The Wrecking Crew

First Hit:  This is an amazing well told story about the people behind the music of the early 60’s.

Just about everyone in the theater seemed to be old enough to be around during the early 1960s. Therefore the elongated applause at the end of the film was understood and well founded.

Most of the audience, including myself, grew up with the music this eclectic group of musicians created. Some of these musicians became famous on their own (Glen Campbell and Leon Russell) but mostly, this group is only famous to the marquee musicians that harnessed their talent.

The musicians this group backed and made music for included: The Beach Boys, The Righteous Brothers, Herb Alpert, The Association, Sonny and Cher, The Monkeys, Sam Cooke, Dean Martin, The Ronettes, The Platters, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, and Nancy Sinatra. This is only a partial listing, but anyone familiar with the music of this era will know the powerful and amazing extent this group made on music.

One of the better things about this film is that it is obviously made out of love, the love Denny Tedesco had for his father Tommy, one of "The Wrecking Crew".

Denny Tedesco did an amazing job of stringing together interviews, past and present, along with the glimpses of the actual music sessions. The music was extraordinary.

Overall:  This was a very beautiful satisfying film about the music of the early 1960s.

Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed

First Hit:  One of the sweetest films I’ve seen in a long time.

This is the story about three Spanish people who come together to learn more about themselves and to take charge of their lives. Yes this sounds overly philosophical, yet the simple elegant story by which this story unfolds is so gracefully sweet.

Based in the late 1960’s the world is changing. The Beatles have taken the world by storm but are at the brink of breaking up. “Free Love” means that sexual mores are clashing against more old fashion beliefs while personal liberty is becoming more important to young people as their peers are singing about changing the world. Juanjo (Francesc Colomer) is a young man wanting to define his place and space in the family.

The issue he uses to stand up to his father is the length of his hair. His father wants his son’s to get a haircut, while Juanjo wants to leave it as it is. Belen (Natalia de Molina) is young, sweetly beautiful, and 3+ months pregnant. She’s been ousted from the home she was sent to and is trying to find her way back home.

Antonio (Javier Camara) is a John Lennon obsessed school teacher. He teaches English to students using lyrics written by John. His kids are engaged and he loves what he does. Antonio gets the idea to drive to another part of Spain to see his hero who is shooting a film “How I Won the War”. On his way he picks up Belen and Juanjo who are hitchhiking.

As the three learn more about each other a deep friendship and honor for each other evolves as they hang around a very small town in Spain hoping to see Lennon.

Camara is outstanding as the gentle, kind and likable school teacher. His deft handling of his role and the innocent excitement he brings to the character is amazing. Molina is exquisite as the pregnant girl who is both innocent and divinely guided. Colomer is wonderful as the young man who is trying his wings for the first time. David Trueba wrote and directed this film with wonder and innocent beauty.

Overall:  Truly an enjoyable film to watch.

Get Hard

First Hit:  Funnier than expected and not a great film.

This somewhat topical film about Wall Street mismanagement of funds is only interesting because James (Will Ferrell) is a newly appointed partner in his fiance's felonious father's firm (say that 3 times fast). He is also unknowingly going to be the fall guy for the theft.

Looking at 20+ years in the penitentiary, he hires Darnell (Kevin Hart), an executive car wash owner, to teach him how to survive in prison. Although Darnell’s never been to prison, he makes James believe him because what James will pay him. To do this, Darnell turns James’ home into a prison with barbed wire, security gates and all sorts of spotlights.

The interaction between the fast-talking Darnell and the slow to get the picture James is, at times, very very good. At other times not quite as good. Yet; I’ll say that with Hart as a foil, Ferrell is better than usual.

Hart is a fast-talking creative genius. Watching him act you know he’s adding and deleting dialogue as required to make the scenes work. Ferrell is better with Hart as a foil instead of being the sole performer in a film. Craig T. Nelson as the felonious father-in-law is believable. Alison Brie as his fiancé Alissa is OK but her part felt forced. Jay Martel and Ian Roberts wrote a pretty good script in that it allowed for the actors to create characters. Etan Cohen did a good job of directing by letting the actors push their characters, although the first part of the film felt more constricted than the latter half.

Overall:  One of the better Will Ferrell films I’ve seen in a long time.

Insurgent

First Hit:  I liked this slightly better than Divergent, and that’s about it.

We are back in the structured society of 6 factions: Abnegation (Selfless), Dauntless (Brave), Erudite (Intelligent), Amity (Peaceful), Candor (Honest) and Divergent (which is all traits).

They all live in an area where most the buildings are broken down or in small camps in the woods. There are some who live in well maintained and modern buildings. All of this is behind a circular wall where supposedly nothing exists beyond the wall.

The point seemed to be there was a secret box that when someone figures out how it works, the revealed information helps everyone. To get to the point of the film we’ve got to sit through lots of fighting, bravery, and adventure. Was it interesting? Somewhat. Was it believable? At times barely.

Shailene Woodley as Tris was good and she did a really good job with the various feelings and situations she was put in. Theo James as Four was solid. Kate Winslet as leader of the people Jeanine was good given the lines and role. Jai Courtney as Jeanine’s henchman was OK. Miles Teller as Peter was one of the more interesting characters in this film. Brian Duffield and Akiva Goldsman wrote the partially interesting but convoluted script. Robert Schwentke directed the film with some wonderful visuals but it plodded along with a more convoluted plot than needed.

Overall: This second of the series was good enough to see the next film.

The Gunman

First Hit:  This film tries to be interesting and fails.

Using the politics of forced mining in the Congo as a backdrop, what the story is about is how a man slowly comes to grips with his killing past. What is unfortunate is that using this and his redemptive actions of drilling for clean water to make Terrier (Sean Penn) someone we care about failed.

I did not care one iota about Terrier’s self-redemption. Walking into the theater I expected to sit through a bunch of scenes of people shooting (and missing) at each other but for it to be so poorly done was disappointing. True to Penn’s own publicly pushed political stance – there are scenes where he’s the good guy, however, he’ll do anything to keep himself and his girlfriend Annie (Jasmine Trinca) alive and shooting people is what he resorts to doing. He continues to state that he's got no choice.

Javier Bardem, as Terrier's co-worker Felix, was a poorly created and acted character. He’s required to be extremely jealous and a drunk, and neither of these were done well. At least 3 times during the film, I was sat there thinking, I just wanted this movie to be over.

The best part of Penn’s performance was that he was in great physical shape but to have him smoking in so many scenes is downright stupid. His character didn’t need it. Trinca was OK and although she exemplified being a good person in love with someone who has a history of killing people for money, she rose above the stupidity of this film and delivered what she could. Bardem was a wasted talent in this role. Ray Winstone as Stanley, Terrier’s only true friend, was strong in his supporting role. He was the only bright light in this film. Don MacPherson wrote this mess and Pierre Morel did his best to shoot this film in an interesting way.

Overall:  Poor story, poor acting, and lousy characters make for a waste of time.