The Accountant

First Hit:  I walked away liking this film because it drew me into the dramatic story while also being out-loud funny during the interchanges between Christian and Dana.

A young Christian Wolff (Seth Lee) is shown as a highly functional autistic young boy. His wizardry is displayed by completing a complex puzzle upside down. His parents, Chris and his brother Brax (played by Jake Presley as the boy and Jon Bernthal as an adult) are visiting the Harbor Neuroscience Institute home to find out how to help their son survive in the world. Although they are offered help, the father thinks there are other ways to “fix” his son. Throughout this film we are treated to some of those ways, which gives us the back story as to why Christian and Brax are so relentlessly good at using guns and martial arts. What didn’t make sense to me was how these brothers got separated later in life.

To make a living, the adult Christian (Ben Affleck) is an accountant with extraordinary skills to help clients resolve any type of financial issue. Because of his condition, he is relentless at completing the job and is incredibly efficient. We see him help a farmer husband and wife team as well as seeing pictures where he’s working with the mob, other criminals, and foreign entities.

When called on a new case by “The Voice” (a phone voice only with a smiley face in the phone's interface), he's asked to discover where the missing money is for Living Robotics, a company headed by CEO Lamar Blackburn (John Lithgow). After arriving at company headquarters, he sits down to meet with the CFO and CEO for an interview. The interview is amusing, but the audience sees why he gets the job. On the first day of work, he’s greeted by Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick) who is the company’s accountant that discovered the accounting problem. During the introduction, and almost every interaction past this, the discussion between these two is interesting, funny and engaging. A definite highlight to this film.

When he discovers the problem, and the source reasons behind the diversion of funds, the film changes tenor and it becomes more of an action thriller.

While all this is going on, Ray King (J.K. Simmons) a Director at the Treasury Department, is trying to find out who changed his life before he retires. What he knows is that someone saved his life, and that there are a few brief pictures of a person that seems to know a lot of criminals, helps them with funneling money, but might have a deadly hand as well.

To assist him, King hires Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) by leveraging her past and gives her a month to find this ghost of a person. Yup, you guessed it, it’s The Accountant. This part of the film felt like a side note to highlight a particular aspect of Christian’s background. Additionally, it also provided a level of context of law and authority to Christian’s actions. However I thought it convoluted the story and imagined this film would have worked by leaving this part out, and this isn’t what happened. Regardless, I found many of the scenes very engaging, interesting, and funny.

Affleck is very strong as Christian. The disassociated looks and the matter-a-fact ways of having verbal exchanges worked for me. Because he needed to be both an efficient accountant and ruthless in actions there had to be a line that he walked that didn’t destroy the illusion of either. Lee was perfect - sublime in all ways. Kendrick was her witty, nerdy, inquisitive self, a role she does so well (think Up in the Air). Her exchanges with Affleck were very well done. Simmons was good as the man affected by The Accountant in a good way. Addai-Robinson was very good as the person needing to not be found out by doing her job well. John Lithgow was adequate as the company owner who was concealing secrets. Jon Bernthal was very strong as Affleck’s brother and protector. Jeffrey Tambor (as Francis Silverberg) was outstanding as Affleck’s cell mate who treated him like a son and gave him knowledge, skills and connections allowing him to make a very good living for himself when he left prison. Bill Dubuque wrote an overly complex screenplay, however it did work. Gavin O’Connor did a wonderful job of weaving together the two stories. Many of the scenes were well shot, like when the farmer scoffs that Christian cannot hit a target a mile away, then Christian pulls the trigger.

Overall:  Leaving the theater, I realized that this film kept me interested and engaged.

A Birth of a Nation

First Hit:  A great story that was overproduced, excessively long, and poorly directed.

This is a great story but as often happens, when someone writes, directs, and acts in their own film; their perspective and the film's pacing results in a muddled story. The long languished scenes were meant to develop his and other characters but only left me marginally engaged in this wonderful story of how one slave helped to birth a nation.

Nate Parker plays Nat Turner a slave to Samuel Turner (Armie Hammer) in the South when the freedom tide began to turn and cotton growing was waning partially due to a drought. As far as plantation and slave owners goes, Turner was relatively kind and wasn’t constantly sadistic towards his slaves as we witness in this film. His sister Elizabeth (Penelope Ann Miller) saw Nat’s native intelligence and taught him to read, but only the Bible because “…these other books are for white folk.”

By learning to read from the Bible, Nat becomes a natural preacher and begins to hold religious services for other slaves. His ability to read and evoke passion was respected by both the white and black communities.

To give the audience a sense of the injustice, there are scenes with slave hunters led by Raymond Cobb (Jackie Earle Haley) who roamed the land raping, hurting, or killing slaves caught without a written pass from their owner. As this story develops, the more injustice Nat sees. And with the rape and beating of his own wife Cherry (Aja Naomi King) by Cobb, Nat gathers a few slaves to begin a revolt.

Many of the scenes are graphic and difficult to watch. During one scene in particular when a plantation owner uses a chisel to knock out the teeth of a slave because he won’t eat, I just about walked out. I understand the reason to make scenes like this, however it could have been done with less visual and maintained the important message. Although, I’m very distressed about the racism that remains in our country today, I’m not sure the film did itself service by showing graphic scenes of torture to make a point.

The parts of the film where the audience waits for something to develop which were followed by an action, were difficult to sit through. I don’t like the feeling of waiting in a film. Some of the highlights of the film were the wonderful support and love shared by his mother Nancy (Aunjanue Ellis) and grandmother Bridget (Esther Scott). One amazing scene was the calm clear tranquility Bridget showed as she sewed stitches in Nat’s back from a recent whipping.

Parker was very strong as Nat, however his meandering direction of the screenplay he wrote didn’t do this story justice. Hammer was OK as the bachelor plantation owner. Miller was good in her minor role of Hammer’s sister and someone who seemed to care about the slaves. Haley was very good in a role that just reeked of being despicable. Ellis was very good as Nat’s mother and woman who had to hold the family together when her husband was forced to flee the plantation. Scott was sublime and in her minor role and delivered a very strong and amazing performance.

Overall:  I was disappointed in this film because the real story is excellent.

The Girl on the Train

First Hit:  Although I was appropriately confused at the beginning, the story came together nicely at the end and Blunt’s acting was sublime.

I’ve said this before, I do not read fiction novels because if a film is made from it, I'm generally disappointed. Good books do a great job of creating images and flow inside the reader’s brain. Films from books are versions of the screenwriter's and directors (and sometimes producer’s) internal images. Film is a different medium and therefore telling a story has some limitations but almost unlimited visual options to tell the story. Failures of books I've read that totally disappointed me on the screen are Ayn Rand books and the Harry Potter books. The films based on Rand books were complete dogs. The Potter films failed in more ways than one compared to the books. This book, "The Girl on the Train", must have been enthralling because in 2015 it spent 13 weeks at the top of the national bestseller list. From what I saw in the film, I can see why they liked it. The screenplay by Erin Cressida Wilson seemed very clear about how this story would unfold. Using multiple narrators, the director used captions to push the story back and forth in time, I was fascinated with Rachel’s (Emily Blunt - narrator) unraveling, the back and forth of being drunk and sober and then pulling it together revealing the truth. Rachel was married to Tom (Justin Theroux), she had a drinking problem and he divorced her for Anna (Rebecca Ferguson - narrator). On a daily basis Rachel use to look at her old house, now occupied by her former husband and Anna, from the train window. She also would see a couple whom she thought were the perfect couple a few houses down from her old home. This couple, Scott and Megan (respectively Luke Evans and Haley Bennett – narrator), would appear through the window of the train to always be happy and loving each other. However, the true story about Rachel, Anna, and Megan’s lives would reveal themselves to be different than the Rachel’s drunk, through the train's window, version. A murder happens and it’s up to Detective Riley (Allison Janney) to provide clues and pressure allowing Rachel to discover the truth about herself and what happened.

Blunt was amazingly sublime. She was perfect in her drunk and sober selves. The subtle transitions, movements and actions between these selves was true with my experience of alcohol abuse. I would not be surprised and actually expect her to be nominated for an Oscar. Theroux was good, however the depth to his characters’ intensity and darkness wasn’t fleshed out enough. Ferguson was an interesting character and I really liked how she was able to make her role work and also show more of Theroux’s character. Bennett was strong as a difficult character to like or understand. She did a great job of showing a troubled woman’s fight to open up and be authentic. Evans was very strong as the intense husband who was also an intense controlling type person. Janney was very good in her more minor role as a police detective trying to piece together a murder. Wilson wrote a strong script which appeared to be from a very complex book by Paula Hawkins. Tate Taylor had a very clear vision of what he wanted to see and to keep it paced to have this film work. I could have imagined this film to be really long given the complexity of the plot, but Taylor clearly didn’t want the audience to be bored and trusted that they would piece together the various story pieces he was presenting.

Overall:  This was a complex story and Blunt’s superb acting brought this story together.

Deepwater Horizon

First Hit:  Although this could have been an interesting film, the disappointing and needless jerky camera work took away from actually seeing what was happening.

I found myself engaged in this film was when the ideological conflict arose between BP (British Petroleum) and Transocean, (owners of the drilling platform). However, I wasn’t engaged as much when the well blew up and everybody was running around trying to save themselves and others. What made these scenes worse was the shaky camera work and lousy editing. It simply was difficult to be engaged with anything when nothing gets into focus. The conflict between the Transocean and BP was, at times, riveting as each side wanted something. BP led by Vidrine (John Malkovich) wanted to hurry the project along because they were 43 days behind schedule. Transocean led by Mr. Jimmy (Kurt Russell) wanted to execute all the appropriate and timely tests to ensure that drilling hole was secure. The lead role in this film was the view from Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) who worked for Mr. Jimmy and was responsible for all the operating systems on Deepwater Horizon. However, as much as we wanted to care about Williams, his wife Felicia (Kate Hudson) and his daughter Sydney (Stella Allen), the real story in this film was about the differences of opinion between BP and Transocean.

Wahlberg was good in this role, however where he was supposed to shine was in the saving of crewmembers from the exploding rig. However, the lousy camera work and poor editing made his segments of the film far less interesting. My favorite part of his role is when he detailed a listing of issues that needed to be fixed on Deepwater Horizon while talking to Vidrine. Malkovich was OK in his role of pushing BP’s agenda. His accent was odd to me, however his intensity was excellent. Russell was wonderful as the know-it-all General Manager of Deepwater. I loved his tenacity and presence to stick to what was important. Hudson was good as Williams’ wife. Gina Rodriguez (as Andrea Fleytas) was engaging and I would have like more from her part. Matthew Michael Carnahan and Matthew Sand wrote a strong script. What failed this film was the direction by Peter Berg who focused on the blowing up of Deepwater Horizon and doing it in a way that didn’t allow the audience to see what was happening. Shame, this could have been good but this shows you how lousy direction and focusing on blowing up stuff doesn’t always make a good picture.

Overall:  Really disappointed how the director got swayed by the possibility of blowing up something and not focusing on the story and reason for the explosion.

Queen of Katwe

First Hit:  Although this is a wonderful story, the film's representation did not do it justice.

Confusion is what I felt through much of the early part of this film because we go through 8 years of time, as noted by the overlays on the screen announcing each new year, without any discernible physical changes in the characters. The subject, Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nawanga), is followed from before her teens to her mid-teens with virtually no change in her looks. We all know that these are years in which a person changes a lot physically, but here there is nothing and therefore confusion in each scene because we really don't know how old she is until context is given. The story is wonderful. It is about Phiona, who comes from the poorest of the poor in Uganda, where her mother is raising 4 children by herself, finds herself in Robert Katende’s (David Oyelowo) church where he’s teaching chess to young children. She sits down and becomes fascinated by the movement of the chess pieces and soon she is spellbound by the game. Quickly she learns that she naturally understands the complexities and challenges of the game, which also allows her to escape her limited and difficult life. From this point of view, the film and story was inspirational. I loved her first plane ride scene when the camera pans to her fingers moving and griping the seat's armrests. Her mother Nakku Harriet’s (Lupita Nyong’o) surprised happiness at seeing her new home for the first time, embraced the amazing joy residing in this film. Besides the lack of clear time references with the main character, the film was too long. There were three times, I came out of being engaged in the story to wondering why it was taking so long to tell the story. It needed to be more crisp.

Nawanga was wonderful as Phiona. Although I wish they would have used a second person for the younger years, Nawanga was perfect for the later character. Oyelowo was amazing as the patient minister and chess teacher. I loved the stories he told his kids to help them with the pressures of being in chess tournaments. Nyong’o was sublime as Phiona’s mother. Her strength and intelligence shined through as she fought to keep her children fed, with a roof over their heads and safe. William Wheeler wrote a script that tried to tell too much. It made the running time of 124 minutes laborious. Mira Nair did an OK job of directing the characters, however as previously noted, the film did a disservice by having Nawanga try to play through so much time, and to not cut aspects of the story to make the film crisper.

Overall:  This is a wonderful story, but the execution, by the director and screenwriter, didn’t live up to the power of the story.