Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (3-D)

First Hit:  Engaging at times, wonderful visualizations, and slightly misguided.

Although I left the theater thinking that this film was very entertaining, upon reflection it seemed like the film was too convoluted and didn’t know what it wanted to be in the end. Granted it was fun to watch, the beasts were extraordinary, and Newt (Eddie Redmayne) was very good as the kind hearted magician coming to New York with a goal of freeing his Thunderbird in Arizona, but the sweetness got lost in the hoopla.

There is a lot else going on in this film, however it is really enough to say that the beasts are extremely well done? Probably not.

Although wizardry and the like is viewed as naturally dark, Redmayne did a great job of bringing some light heartedness to the story as did Dan Fogler as Kowalski. What also added to the darkness of this film was watching a 3-D version which reduces the light on the screen.

The basic story is that New York is being attacked by an Obscurus (a dark entity) and MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America) is trying to find a way to capture and stop the Obscurus from destroying New York as this sort of entity also puts magical wizards and witches in the public eye which isn’t good and Newt, just arriving from England and Hogwarts, gets caught up in this battle.

Arriving via ship, he’s carrying a suitcase filled with an odd assortment of creatures, including the Thunderbird, some of whom are mischievous and occasionally escape the case. Although this part of the storyline is entertaining it really didn’t work for me in that I kept wondering why he didn’t get a case with more secure locks.

During his first few hours in New York, he ends up entangling with Kowalski (Dan Fogler) who is going to a bank to ask for a loan to open a bakery. The reason for the engagement of these two is that they both have the same type suitcase. Kowalski’s is filled with pastries he wants the bank loan officer to taste.

However, with the cases switched, three of the beasts get out including a platypus looking animal called a Niffler, that steals anything shiny like coins and jewelry, adding additional complications to a troubled city. While the Niffler is ravaging jewelry stores filled with shiny bangles, Newt is desperately trying to find his suitcase of creatures, and capture the escapees. When he finds Kowalski, and hopefully his suitcase, he realizes that this person could help him despite him being a “muggle” or “no-maj.”

This is part of the overall story as muggles and no-majs cannot know about wizards, magic and witches therefore Kowalski, knowing about this magic, puts himself in danger for getting part of his mind erased. But being open and kind towards Newt, accepting of the wizard’s way, and being liked by a beautiful witch named Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol), he gets a temporary pass. Queenie’s sister Porpentina “Tina” (Katherine Waterston), who is a previously demoted inspector for MACUSA, captures and arrests Newt for using magic publicly. When she takes him to a MACUSA hearing, they ignore her and see Newt as an odd misplaced individual. However, as Tina learns more about Newt, she befriends him and hides Newt and Kowalski in her and her sister’s home.

When MACUSA learns that Newt has real experience capturing Obscurus types of entities they support him, with the assistance of Tina, Queenie, and Kowalski, in helping MACUSA rid New York of this entity.

Redmayne is very good as an introverted wizard that relates more with his fantastic beasts than people. He’s good at acting clumsy around people and great when in his own world. Fogler is really good as the budding baker and muggle who helps the wizard Newt. Sudol is wonderful and the engaging witch sister of Tina. Her brightness was welcomed in the film. Waterston was strong as the demoted investigator of MACUSA. Carmen Ejogo is good as President Seraphina Picquery of MACUSA. Colin Farrell is OK as Percival Graves a high ranking and powerful wizard in MACUSA. J. K. Rowling wrote this somewhat predictable script that seemed more complex than needed. There is limited character development which makes the story somewhat shallow. David Yates who directed three of the Harry Potter films, knew what Rowling wanted and outside of doing a great job of making the beasts fantastic, he did his best with Rowling’s limited vision.

Overall:  Although I was, at times, enchanted during the film, my interest and fascination faded away too quickly.

Moonlight

First Hit:  A powerful, deep, and intense look into a story rarely shared on the big screen.

Shown in three different stages of his life, the audience is given a profoundly penetrating view of a gay black man’s life journey. Chiron, also known as “Little” and “Black”, is growing up in Miami to a drug addicted mother and no father. He’s played in these three stages by Alex R. Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes respectively.

As “Little” (Hibbert), Chiron is often the odd boy out. He’s quiet, sullen, and feels out of place. He’s afraid to go home as his mother, Paula (Naomie Harris), is often high or pushing him out the door to make room for one of her many boyfriends.

He’s only got one friend of sorts, Kevin (Jaden Piner), but Kevin cannot stop the other boys from picking on him. While hiding out from bullies who were chasing him, he’s discovered in the projects by Juan (Mahershala Ali) who takes a liking to the boy and takes him in. Juan’s girlfriend Teresa (Janelle Monae) feeds the skinny scared boy. They coax him to speak but only get short bursts of two or three words at a time. Juan takes him to the beach and teaches him how to swim. The effect of Juan and Teresa’s kindness and understanding permeates the first part of the film even when they are not on the screen and shows up again towards the end of the film.

As “Chiron” (Sanders), the tones of harshness and the extreme difficulty of discovering his life, and who he is, becomes more pronounced. His mom is deeper in her addiction; his prevalent sadness is darker as he knows he’s different but has little in the way of social communication tools to help him understand himself. His only friend is still Kevin (Jharrel Jerome). The rage inside is slowly building and comes to a head.

As Black (Rhodes), a nickname given to him by Kevin, he is now an adult. You can see the effect Juan had on him by his car, attitude, and choice of supporting himself. He’s away from Miami, his mom is in a rehab, and he still living a life of being alone. He gets a call from Kevin (Andre Holland) who has been thinking of him and invites him down to Miami. Black goes and takes another step in owning his life.

Beautifully shot, the long slow scenes are left to unfold. It isn’t easy to let the camera roll staying close to an actor’s face without having the actor speak. And at times I wondered if this was smart, but then the next scene would shine light on the reasons why. Each of the actors portraying Chiron allowed the silent inward struggle come to forth; to be shown and not told. To do this, these actors had to pay attention to the director and more importantly, to the story. Each of them kept the sense of longing, unknowing, and sadness throughout the film by sharing specifically for the age being portrayed. This film is fearless in its presentation and the screenwriter and director are to be complemented for this.

Hibbert, Sanders, and Rhodes are each amazingly effective in their singular role. Hibbert’s sorrow and anguish as a small boy wondering why he’s different was amazing. Sanders’s teen existence is superb. He’s tall yet trying to hide from everyone including himself and yet he’d like to be seen. Sander’s is sublime. Rhodes is perfect as his self-assured exterior belies his inner soft aching. The scenes with his mother and Kevin are extraordinary. Piner, Jerome, and especially Holland are engaging and wonderful as Kevin. Ali is amazing as Juan the sensitive drug dealer who becomes a mentor of sorts for Chiron. Monae is a beautiful light in this heavy picture. Every scene she’s in she brings joy and light. Harris is effectively real as Chiron's drug addled mother who really does love her son but has no way to relate to him. Barry Jenkins had a clear vision for what he wanted and wrote an amazingly strong and daring screenplay and brought it to life with stunning direction by getting outstanding performances from everyone.

Overall:  A strong emotionally effective film.

Arrival

First Hit:  A very inventive and powerful film effectively illuminating the complexities of non-liner time.

This was my kind of film; it had suspense, was beautifully presented, the sound, including the music, was dynamic, and was it intellectually challenging. However, none of this would work without a clear commitment from the actors and the production team. They are to be commended.

The basic story is that 12 alien ships arrive on earth and hover in different countries. Each country having a ship assigns a team of people to try to figure out why they are here on Earth. Heading the military led team for the United States is Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker). His focus is to communicate to the US Government and the rest of the world what his team has learned. Looking for experts he approaches Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) who is a professor of communication and linguistics at an unnamed College/University. She has certain criteria of how she will work on this project and when Weber rebuffs her, he searches out others. However, a short time later he has a change of heart, she is the best.

This scene, for me, sets the tone of the whole film. How Weber's team picks her up, the noise of being inside the helicopter, the tense excitement of the assignment ahead of them, had me ready for an adventure. The filming and sound were perfectly industrial and presents a sense of realism, the kind that tells you that you are in good hands under the direction of Director Denis Villeneuve. In each scene he beckons the audience, to sit back, open your mind, and enjoy the ride because this will be like no other alien invasion film you’ve ever experienced.

On the helicopter ride she meets her working partner Dr. Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) who is a physicist. Although their ways of finding out and interpreting the information is they gain from the aliens is very different, they both agree it starts with communication.

There are a number of amazing scenes when they enter the alien ship; how gravity is upended, how they view the aliens through a glass like structure, and the fascinating scenes of Ian and Louise learning the alien’s language. All through this film we are treated to Louise’s memories of her daughter and little do we know how all of this comes together until the very end when she and Ian “get” the picture the aliens want to share with all of us.

Although I cannot say more about the plot, I will say the screenplay, cinematography, the concept, the acting and directing are top notch. But what really got me, was the ability of everyone who worked on this film to commit to the vision and present an amazing way to help people think more about understanding non-liner time.

Whitaker is the kind of man and actor that elevates every film he is in. For me he is one of the very best living actors and in this movie he's no different. He knows just how much of his intensity and kindness to put into every role and every scene. Adams is sublime. She plays a very complex character and there are few that could have pulled it off as well as Adams. I’m not sure how she felt about the role, but for me it was a role of a lifetime. Renner did a fantastic job in support of Banks. He led when he needed to and buttressed Banks inroads to the science of communicating with aliens. Eric Heisserer wrote an extraordinary screenplay. His ability to create a cohesive, engaging, entertaining and intellectual story while tackling the concept of time was amazing. Villeneuve had a clear vision of what he wanted and how this film was going to get there. From the odd look of the alien spaceships (they looked like large contact lenses), to the music striking the perfect background sound and mood, to how he got so much from each actor, his clear deft hand took us on an amazing journey for which I applaud him.

Overall: This was an extraordinary film and based on all the movies I’ve seen this year, this one is one of the top three.

The Handmadien

First Hit:  Extremely provocative, well made, and engaging film about deception and love.

This movie was lusciously filmed. Each frame was mesmerizing and had the potential to hypnotize the audience away from the intrigue that builds throughout its entire 2 ½ hour length.

Count Fujiwara (Jung-woo Ha) is a con man and recruits Sook-Hee/Tae Ri Kim (played by Kim Tae-ri) to ingratiate herself and become a Handmaiden to a wealthy Japanese woman, Lady Hideko (Min-hee Kim). His goal is to have her help Hideko fall in love with him. The objective would be to marry Hideko for her money, and then hopefully break her heart so much that she gets put into a mental institution, thereby giving him both freedom and money. The payoff for the pickpocketing Sook-Kee, is a nice sum of money, jewelry, and freedom from her current theft oriented life.

She is brought to Lady Hideko’s house where she lives with her Uncle Kouzuki (Jin-woong Jo) who deals in rare books and fakes of rare books. He also wants his young niece intimately along with her money, but is waiting for her to begin to open to him. He’s grooming her for himself by teaching her to read sexually explicit books to his favorite friends in his beautiful personal library. Her readings are engaging and everyone in the room, including her uncle, has an erotic experience. With Sook-Hee in place, Fujiwara’s plan begins to unfold.

Just as I think I’ve got the concept of the film and plot, Part II starts and we begin to view this whole experience from a different perspective. More from the perspective of Lady Hideko. Watching this unfold I found myself feeling bad for Sook-Hee because I wonder if she’s been tricked.

Then Part III unfolds and another perspective shows itself. However, this perspective is aimed at love and brings up what the audience witnesses during Parts I & II. Here the dynamics of the truth unfolds itself with each of the characters and roles begin to pay for their truth and deceit.

The longer this film goes the more engaging and interesting it gets. As I previously stated, this film is filled with luxurious and luscious scenes. The photography is fantastic and the graphic sensuality only adds to its intrigue. The way each part unfolds a version of the story, each character becomes more evolved and continues to create audience engagement.

Ha is fun and appropriately ego centric as his part calls for. I thought he was really good at this. Tae-ri is fascinating as the girl who survives on street smarts, and when she is giving Hideko a bath she (and we the audience) see realizes she's capable of being touched humanly and deeply. It is a great scene. Kim, as Lady Hideko, is beautiful beyond compare. She carries the right amount of arrogance, fragility, and privilege as a woman who has never traveled away from her home. She wants to experience more than what she has, yet is both curious and afraid of breaking down her current life's boundaries. Jo is oddly interesting as the somewhat perverted uncle who is also a deceiver. Seo-Kyung Chung and Chan-wook Park wrote a wonderfully complex screenplay that only reveals itself as the film moves along. Park’s direction was great and it was clear he had a clear vision of what he wanted because the stories were intriguing and engaging.

Overall:  I got more than I thought I would, a very engaging film.

Hacksaw Ridge

First Hit:  A very powerful and graphic film about a conscientious objector’s selflessness to save lives in a horrible battle.

This film is not easy to watch as many of the graphically violent scenes may make you cringe, close your eyes, or turn away from the screen as I did. Although the number of war torn bodies in this film was far greater than what I saw in Vietnam, the point wasn’t lost on me: “war is hell” as William T. Sherman in 1870 said and Director Mel Gibson wanted us to see. As he did in “Passion of the Christ” and “Apocalypto”, Gibson shows us man’s inhumanity to man.

Here he shows us Desmond Doss (Darcy Bryce and Andrew Garfield), whose belief in God, as a Seventh Day Adventist, won’t allow him to take another man’s life. We also see the lessons he learns from a difficult childhood. His father, Tom (Hugo Weaving), is an alcoholic which began with his own suffering from the loss of his childhood friends in WW I. The beatings his mother Bertha (Rachel Griffiths), brother Hal (Roman Guerriero and Nathaniel Buzolic) and he take, affected him deeply and as an audience member, were difficult to witness.

Because he has a sense of duty, despite the objections of his mother and father, he signs up to join the WWII effort as a medic Conscientious Objector in the US Army. Prior to his induction he meets Dorothy Schutte (Teresa Palmer) whom he charms with his wholesome, caring and kind nature. She sees the depth of his integrity and they agree to marry on his first leave.

When his platoon Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughn) announces to the rest of his platoon that Desmond won’t be carrying a gun to protect his peers, they make him a pariah. He's beaten and disowned by his fellow soldiers and they even try to Court Martial him out of the Army.

Gibson painstakingly develops the backstory so that when Desmond enters the battle for Hacksaw Ridge the audience is ready for him to become the hero he became. As the first of only three Conscientious Objectors to receive the Medal of Honor, Desmond amazes his fellow soldiers. Alone he saves 75 wounded men by saying to himself and to his God, “give me the strength to save just one more”.

The battle itself is one of the most graphic you’ll ever witness and it is important to know this going in. For me it triggered huge sadness because of the memory of piling up dead Viet Cong soldiers after an all-night firefight.

Although this film is long at 2 hours and 11 minutes, the elongated battle scenes are extremely well orchestrated giving the audience a sequence of stories all tying together.

Garfield was spectacular and amazing in this performance. His embodiment of Doss was deeply heartfelt. I would predict that he may receive an Oscar nomination, along with a real chance to win. I’d definitely give him a vote. Weaving was powerful as the father who was gutted by his involvement in WWI along with how this, and his alcoholism, affected his life. The last scene where he reaches out to help his son was deeply heartfelt. Vaughn was in the best non-comedic role I’ve ever seen him in. In my view, this role brought a new dimension to his acting abilities. Bryce and Guerrieo were wonderful as the young Doss brothers. Palmer was fantastic as Desmond’s one true love. Griffiths was very good as Desmond’s suffering and faithful mother. Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan wrote a fantastic screenplay. This screenplay is Oscar worthy and the dialogue is amazing in its range. It contained humor, military order and strictness, romanticism, and spiritual beliefs all wrapped into one film effectively. Gibson, regardless of how you may think of him as a celebrity and person, his direction of this film is truly amazing. Like Spielberg, he knows how to craft scenes of war in a way that can make an audience feel the experience. He deserves to be given consideration for an Oscar as well. If you see this film, make sure you watch the short clips during the credits of the real Desmond and others who knew him.

Overall: Although this film can be hard to watch at times, it clearly makes a strong point about the power of one man living his truth.