a party where white people come as black people stereotypes or famous black people. The credits show pictures and dates of fraternities/colleges that really had such parties.

Gallner was OK, seemed a bit stiff in the dialogue. Thompson was really good, one of the better actors in this film and has some great lines. Williams was up and down in the role. There were moments of brilliance and others where the sense was he was lost. Syvertsen was OK, but his line “how much are we talking about …” was perfect. Haysbert was very strong as the controlling well to do black man caught in two worlds, wanting change and keeping his position. Bell was good but I couldn’t tell the difference between the role and his poor acting. Being an overly cautious, handsome black man looking for a life path may be him, because his eyes didn't register depth in the role. Justin Simien wrote an amazing and outstanding script. I expect this script/screenplay to be nominated for an Oscar. However he needs to find a director that can share his vision and use actors in a way that can bring his words to life.

Overall:  Great story, mediocre execution.

Whiplash

First Hit:  Incredibly dynamic acting backed by an amazing soundtrack.

When you see an actor in a few character parts through the years and more recently as a spokesperson for an insurance company, it's easy to get an opinion and pigeon hole the person.

It was so eye opening to see J.K. Simmons capture scenes with such incredible compassion, anger, and power. Here he Fletcher a band leader and instructor at the most prestigious music conservatory in New York City. Fletcher uses intimidation, degradation, and manipulative cruelty with occasional kindness to try to get the most out of the band members.

The scene where he says someone is out of key was so cruel. He discovers a drummer in a practice room named Andrew (Miles Teller), who is wholly focused on being a great drummer. Fletcher invites him into the “Studio” band where he gets a chair thrown at him, gets hit in the face by Fletcher’s hand (are you late or rushing?), and yelled at.

He meets a girl Nicole (Melissa Benoist) but drops her because he thinks she’ll resent his dedication and career choice of being a drummer. He gains a small level of respect from Fletcher, but then gets pushed down to second drummer.

The music the band plays is some of the best jazz music to hit a film a in a long time. The film has a satisfying ending and the end song is absolutely divine – I couldn’t stop moving – the beat - the sound - it was sublime.

Simmons was amazing. His facial expressions and the way he expressed his stories and then pounced like a possessed animal was extraordinary. Teller was great. He embodied a loner who wanted to do and be great. Benoist was excellent in her brief role. Damien Chazelle wrote and directed this film. The script was great and direction excellent.

Overall:  I fully enjoyed the music and the story was compelling.

Men, Women & Children

First Hit:  Interesting film about how social media is navigated and used.

I’m not a big Social Media person. I have a Facebook account which I look at about once every six months and I’ve a twitter account that I used 5 times 2 years ago.

However my company uses these and other social media vehicles to help us be seen and to grow our presence. In this film we have a paranoid mother Patricia (Jennifer Garner) monitoring every interaction her daughter Brandy (Kaitlyn Dever) has in her social media accounts. All except a secret account where Brandy dresses up and posts pictures as someone else.

She begins to like and meet up with Tim (Ansel Elgort), a loner guy whose mom left him and his dad and he’s wondering if life is worthwhile. His mom posts her adventures in California with new boyfriend on Social Media - then blocks his access to her account. Then there is Hannah Clint (Olivia Crocicchia) whose mother Donna (Judy Greer) takes suggestive photos of her and posts them for payment and view by clients.

There is also Don and Patricia Truby (Adam Sandler and Rosemarie DeWitt respectively) who have lost sexual interest in each other and use websites to find sexual partners. There were a lot of stories in this film and above were only some of them.

The point, which it did well, was to highlight how over control, under awareness, and not knowing what is going on with your child or partner leads to interesting uses of social media. With social media we separate ourselves and don’t talk face to face.

Conversely, we also will use it to also connect with strangers, call them “friends” although we don’t know them, and create relationships. Scenes where people were walking in shopping malls and school halls with their phone’s text message bubbles over them while they walk, heads down, looking at their screens was very telling.

Sandler was good as the man and husband who has lost his way and finds that treading old water won’t be helpful. The last scene in the kitchen with this wife as very good. DeWitt was very strong as the wife who was looking for some excitement in her life. Garner was so over the top (in a good way) and great as the paranoid mother. Dever was wonderful as the young girl hamstringed by her mom (Garner) and finding strength to live her life. Crocicchia was perfect as the girl who would do anything to be on reality TV and who thinks that what she looks like is the most important thing. Greer is very good as the mom who wanted to be a Hollywood star, didn’t make it, so she pushed and sold her daughter’s beauty. Elgort was excellent as the boy, who lost his mom, and was trying to make sense of his life and what was important. Additionally Elania Kampouris was very effective as the girl who made a guy’s opinion of her more important than her own opinion of herself. Chad Kultgen and Jason Reitman wrote the interesting but a bit too scattered script and Reitman got good performances out of his actors and the script.

Overall:  I think the story tried to tell too many stories and therefore there wasn’t enough depth in any one of them.

Fury

First Hit:  Powerful story about how war will change people.

War is a tough place to learn about who you are in relation to the people you work with and an enemy that wants to kill you.

Norman (Logan Lerman) has been assigned to the Fury, a tank led by Don “Wardaddy” Collier (Brad Pitt). His crew of Boyd “Bible” Swan (Shia LaBeouf), Trini “Gordo” Garcia (Michael Pena), and Jon “Coon-Ass” Travis (Jon Bernthal), have been together for years and through thick and thin. With much sadness they recently lost their assistant driver/gunner.

Norman was supposed to be a clerk typist and now he’s been ordered into Wardaddy’s tank that is heading to the front line. He tells Don he won’t shoot anyone and that he'd rather die than to kill.  But as the team thrives as a group, he must learn how to kill.

The tank crew is a family that depends on each other and this film exemplifies the positives and difficulties of this tank family life. The close quarters of the tank is made larger here by shooting one person at a time but you never forget that this is a close quarters tank.  Wardaddy is clearly in charge of his crew and he has a single focus to do his part against the Germans.

The pall of war is magnificently expressed in the color of each shot, whether it is inside or outside the tank. The dark haze of daylight exemplified the feelings of oppression and sadness that death brings.

Pitt is really strong in his performance of control over his crew, yet allowing and creating space for his guys to be who they are. The edges of this were defined in the scene where they had met two women in a building and building intense conversation and over the meal the women had prepared. Lerman was a revelation in his transformation to someone who would finally say; “best job I ever had”. LaBeouf was very strong as the guy who could quote scripture and drive the hell out of the tank. Pena was very good as Gordo and gunner. Bernthal was scary good as the guy always on the edge of sanity. David Ayer wrote and directed this film. The writing was as strong as his clear direction to fully take the audience deep into the world of a tank and the crew.

Overall:  Although war films are not my favorite genre, the characters elevated this film to a very high place.