Women in Gold

First Hit:  Although a bit methodic it was an interesting story and one deserving light.

The Nazis took private property as their own during their invasion of Austria. In the case of this story they stole a famous Klimt painting called “Adele Bloch-Bauer I” or the “Woman in Gold” from Maria Altman’s (Helen Mirren) childhood home.

The subject of this painting was Maria’s aunt Adele who lived with them in her family’s Austrian home. Maria fled to the United States and her family was either killed by the Germans in a camp or died on their own. She wants “what is rightfully” hers. She hires an old family friend’s son Randol Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds) who is a lawyer whose family also suffered under the Nazi’s rule in Austria.

Working together they end up suing the Austrian government for rightful ownership of the paintings the Nazi’s took from her Austrian home. It seemed that the aim of telling of this story was to do this through emotional righteous digging, guilt, and the wrongness of the Nazi’s and not on the depth of the characters. Not that this way of telling the story wasn’t good however, it skimped on what might have been a more amazing story.

Mirren was strong and was effective enough, although I found her back and forth on the willingness to pursue this case to be oddly off-putting. Reynolds was bland, and it may have been because whom he was portraying might have been meek but it would have been better if Reynolds mined the character further. Katie Holmes had a minor role as Reynolds wife and her part, like the film, didn't fully engage me. Alexi Kaye Campbell wrote this from stories by the real life Altman and Schoenberg. It is a wonderful story that could have used more depth. Simon Curtis did a good job of directing what was given to him.

Overall:  This was a satisfying story that could have been deeper.

Danny Collins

First Hit:  I really enjoyed the film mostly because of the music followed closely the characters.

Danny (Al Pacino) is an aging rock and roll star that sings his and other’s old songs to an aging audience that love his old songs. It is just for the money.

He’s still into drugs and drinking while seeing the irony of having a young fiancé. She’s with him for the money and drugs. On his birthday his manager Frank Grubman (Christopher Plummer) gives him a letter written to him by his all-time hero, John Lennon.

Frank bought this 40 year old letter for Danny after tracking it down to a collector. Danny is overwhelmed by the gift, and decides he needs to change his life. So he moves into a hotel in New Jersey being managed by Mary Sinclair (Annette Bening). They have great banter and the chemistry is palpable. Besides getting rid of his drugs and trying to write new songs, he wants to visit his son Tom Donnelly (Bobby Cannavale) whom he’s never met.

His son doesn’t care one iota about him and wants him out of his life. His daughter Hope (Giselle Eisenberg) is ADHD and through her Danny tries to find a way back into his son’s heart. This film is about the difficulties of redemption, forgiveness, growing, and letting go.

Pacino is pretty good, and although there are times I felt he was over milking the part, other times he appeared clued into the role and was creating a wonderful character. Bening was wonderful. She was a great foil for Pacino’s role. Plummer was fantastic. Cannavale was superior as the son who was both angry and happy to meet his father. The star of this film was Eisenberg. She was amazing. Dan Fogelman wrote and directed this film. His use of the John Lennon music was absolutely perfect. The other stories that make up this film were strong.

Overall:  I thoroughly enjoyed the film and it was the music that got me fully engaged.

Serena

First Hit:  This dark film is well acted but is a downer to watch.

Pemberton (Bradley Cooper) is a young good looking man who has some family money that is tied up in land both in Brazil and the Smoky Mountains. He’s been logging the Smokey Mountains for revenue and is stripping the landscape by cutting down all the trees.

Even though this is the time of the great depression and jobs and money is scarce, there are people who don’t want the mountains raped of the trees for profit. He sleeps with an employee that brings his food. He heads back east and meets strong willed Serena (Jennifer Lawrence) who was alone in the world because her family didn’t survive a fire in their home.

She is strong independent and there is immediate chemistry. They marry and he drags her off to the Smoky Mountains. She clashes with Pemberton’s right hand man Buchanan (David Denik) because of her intellect and strength. Pemberton’s former housekeeper is now pregnant with his child and jealousy ensues. The film is about how their world collapses.

Cooper is good as Pemberton. There is nothing extraordinary about his performance. Lawrence shows, yet again, why she is an up and coming actress. She carries this film and makes it interesting. Denik is very good as Pemberton’s right hand man who tries to double-cross his boss. Ana Ularu is effective as the woman who has Pemberton’s child out of wedlock. Christopher Kyle wrote this slowly paced, mediocre and dark screen play. Susanne Bier directed getting a lot from Lawrence.

Overall:  This film did not seem like there was enough for the actors to really expand their abilities and more fully engage a story.

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.