Selma

First Hit:  Not as engaging as I had hoped.

The Selma, Alabama march was a seminal moment in our nation’s history.

The film follows Martin Luther King (David Oyelowo) through the process, thoughts and actions leading to the successful decision by President Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) to push an equal vote for all while King led a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama securing the rights for blacks to vote.

Although I loved the story and remember it fondly, the portrayal of this story was only good at times. I thought there were long moments of waiting and indecision by the director which created a slowness in this film that wasn’t needed.

To set up the issue, the film begins with Annie Lee Cooper (Oprah Winfrey) trying to register to vote. The voter registrar clerk, finds ways to reject Cooper’s form. The point is the unreasonableness of the registrar’s office against blacks.

The film spends a little time with King being at home with his family. Coretta Scott King (Carmen Ejogo) is strong willed, supportive of her husband, and also keeps the family together with her strength. There are a number of historical characters in this film from Andrew Young (Andre Holland), Presidential Advisor Lee White (Giovanni Ribisi) to Gov. George Wallace (Tim Roth) which give a fair amount of context to the story – especially Wallace.

Pacing of this film was methodically slow and, to me, it made this film much longer (by 20 – 30 minutes) than needed.

Oyelowo was good as King, but I never felt moved by the documented speeches as spoken by David. Wilkinson was good as LBJ, however I’m wondering about the dialogue used to represent him. For some reason it didn’t ring true with the same person who pushed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Winfrey was solid as Cooper, however in two of the closing still pictures, she seemed to be the focal point by being in the center – seemed a bit egotistical. Ejogo, as Coretta, provided the strongest acting of the bunch. Holland was good as the young Andrew Young. Ribisi was OK as White. Roth was powerful as Wallace. Paul Webb wrote a good script, but needed some trimming. Ava DuVernay directed this film which had pacing problems. However, the look and feel of the time was wonderfully represented.

Overall:  I was disappointed in the result of this film.

The Interview

First Hit:  Funny enough but the sprinkles of very low-brow bits made it less fun and interesting than it could have been.

Seth Rogen has the ability to make funny films and funny situations. What doesn’t work for me in his films is that he appears to be compelled to make sure he sticks in low-brow dialogue or high-school genre fart jokes and bits that take away from the overall film.

I thought the concept of having Dave Skylark (James Franco) a popular and without a lot of substance television interviewer selected by North Korea’s President Kim Jong-un (Randall Park) to give a once in a lifetime interview was genius. And there are parts of this film that are truly funny and I appreciated those moments. It was just unfortunate that when push came to shove, if Rogan thinks it’s not funny enough he reverts to less intelligent stuff.

Franco at times is really funny and his interviews of Eminem and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were funny and I thoroughly enjoyed him. Rogan as Skylark’s producer Aaron Rappaport as well as writer and co-director was both really good and also misplaced. Lizzy Caplan as CIA Agent Lacey was funny. Park as Kim was really funny and had enough of the "god like" features that helped hold the story together. Diana Bang as Sook who interfaced between Skylark, Rappaport and Kim was really funny. Her bit to overthrow Kim was great. Rogan, Evan Goldberg, and Dan Sterling wrote the story and script which at times was brilliant and other times, sophomoric. Rogan and Goldberg directed this film with both brilliance and stupidity.

Overall:  I enjoyed the film more than not – and that, I suppose, is a good thing.

Taken 3

First Hit:  Third time was not a charm for this series.

Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is back for a third time and instead of his wife or daughter being directly held hostage, here we have a situation where his former wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) is killed to get his attention.

He is being framed for the killing and it is up to him and a LA cop Frank Dotzler (Forest Whitaker), to find the truth. As with all “Taken” films, there is a lot of violence, amazing skills of eluding his pursuers, and the righteous ending of his innocence. The frame-up is staged by his former wife’s husband and a Russian mobster.

The film felt constricted and Neeson is getting a little long in the tooth do be riding a car down an elevator shaft and magically surviving.

Neeson is good in this role he owns. However, the script, his age and the tired franchise all need to be retired with this last film. Janssen has a small and shortened role which doesn’t give her much room to show her skills. Maggie Grace, as Kim Mills, Bryan’s daughter, is good in this safe, non-eventful role. Whitaker is, as always, a scene stealer and is a strong presence in the story. Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen wrote this weak and uninspired script. Olivier Megaton was the director and the finished result was rather week.

Overall:  This was a very uninspired film.

Unbroken

First Hit:  Unfortunately this film only focused on his suffering.

In many ways the story of Louis Zamperini’s life is too big and expansive for the screen.

This left Angelina Jolie with having to make a choice of what to present. She chose to share little of his joys and more on how he suffered. The major part of this film takes place while he is a prisoner of the Japanese in a POW camp located in Japan.

The punishment dished out Corporal/Sergeant Watanabe (the “bird” as prisoners called him) was relentless. He feigned niceness and respect from time to time, and then would turn around and punish Louis in horrible ways. The way this film was shot, broad vistas when in the plane or on the life raft to microscopic views of the torture. This isn’t to say that what Louis endured was brave beyond compare and therefore this is a major part of his life.

However, in the end, I was relieved that the film was over and very happy to read the post-closing credits and pictures of him, smiling and joyful – something that didn’t exist much, if at all, in the film.

Jack O’Connell as Louis was very good, but I felt as if something was missing within him that would make the story more real. Domhnall Gleeson as Pilot Phil was good as his friend and fellow survivor. Takamasa Ishihara was very good as Watanabe and provided a sick view of a torturer. Joel and Ethan Coen wrote this script, which was effective but very dark and one-sided towards gruesome punishment. Jolie’s direction was very pointed to the pain Zamperini suffered to the point of overload. Where was the man who was joyfully smiling at the end of the film.

Overall:  I felt that this film showed only a partial view of an amazing man.

Into The Woods

First Hit:  Outside a few funny bits, I was mostly bored.

I know better than to go to musicals. They are a genre of films I find, for the most part, distasteful.

There have been a few where the music is more clearly a part of the film and its dialogue works. Here many of the lyrics seem to be developed just to create amusement all while the singer is singing the song seriously.

I kept hoping for the film to end and it just wouldn’t. Crisping it up to 90 minutes might have helped but the major issue I saw was that the filmmakers tried to take three fairy tales, create an additional fourth and then encompass the first three into an interesting story. It didn't work for me.

Anna Kendrick (as Cinderella) and Meryl Streep (as the Witch) can clearly sing. The songs failed them. Emily Blunt as the Baker’s wife can also sing well. James Corden as the Baker was expressive. I found that the singing of Lilla Crawford (Little Red Riding Hood) and Daniel Huttlestone (as Jack in the Beanstock fame) to be too much. There was simply too much singing from them. It caused me to dislike their characters. Johnny Depp (as the Big Bad Wolf) was wasteful and uninspired. And although Chris Pine was pretty much tongue-in-cheek the entire time, he was amusing. James Lapine wrote the screenplay and it failed in most all aspects. Rob Marshall directed this in a darkened unclear way.

Overall:  This was truly a forgetful film.