Star Wars: The Force Awakens (3-D)

First Hit:  Nailed it. This film immediately took me back to May 25, 1977 when the story first began and I knew it was going to be an amazing ride - this film was no different.

I remember standing in line about 38 years ago to see “Star Wars” and wondering if it was going to be as good as the hype.

As the yellow storyline rolled across the screen fading into a vanishing point while being accompanied by the powerful John Williams score; I sat back and smiled and said to myself, “here we go” and the ride began. Yesterday at the 9:00 AM I saw the 3D presentation of film number 7.

As soon as the story-line started scrolling up the screen, accompanied by the John Williams score, I laughed out loud, smiled, and said to myself; “it’s back and I'm ready". There was no let down in this film. The new characters were perfectly cast, the re-introduction of the original characters amazingly handled, while the story was very interesting and moved the whole set of stories forward with suspense, tragedy, and excitement. The writing was top notch, the visual effects were reminiscent to the first film, yet updated with today’s technology and the characters grew in depth while adding to the legacy. 3-D used perfectly - not a distraction only an enhancement.

Harrison Ford returned as Han Solo. He was wonderfully introduced, exquisitely honored, and ceremoniously pathed. For his part, Ford was amazing. Carrie Fisher came back as General Leia (versus Princess Leia) the leader of the resistance against the First Order. Although less dynamic than Ford, her place and fulfilment of her part of the puzzle was required and perfectly executed. I was happy she was part of the film. Mark Hamill continued as a much older and wiser Luke Skywalker. Although his role was small, it begins a new cycle as well, wonderful. As for the major new players: Daisy Ridley as Rey was superb. She filled her role as an intelligent, physically capable, and believer of her destiny amazingly well. She exemplifies and is the new heroine for this series. John Boyega as Finn was auspiciously wonderful as a new male hero for the resistance. Lupita Nyong’o was fantastic as Maz Kanata the very old wise woman. Oscar Isaac was fun as Poe Dameron a renegade fighter pilot for the resistance. Domhnall Gleeson was perfectly arrogant and heartless as the General Hux, leader of the First Order. Lastly, Adam Driver as dark side leader Kylo Ren was very strong. Lawrence Kasdan and J.J. Abrams wrote an incredibly strong script. Definitely Oscar worthy. Abrams fulfilled everybody’s hope in delivering a very exciting film that kicks off a new era of Star Wars films. The next one will be tough to do – just as Lucas found out.

Overall:  Abrams, Kasdan, and the whole team turn out an amazing story – thank you.

Youth

First Hit:  A sometimes odd, yet compelling film that created a beautiful ending allowing the audience to hear and see the soul of Fred Ballinger (Michael Caine).

Ballinger is on vacation in the Alps with his best friend Mick (Harvey Keitel) and daughter Lena Ballinger (Rachel Weisz). He’s a retired orchestra conductor and seems tired and disenchanted. As these elder men watch the younger people, they see the difference of today’s youth and their own youth.

Their kids are struggling in their relationship, Mick is trying to write a new screenplay, Fred is being asked to conduct again for the Queen of England, and Jimmy Tree (Paul Dano) is attempting to find his character for a new film by watching the people at the hotel.

There are odd acts each evening in the backyard of the hotel as entertainment and as a distraction. The conversations between everyone are abstractly shown sometimes with context other times without. As Fred begins to come to grips with his feelings towards how music was his true love, not his wife or daughter; he slowly is able to discuss his poor parenting and his lack of being a good husband with his daughter. In the end, the performance he leads is beyond beautiful – it is the expression of his love.

Caine was excellent in his quiet way. His way of showing his character growing through this story is fantastic. Keitel is great as a friend and coming to grips with his fading director and writing talents. Jan Fonda, as Keitel’s actress muse Brenda Morel, is fantastic. Her biting cynicism is amazing. Dano is amazing as an actor finding a way to play a part and then letting the part go because he cannot relate or honor the character. Weisz is wonderful as the daughter learning to love her dad. Paolo Sorrentino wrote and directed the film. His dialogue, at times, is sublime. Other times some of the scenes came off a bit disjointed with the film’s purpose.

Overall:  The ending was worth the intermediary flaws.

In the Heart of the Sea

First Hit:  Started interestingly, ended good, but the large middle was monotonous and slowly sank into the dark of the sea.

Films based in the ocean with underwater sequences have a higher likeliness of not being good. I’m not sure why except they become dark and slow.

Yet, films shot inside submarines and underwater tend to be better (Like: Hunt for Red October 1990 or Run Silent Run Deep 1958) as my dad would have attested to. He probably watched the latter more than 20 times and could recite the dialogue of every character. Why? Probably because submarine films are character based while ocean films must have ocean characters. Of course the film "Jaws" would be an exception.

This story is about a whale called Moby Dick and how Herman Melville wrote this famous story. The view of the story is from one of the survivors of a multi-year whaling adventure which included 90 days of being stranded on the ocean in a dinghy.

The survivor Tom Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson and the young Tom/Thomas portrayed by Tom Holland) is being interviewed by Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) about the experience he had when the whale scuttled the Essex after almost 2 years hunting whales. Moby destroyed the ship and left the remaining crew to drift.

The other part of the story is about the disagreements and personality differences between Captain George Pollard (Benjamin Walker) and First Mate Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth). This initial focus of the film was interesting as was Melville’s interview with Nickerson. However, the rest of the film tried to be interesting through visuals and very little on the strength or weaknesses of the individuals and when they tried it wasn’t very interesting.

Hemsworth was OK but there seemed to be little depth to his character. Walker was mediocre as the privileged captain. Holland was good as the young seaman learning how to me a man. Whishaw was very good in his small part as Melville. Gleeson was the spirit of this film and the best part of the film. Charles Leavitt wrote a so so script for most of the characters except Gleeson and Melville. Ron Howard didn’t come close to creating the masterpiece I think he wanted.

Overall:  The previews I saw telegraphed this uninteresting film.

The Night Before

First Hit:  A few sparse funny scenes in this uninteresting poorly scripted film.

There are some out-loud funny scenes but I cannot recall any of them the day after – I just remember laughing, however, most of the time I spent wondering who thought up this stuff. Low grade attempts at humor mixed in with a few heart driven points.

One of the heart felt moments was when Chris Roberts' (Anthony Mackie) mother, Mrs. Roberts (Lorraine Toussaint), tells Ethan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to seize the moment for love if it arises and to not be afraid.

The scenes I disliked the most were with Isaac (Seth Rogen) as I didn’t find him funny – mostly low brow high-school humor. The mushroom trip he was on was not effectively shared and was not accurate to a "shroom" experience. The wearing of a large black Star of David woven into his light-blue and white Christmas sweater – was poorly contrived. His running out of the church yelling “we didn’t kill Jesus” was stupid and no one in the theater thought it funny – as there were audible groans.

The film's premise was reasonable in that Ethan’s friends, Chris and Isaac, supported him through each holiday season because his parents died early, but the execution just didn’t seem well thought out. The best part of the film were the scenes with Mr. Green (Michael Shannon) the long time drug/pot dealer.

Gordon-Levitt was fair in this poorly constructed role. Mackie was one of the better parts of the film in that he was believable. Rogen wasn’t believable stoned or otherwise and his annoying laugh made it worse. Shannon was the best part of the film, scary, insightful and thoughtful all at the same time. Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir, and Evan Goldberg wrote a non-cohesive, sophomoric, mostly unfunny script – it felt like it was developed and agreed upon by committee. Jonathan Levine did little to enhance the poor script although a few of the sets were well crafted.

Overall:  I went to this film because of the dearth of new films out this week – should of stayed home.

Creed

First Hit:  This 133 minute film flew by because it was engaging and well done.

I enjoyed the first 4 Rocky films. I didn’t see the 5th because they were deteriorating as the series went on. Of course, like many others, I thought the first Rocky film was wonderful and a great story.

This film feeds off of Rocky IV where Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) is killed by a Russian fighter. One of Apollo’s out of wedlock children, Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan), never met his father before he died and now carries resentment towards the Creed name and his roots.

He grows up going from foster home to foster home and getting into fights over everything and anything. He likes fighting. Apollo’s wife finds him in juvy and takes Adonis in to raise him, puts him through school and helps him get a great job. But even with a great job, he loves fighting and quits everything to become a professional boxer.

He goes to live in Philadelphia looking for Rock Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) to ask him to become his trainer. When we meet Rocky, he’s a little tired, isn’t engaged with boxing any longer, and runs Adrien’s, his deceased wife’s namesake restaurant. When he discovers that Adonis is Apollo’s son he begrudgingly helps him.

This film is about both Adonis and Rocky growing through their relationship to become better people - together. The boxing scenes are well done, not as violent as the scenes in “Southpaw” or a couple of the earlier “Rocky” films, but they are effective.

This script has Rocky talking to Paulie and Adrian's headstones was vintage Rocky and very touching. Having Adonis meet Bianca (Tessa Thompson) was a throwback to Rocky and Adrian’s budding and then lasting relationship.

Jordan was very good in this part and his ability to be touchy and touching are a wonderful strong point. Stallone was magnificent. I wouldn’t doubt he will receive award nominations for this performance. Subtle, true to the character, and very engaging. Thompson was a great conduit for and in this film. She rounded out the testosterone nature of this film. Phylicia Rashad was perfect as Apollo’s widowed wife and Adonis’s stepmom. Ryan Coogler and Aaron Covington wrote a wonderfully insightful script that brought together wonderful historical aspects of the old Rocky films. Coogler did a great job of putting the script and actors together to make this film really work.

Overall:  This was a thoroughly enjoyable film.