The Water Diviner

First Hit:  Although it lagged at times, it was a well meaning story and was thoughtful in the characterizations of specific individuals .

Connor (Russell Crowe) is an Australian farmer who learned water divining from his father. He looks and listens to what the land is telling him. He does this alone while his wife is at home. We soon learn that his three boys went off to war together.

The war was in Turkey and the specific battle Connor believes his boys died in, was Gallipoli. He decides he must go to Turkey and bring his boys' bodies back to Australia for a proper burial. However the English, who appear to running the cleanup effort tell him he cannot go into the area where the bodies were hastily buried.

He steals his way into the area and with the assistance of the Turkish Major Hasan (Yilmaz Erdogan) is allowed to look for his boy’s bodies. His divining experience allows him to see where his boys died. The army digs up the bones of two of his boys. It the search for the third son that leads him on an amazing journey of longing, love and forgiveness.

There are scenes that are extraneous and obvious for additional and not-required emotional engagement.

Crowe is strong as Conner. Ergogan is wonderful as the Turkish major who understands Connor’s drive to find his boys. Olga Kurylenko is dynamite as Ayshe, a Turkish woman whose husband was killed in the same war and has a young son who takes a liking to Connor. Andrew Knight and Andrew Anastasios wrote a good script and I think it could have been cut a little and tightened up. Crowe directed this film and for the most part it was good.

Overall:  There are wonderful scenes with Kurylenko and Crowe and with Crowe and Ergogan.

Monkey Kingdom

First Hit:  A truly delightful amazing film.

Disney does and continues to produce the most amazing nature documentaries ever made. Here the Disney team moves the ball further down the field with “Monkey Kingdom”.

Just as in a novel, the Disney team takes their painstakingly shot footage and pieces together a story that is emotionally compelling, fun and interesting. The main character is Maya, a female that is at the bottom of this group’s hierarchical based society. When she gives birth to a young boy Kip, things change because of her perseverance and dedication to protecting and feeding her boy.

The scenes of Sri Lanka’s jungle were amazing as well.

Tina Fey narrated this film perfectly. Her inflections and curiosity were infectious. Mark Linfield and Alistair Fothergill did an amazing job of directing this effort.

Overall:  It may be a “G” rated film, and for me the “G” means great.

Ex Machina

First Hit:  I liked it because it was a thoughtful look at Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) is a nerd programmer for the largest internet search company in the world. His company does 95+% of all searches.

The owner of the company Nathan (Oscar Isaac) lives in the middle of nowhere so that he can develop his AI ideas undisturbed by anyone in the outside world. He invites Caleb to visit him at his outpost home/lab to put his latest robot Ava (Alicia Vikander) through the Turing Test.

Upon arrival Caleb finds Nathan to be casual, yet precise clearly in-charge of what he wants and his home/lab exemplifies all this - especially with the security system. At one point we are shocked to see Kyoto (Sonoya Mizuno) serving them because we think Nathan is alone in the home/lab. She doesn't speak so the audience is left with a question about  her.

Caleb’s interviews with Ava are done through glass and it is clear this is a truly unique encounter for both of them. When we meet Ava she has a human typeface, hands and feet with the rest being see-through material and the rest is a weaved material. When asked about how Nathan programmed Ava he said he didn’t. He said he used all the decision making data people make on his internet browser which he collects and feeds into Ava. In other words she is the compilation of everyone’s choices and decisions. She analyzes these decisions and makes her decisions based on this. I found this fascinating.

Gleeson was fabulous. His curiosity and kindness help make this film move. Isaac is becoming a great actor. His previous role in “A Most Violent Year” was great and this one was even better. He uses his intensity and intelligence perfectly. Vikander was amazing. Her quizzical innocence and beauty was wonderful to behold. I was fascinated by the character. Mizuno was great and beautiful as the attentive robot. Alex Garland wrote and directed this film. He knew what he wanted and he delivered a thoughtful interesting film.

Overall:  I really enjoyed the thoughtfulness by which AI was presented in this film.

Clouds of Sils Maria

First Hit:  This film was interesting on multiple levels including the acting and the storyline.

Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche) is an aging actress who is asked to play a part that is opposite of a part she played some 20 years earlier.  

Part of her reluctance to take the part is that she still relates to the young girl's part not the part she is offered. The original play and the updated play is written by a recluse who is a friend of Maria’s . Maria has an assistant named Valentine (Kristen Stewart) who is young and wants her boss to take the part. It is being directed by a young director that Valentine likes and his choice to play Maria’s old part is Jo-Ann Ellis (Chloe Grace Moretz) who is a bad girl of Hollywood because she often ends up in the tabloids.

However, when Maria meets Jo-Ann for the first time she is impressed with her intelligence and thoughtfulness. Much of the film is Valentine and Maria going over the lines in the play, which dive into their generational differences as well as their personal feelings about love and life. This film is as much about the story as it is about what they learn in reading lines together.

Binoche was really good as a star actress towards the end of her career seeing age and aging differently than when she did as a young woman. Stewart was superb as Valentine. She is both transparent and interesting. She is very relaxed in this role. Moretz is very strong and I enjoyed her part. Oliver Assayas wrote and directed this film and it felt well controlled and guided.

Overall:  It was an interesting study in people and the depth of the acting was quite good.

Lambert & Stamp

First Hit:  A wonderful film providing a thoughtful history of the people behind the rock band "The Who "and how they grew to be famous.

The film was focused on Kit Lambert and Christopher (Chris) Stamp a pair of two unlikely collaborators that decided to help make a rock band famous so that they could film them and become filmmakers. Kit grew up in a stately environment with his father being an orchestra conductor and Chris was strictly from working class beginnings.

They both had dreams of making films. Although Kit was a gay man in England where being gay was illegal, he found friends and solace with Chris and The Who. This is the band Kit and Chris identified as the band they wanted to work with. They liked the crazy approach "The High Numbers" (as they were originally called) used to create their music.

The stage antics helped as well which included destroying their equipment on stage. The film uses lots of footage they shot back then and because Kit died some years ago, he is only seen and heard through this footage.

Most of the film is narrated by Chris, his brother and actor Terrence, Roger Daltrey lead singer of The Who, Pete Townshend lead guitarist and songwriter for The Who, Heather Daltrey wife of Roger, and a number of other friends. Because Keith Moon (drummer) and John Entwistle (bass player) had already passed we only see them in film.

The story unfolds around The Who’s career, how they changed over time and how these six worked together, fought together, and, in the end, pulled together to become a well-known famous rock and roll band. The ups and downs between the members were discussed openly and honestly. In the end the audience is treated to a wonderful view of young vigor moving to older wisdom and peace.

James Cooper directed and cut the interviews and archival footage in an amazing way.

Overall: this was a heartfelt amazing film highlighting one of my favorite rock bands ever.